Repairing a Broken iPhone Duo Could Cost Up to $1,499

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone, is currently an extremely expensive device, selling for a starting price of $1,999. But while the purchase price is high, it will be very costly if it breaks.

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone, is already an incredibly expensive phone, starting at $1,999. While the purchase price is high, it will be very expensive if it breaks.

Ahead of the iPhone Duo's launch next week, 9to5Mac has revealed the costs of folding repairs, and if you don't have AppleCare+, it's pretty staggering. They range from damage to the back glass of the phone, which costs $199, to damage to the internal screen, which costs $999 to repair. Apparently, Apple will also charge up to $1,499 for "other damages," though it's unclear exactly what that means.

All these prices are greatly reduced with AppleCare+. Because the iPhone Duo is such an expensive and complicated device, anyone dropping the cash to buy one should seriously consider getting AppleCare along with it. I'd go even further and suggest picking up an iPhone Duo case alongside.

As scary as these high repair prices seem, Apple has essentially moved past the age of fragile foldables. When Samsung's first foldable phones hit the market, they were very prone to damage, with displays that had cracks when folded that allowed sand particles to enter and damage the inner screen. You can even remove the outer layer of the display, a problem that Samsung had to go through by releasing a statement telling people that the outer layer of the display is not a screen protector.

To Apple's credit, the iPhone Duo probably won't be as fragile as foldable iPhones of the past, but it's still a phone with plenty of moving parts that can always lead to unpredictable damage. But we probably won't know exactly how durable it is until it hits people's hands later this month. It's also likely that the Duo's unique screen ratio will make it one of the first foldables that's actually good for gaming.