ZDNET’s key takeaways

Some iPhone Duo inner screens are failing at the hinge within hours of unboxing.

The cause is unknown, but identical damage points to a faulty batch of hinges.

If yours fails, document it, don’t accept blame, and choose refund or replacement.

What’s happening?

Owners are seeing bright white lines appear on the display, sometimes within a few hours of ownership. And all the damage being reported seems to be the same — one or more bright lines running across the right-hand side of the display about a third of the way up, with a secondary line along the middle.

What’s causing it?

Bottom line: We don’t know, but there are some well-informed guesses out there.

There’s been a flurry of activity over the weekend related to what is, rather predictably, being called “Crackgate.” The teardown experts at iFixit have been busy — they completely disassembled a Duo, built a 3D model of the hinge, and identified several ways the hinge mechanism could be damaging the inner display.

It could be…