The key facts
- Buyers who purchased the iPhone Duo before the official start of sales report being unable to re-activate the devices after a settings reset.
- Expert Andrey Vinogradov suggested that Apple identifies such devices by serial number via a connection to its server.
- It was previously also reported that new iPhone Duo units were freezing, and that Apple promised to replace devices with cracked screens free of charge.
What happened
Buyers who managed to purchase the foldable iPhone Duo before the official start of sales have run into a problem: after resetting the device, it cannot be re-activated. The owners themselves report this, Life.ru writes.
The expert's version
Editor-in-chief of IT EXPERT magazine Andrey Vinogradov, speaking on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio suggested that Apple may have taken notice of devices that reached users before the set date. In his view, the manufacturer can identify a batch by the serial number of one of the units. “Obviously, Apple surely sees these devices — after all, they naturally connect to Apple's server. Why exactly it was done this way is unclear,” the outlet quotes him as saying.
What remains unclear
Vinogradov has no information on how exactly Apple identified such smartphones or why the problems appeared specifically after a settings reset; he called the blocking mechanism a complicated question. He declined to predict whether owners will be able to restore their devices after the official start of sales. According to him, the iPhone Duo remains an expensive, niche device, so it is hard to gauge developers' interest in solving the problem.
Context of other malfunctions
Life.ru previously reported on malfunctions in new iPhone Duo units: according to buyers, some devices start freezing shortly after activation and stop responding to touch. Even before the official start of sales, reports emerged of smartphones being blockedthat had been activated earlier than the set date — the problems occurred after a settings reset. Separately, the outlet reported that Apple promised to replace iPhone Duo units with cracked screens free of charge.
