iPhone Duo Fold Test Surpasses 281,000 Folds and Counting

CNET‘s custom Fold-a-Phone has pushed an iPhone Duo past 281,000 open-and-close cycles, and the lab says the hinge and crease are still holding up as the machine keeps folding around the clock.

That tally comes from the outlet’s Day 8 Fold Test broadcast on X, after its weekday livestream wrapped with the counter just over 260,000. It is a big jump from the 139,000-fold checkpoint we covered earlier, and a different kind of stress test from the 75,000 hand-fold run that ended with a cracked display after dust and cold.

According to CNET lab director Matthew Murray, the Louisville, Kentucky rig was built for book-style foldables and runs about 900 folds an hour, or roughly 20,000 a day. Each cycle takes about four seconds: one second opening, one second fully open, one second closing, and one second fully closed, a pace chosen to limit heat and avoid slamming the hinge the way a speed-first torture test would.

The Duo went into the machine after Apple Store pickup on launch day, October 23, secured in a 3D-printed sled with heavy-duty tape. Murray’s team has said they have not seen damage so far, and that the crease looks no worse than it did out of the box, which matters for Canadian buyers who paid $2,999 CAD and up and have been watching early hinge chatter since the phone hit stores.

CNET is livestreaming the Fold-a-Phone on YouTube weekdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET, while the robot itself keeps going overnight, and Murray says the plan is to keep folding until the Duo can no longer open or close.

Would 281,000+ machine folds with the crease still looking calm make you more comfortable buying a Duo in Canada, or are you waiting to see when the hinge finally gives out?