Apple Duo hinge designed with AI help. That must be why there is a problem

30 October 2026

Lucas Ropek, writing for Techcrunch, quoting Johny Srouji, Chief Hardware Officer, at Apple:

During manufacturing, we use AI algorithms to precisely match each individual hinge with its best-fit housing to ensure perfect alignment, and a confocal laser progressively scans the topology of every single unit and 3D prints up to 25 micro layers of a custom photopolymer to eliminate residual waviness.

But since launching, some users of the the foldable phone, called Duo, have reported the appearance of cracks in the screen, above the location of the centre hinge. So far, only a small number of people are having a problem.

Frank Landymore, writing for Futurism, suggests the cause of the fault may have been isolated:

In light of that fiasco, now feels like a good time to bring up how the hinge was designed: with the help of AI.

Srouji did say AI algorithms were used during manufacture, not design. I doubt Apple “vibe designed” the Duo’s hinge. If AI played any part in the design process, that was possibly in assessing a vast array of hinges, so the best possible hinge could be developed.

Some people reviewing the folding phone subjected the hinge to rigorous testing. Joanna Stern, for instance, used a custom made device to open and close the phone more than thirty-two thousand times, over the course of four nights, but reported no problems.

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