We'll fold Apple's iPhone Duo 900 times an hour to see how its hinge holds up.

We want to know how many times you can fold an iPhone Duo before it breaks. After waiting over three hours at the Apple store on Friday, we bought one of the coveted iPhone Duo foldable phones in Louisville, Kentucky, and brought it back to CNET’s lab, a bespoke facility where I oversee hardware and software testing as the director of lab operations. 

The goal is simple. As of Friday afternoon, my team and I have loaded the iPhone Duo into a proprietary machine we built to test foldable phones like Apple’s and Samsung’s rival Galaxy Z Fold 8, which we’ve already started testing. I’ve overseen the methodology and build of this testing rig for months in anticipation of Apple’s long-rumored foldable iPhone. (Read on for how CNET tests foldable phones.)

We even named our machine to match its purpose: Meet the Fold-a-Phone. 

Now, my team of engineers and testing experts will watch the iPhone Duo open and close, open and close, to rigorously and systematically monitor the durability of Apple’s hinge and two screens.

After all, repeatedly folding a phone with bare hands can only get you so far in understanding the complex forces at play between the magnetics that snap the screen shut and the all-critical hinge. 

CNET’s Senior Technology Reporter, Abrar Al-Heeti, has done a beautiful job capturing the iPhone Duo’s pros and cons in her smart, thorough review.

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