Where we heard itCNBC’s Squawk Box, interview with Wendell Weeks, chairman and CEO of Corning, Oct. 27, 2026. Watch the interview
CorningGLW CEO Wendell Weeks went on CNBC on October 27 to talk up a quarter in which, he said, a new foldable from AppleAAPL carries more Corning content than any device before it. Within minutes, he was asked why the $1,999 phones are cracking. His answer headed toward the hinge.
Weeks Points at the Hinge as Duo Screens Crack
Weeks told CNBC that “the iPhone Duo just came out and that has the largest content ever of Corning.” When a co-anchor asked about reports of a flaw causing cracks, he said the phone relies on “a very, very complicated hinge mechanism to be able to control so the product doesn’t develop a crease,” and that “they’re just working through some of the developmental pieces to be able to deliver it perfect every time.” He did not say which part is failing or whose glass sits in the inner screen.
On October 26, a day before the interview, Apple told CNBC: “We are aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units. If users experience issues with their iPhone Duo display, they should contact AppleCare for a replacement.” CNBC reported that an inner-screen repair costs $999 once a phone is out of warranty, and that the repair firm iFixit has theorized the breaks may have to do with the hinge design. The Duo reached stores on October 23, a week after it sold out in minutes.
Then the anchors turned into instructors. Andrew Ross Sorkin said he had been “playing with it” and that “if you keep your hands on the outside or on the edges, you’re fine,” because “people are pressing in on the screen at the same time they’re pressing.” “Close it like a book,” he and a co-anchor advised. Weeks answered: “By and large, I tend not to close my thumbs in my phone.” Polygon co-founder Russ Frushtick had already told casual buyers to wait for the second generation.
Apple’s Glass Supply Runs Through Kentucky
Corning’s ties to Apple keep growing. CFO Ed Schlesinger said on the October 27 earnings call: “We continue advancing our nearly 20-year partnership with Apple. By the end of 2026, all of the cover glass for iPhone, including iPhone Duo and Apple Watch, sold worldwide will be produced at our Harrodsburg, Kentucky facility.”
Apple can absorb a stumble. iPhone revenue reached $54.25 billion in its fiscal third quarter, which ended June 27, up 22% from a year earlier. Apple has also committed up to $100 million to a Pennsylvania titanium maker as Duo demand outruns supply. Investors have treated the two companies very differently this year: $100 put into Corning a year before the interview was worth $143 with dividends at the October 27 close, after peaking near $288 in late June.
Glass Innovations Slips While Fiber Surges
The quarter itself was strong. Core sales grew 19% to $5.08 billion, and core earnings of $0.91 a share topped the 88 cents Wall Street expected, as CNBC noted on air.
Glass Innovations, the segment that makes Gorilla Glass and display glass, fell 3% to $1.51 billion, with segment net income down 10%. Schlesinger said notebooks and handhelds were “down about 20%” in the quarter. Optical Communications rose 44% to $2.38 billion. Weeks credited AI: “faster adoption of our innovations helped us double our Gen AI sales year over year in the quarter, outpacing GPU unit growth.”
Corning’s third quarter
A year earlier the two businesses were nearly even: Optical Communications sold $1.65 billion in the third quarter of 2025 and Glass Innovations, which combines Corning’s former Display and Specialty Materials segments, sold $1.56 billion. The gap was $92 million. This year it was $873 million, and Glass Innovations was the only one of Corning’s five businesses whose sales fell.
A year ago Corning’s glass unit nearly matched fiber. Now fiber sells $873 million more a quarter.
Sales of Corning’s five businesses in the third quarter of 2025 and of 2026, in billions of dollars. Glass Innovations, home of Gorilla Glass, is coral.
That mix increasingly looks like CoherentCOHR, whose Datacenter and Communications segment grew 59% from a year earlier and made up 79% of sales in its June quarter. Corning’s glass business now plays a supporting role to fiber.
What Investors Should Track Next
Shares closed at $126.30 on October 27, down 1.1% on the day and 19.4% from the September 25 close, yet still up 44.2% for the year. That leaves the stock 50.6% below its June 29 closing high of $255.69. Fourth-quarter guidance calls for core sales of $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion and core EPS of $0.96 to $1.00. Watch for Apple’s root-cause findings: a hinge fix would back up Weeks, while any redesign of the display stack could pull Corning’s glass into the story.
Weeks pointed to Apple’s hinge, which he called very complicated, as the part still being worked out, and said Apple will get it right. Corning’s own quarter shows how much less the phone matters to it now: Glass Innovations shrank 3% while fiber sales grew 44%. The risk is a root cause in the display stack, with the stock already about half its June high.