Apple’s first foldable iPhone has now been opened up on camera, just one day after the iPhone Duo arrived in stores. What’s inside is a mix of pleasant surprises for repair shops and one very expensive weak spot.
Phone Repair Guru, the repair-focused YouTube channel with more than six million subscribers, took the Duo apart in a new video posted on Saturday. The teardown goes all the way down to the inner folding display, which the host admits he wasn’t sure would survive the process.
Power on the Duo is split across two cells, one in each half of the device. The larger battery is rated at 2,962 mAh (11.56 Wh), while the second comes in at 1,921 mAh (7.5 Wh), for a combined 4,883 mAh. Both are held in with Apple’s electrically released adhesive, which worked well here according to the teardown.
In a neat test, the phone stayed powered on after each battery was disconnected in turn. That suggests a Duo with one failing cell could keep running until it gets serviced.
Opening the outer display side shows Apple put a frame around the screen and added silicone along its edges, likely to help with water and dust resistance. That frame makes it harder to crack the panel while prying it off, something other foldables tend to struggle with.
Removing the logic board also reveals a fully modular charging port held in by two T4 screws. According to the video, no other iPhone has used a completely modular USB-C port like this, which should make a worn-out port a much simpler fix.
Other details include stereo speakers, a 12-megapixel Center Stage front camera for the outer screen, back glass using the original Ceramic Shield rather than Ceramic Shield 2, and 25W wireless charging. There’s also a small extra magnet array tucked into the middle of the MagSafe ring, and its purpose isn’t clear yet.
Inside, the A20 Pro sits on a compact single-layer logic board rather than Apple’s usual stacked design, with 12GB of RAM placed beside the chip instead of on top of it. A vapour chamber makes direct contact with the A20 Pro, which explains why one side of the Duo warms up more than the other.
The combined power button and Touch ID sensor is where repairs get much tougher. It can technically be removed, but the host called it extremely difficult and said he wouldn’t recommend trying. He also warned that Apple may treat Touch ID damage as other damage, so an independent repair shop could be the cheaper route.
For Canadian owners, that matters, since Apple’s iPhone Duo repair prices list other damage at $2,249, while replacing the inner folding display costs $1,499 without AppleCare+. The Duo itself starts at $2,999 unlocked.
Prying off the inner display took a full hour. The panel still worked after reassembly, though its frame couldn’t go back on the way it came off and will need to be replaced. A fingernail scratch test on the inner screen earlier in the video left no marks, likely thanks to the protective layer on top.
Summing up, the host said that while most parts in the first half came out without much trouble, the inner display is too expensive and too difficult to remove, and he questioned the form factor given the weaker cameras and the loss of Face ID. Early iPhone Duo reviews were kinder, praising the nearly hidden crease, and a separate robot hinge durability test found no noticeable wear after 32,640 folds.
A more detailed teardown from iFixit, complete with a repairability score, is expected in the coming days.
Would a modular charging port and two batteries make you more comfortable owning an iPhone Duo, or do those repair prices keep you away?
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