Few YouTubers have been wrecking new iPhones longer than TechRax, one of the original iPhone destroyers on the platform, and the brand new iPhone Duo was never going to escape his launch-week treatment. His yearly abuse of Apple’s latest hardware has become an almost cruel tradition for every new iPhone.
This time, the $2,999 foldable was dropped down a towering spiral staircase twice, with no protective case.
According to the TechRax video, posted on Friday evening, he picked up the device as a day one walk-in purchase without a pre-order, much like the readers who told us about surprise walk-in stock at Apple Stores here. His plan was to drop it once while unfolded from the very top floor and, if it survived, drop it again while closed.
The open drop saw the iPhone Duo fall what TechRax estimated as roughly 10 storeys before landing flat. His first reaction was relief, since the outer display was intact, still recording video and working normally.
Unfolding the phone told a different story. The inner foldable display showed a line, there was scuffing and visible damage in one corner, and the large screen appeared to be frozen and unresponsive. Even so, the front screen kept working, which was enough for him to go back up for round two. A rugged iPhone Duo case with raised edges around both screens is the easiest way to avoid finding out how your own inner display would fare.
For the closed drop, the iPhone Duo appeared to fall all the way to the bottom and was found popped open. Both pieces of back glass were shattered, internal components were exposed, and there was a noticeable bulge near the first point of impact. TechRax also said the phone felt warm.
After plugging it in, he confirmed the device still had power. The inner display flickered on briefly with glitching, but it was clearly broken, with half of the panel showing yellow and the other half black. Surprisingly, the hinge still felt solid at the end of the video, opening and closing as it should.
Hinge reliability has been the big worry with any foldable, and earlier tests have been kind to Apple on that front, including a robot test where the iPhone Duo hinge survived 32,640 folds and another YouTuber who folded the iPhone Duo 10,000 times. Dust has proven to be a bigger threat, after JerryRigEverything showed how a handful of dirt jammed the hinge. A fall from this height is an extreme scenario nobody should expect a phone to shrug off, but the results suggest the glass and inner panel are far more vulnerable than the hinge itself.
With repair costs on a phone this expensive likely to be steep, a good case and AppleCare+ look like smart additions for anyone spending close to $3,000 on Apple’s first foldable. You can check out this iPhone Duo case on Amazon right now, and one that wraps the back glass and edges can help with the everyday drops most owners will actually face.
Would you trust your iPhone Duo without a case, or is this video enough to convince you to protect it from day one?
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