The iPhone Duo Hinge Is 3D Printed From Recycled Titanium

Apple's Foldable Breakthrough Uses Metal 3D Printing

Last week Apple showed the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone. Most of the attention went to the screen and the comparison with Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8. For anyone watching additive manufacturing, the real story is the hinge. Apple 3D prints the hinge cover from 100% recycled Grade 5 titanium.

The hinge assembly contains more than 100 components. The titanium cover gets a bead-blasted finish that contrasts with the mirror polish on the rest of the chassis. Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji explained that a confocal laser scans the topology of each unit. The system then prints up to 25 micro-layers of a custom-developed photopolymer to eliminate residual waviness. AI algorithms match each hinge with the housing that provides the best fit.

Additive Manufacturing in Foldables Is Not New

OPPO used the same principle earlier this year on its Find N6 through a process it calls Liquid 3D Printing. That technique combines laser scanning with 5-picoliter photopolymer droplets, repeating around 20 times to create a flat base beneath the display. Honor also adopted additive manufacturing in 2023 with the Magic V2, using laser powder bed fusion to produce a titanium hinge. That was the first use of additive manufacturing in series production for consumer electronics.

Samsung has not announced any additive manufacturing in the Z Fold8. Its foldable mechanism uses a titanium alloy film beneath the panel. Apple is not new to this technology. In November 2025 the company said it had moved to 3D printing all titanium cases for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 using laser powder bed fusion. Those results led Apple to produce the iPhone Air's USB-C port with 3D printing as well.

Apple says it has spent a decade experimenting with additive manufacturing while waiting for the technology to meet its quality and scale requirements. With the iPhone Duo, the company has stopped observing and now uses the technology for the device's most critical part and the one most exposed to wear.