Early iPhone Duo screen crack reports follow launch; Apple shares slip about 1%

Apple launches seem to carry a familiar pattern lately: each new release arrives with some kind of flaw. The iPhone 4 lost signal when gripped in a particular way, the iPhone 6 Plus bent inside pockets, and the iPhone 15 Pro ran abnormally hot until an iOS update addressed the issue.

This time, the iPhone Duo is in the spotlight. Within hours of sales beginning, users began reporting screens breaking along the fold, although Apple maintains that only a limited number of units are impacted and suggests reaching out to AppleCare for a replacement.

Apple’s stock fell roughly 1% on the reports, a relatively modest decline, yet the question remains whether something more serious is brewing.

In past episodes of this kind, Apple’s shares have generally dropped 3–5% across several days, but the trouble has not pushed customers to leave. Most buyers remain loyal, holding out for fixes instead of switching brands, and investors tend to shift their focus quickly, aware that Apple’s cash reserves are large enough to handle repair expenses and legal bills.

The iPhone Duo, it should be remembered, was not anticipated to transform Apple’s revenue. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, projects 20 million units sold in fiscal 2027, representing about 7% of all iPhone sales in that period.

Yet another threat hangs over Apple: artificial intelligence.

Higher financing costs, data-center power shortages, sharper rivalry among AI models, and skepticism about whether huge outlays will ever be repaid are pushing investors to want evidence that the money being spent is genuinely translating into revenue and earnings.

That focuses attention on Big Tech results and the pace at which AI spending turns into actual revenue. Investors are looking for AI outlays to generate lasting sales growth rather than merely expand capital budgets, and up to now, only a limited number of firms have made a persuasive case that they can deliver.

Apollo notes, for example, that tech-sector revenue per employee has increased from about $550,000 in 2022 to close to $800,000, while the remaining 493 S&P 500 members still sit at roughly $550,000. Profit margins in tech have improved as well, whereas other companies’ margins have stayed near 10%.

The larger issue is whether AI will at some point bring comparable productivity and earnings improvements to the broader economy. If it does not, shareholders could begin doubting that all the heavy spending is worthwhile, which might add more strain to technology shares, Apple’s among them.

S&P 500 futures may provide an early read on how investors are positioning before the next trading session, particularly with Big Tech earnings and AI spending still in focus.