Apple says AI and 3D printing built the hinge for its foldable Duo phone

Apple says it used AI algorithms and 3D printing to design and manufacture the hinge in its first foldable phone, the Duo, which the company unveiled at its Surprise and Shine event on Wednesday. Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, said the manufacturing process pairs each individual hinge with its best-fit housing using AI to ensure perfect alignment, then uses a confocal laser to progressively scan the topology of every unit and 3D-print up to 25 micro layers of a custom photopolymer to eliminate residual waviness.

The Duo marks Apple's entry into the foldable phone category, a market that has drawn significant consumer enthusiasm but whose devices have not always lived up to it. Because a foldable by design undergoes roughly twice the wear of a traditional smartphone, most foldables suffer significant degradation and lack the durability of conventional handsets, a weakness Apple is positioning the Duo against.

Srouji said the hinge work is part of a broader set of protections meant to keep the Duo from falling prey to the typical wear and tear associated with foldables. He also said Apple gave the device a custom nano-texture finish that significantly reduces glare and reflections, and applied a multi-layer lamination strategy designed to increase durability.

The AI-assisted hinge is notable less for the finished component than for what it signals about Apple's manufacturing approach. Using machine learning to match individual parts and additive manufacturing to build micro-scale layers points to a production process that adapts to each unit rather than relying on fixed tooling, a departure from conventional smartphone assembly lines.

Apple has not said how much of the hinge's design, as opposed to its production, was driven by AI, and the company's claims about the process have not been independently verified. The durability benefits are also unproven: whether the protections will be enough to keep the Duo in peak physical condition over the long run remains to be seen, and foldables have historically struggled most with longevity after months of repeated folding.

The announcement comes as Apple pushes AI deeper into both its products and its supply chain, and as the foldable category's biggest players, including Samsung, continue to iterate on hinge designs that resist dust, creasing, and fatigue. The Duo's hinge is the first public example of Apple applying AI to a critical mechanical component rather than to software features.

What remains unknown is how the Duo's hinge performs in real-world use, how much the AI-driven process adds to manufacturing cost or yield, and whether the technique will carry over to other Apple products. Apple has not disclosed pricing, availability, or independent durability testing for the Duo.