Refresh, refresh, refresh, sorry. Apple’s first foldable phone sold out in minutes, and the iPhone Duo backorder now stretches into next year. Pre-orders opened Friday at 5 a.m. PT, and by the afternoon the shipping estimate had slid to late January 2027, according to CBS News.
That is a $1,999 phone. Even so, people lined up digitally, hit refresh and lost.
How fast did the iPhone Duo sellout happen?
Faster than most people could finish their coffee. Analyst Max Weinbach of Creativestrat posted on X that it had been three minutes and the phone was “sold out at every store around the NYC/CT area.” Soon after, the estimated delivery date moved past the Oct. 23 launch and into the new year.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, 9to5Mac saw every color and storage combination showing a Jan. 25 estimate. Some shoppers saw Jan. 29. The dates are still moving, so your mileage may vary.
Resellers noticed immediately. In fact, eBay already has pre-order listings from scalpers asking as much as $5,200.
What you get for $1,999 as the Apple foldable backorder grows
The Duo starts at $1,999 for 256 GB. A 2TB model costs $3,199 before any trade-in or carrier deal, AppleInsider reports. For comparison, the iPhone Pro runs $1,199. The price tag also fits the bigger push under new CEO John Ternus, which we covered in his first six weeks as Apple CEO.
On paper, Apple’s own specs list a 7.6-inch inner display, a 5.4-inch outer display, the A20 Pro chip, a dual-battery design and iOS 27. Apple calls it the thinnest iPhone ever when opened. It comes in star white and night sky.
That said, it is not perfect. Engadget points out the Duo has no Face ID and no variable aperture on the main camera, plus an under-display camera on the inner screen.
Fans did not seem to care.
Here’s the thing: demand or a Duo pre-order shortage?
A sellout sounds like a victory lap, but it could mean two very different things. Either demand is huge, or Apple simply did not make many phones.
Nobody outside Apple knows which. The company has not said how many units were available in the pre-order window, and it did not immediately respond to CBS’s request for comment on how many orders it received. 9to5Mac says it is impossible to know the balance between strong demand and constrained supply.
There is a hint on the supply side. 9to5Mac cites a Nikkei Asia report from last month saying Apple was making only a few hundred Duo units per day. Because that claim is secondhand, treat it as a clue, not a fact.
Meanwhile, Wall Street leaned optimistic. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote in a research note that the early read “looks robust,” with demand “running well ahead of supply out of the gates.” That is analyst opinion, and Apple shares rose 2.3% in premarket trading, Investing.com reported. Chip supply matters here too, as TSMC’s record profit run shows how tight the market is.
When will the iPhone Duo delay end?
Here is the calendar. The official launch is Oct. 23, but only early pre-order buyers will have units in hand. The Duo goes on sale in 28 other countries and regions on Oct. 30. For anyone staring at a January date, the iPhone Duo backorder is the real story.
Some other retailers were showing October ship dates, and November at the latest, as of Vice’s report. If you missed Apple’s window, that is worth a look. Check the fine print on trade-in deals before you commit.
Investors will also be watching those delivery estimates closely. If they keep slipping, it signals sustained demand. If Apple quietly finds more phones, the frenzy fades fast.
So the question is simple: is a foldable iPhone worth waiting until almost February for? Plenty of people just said yes, and they did it in under three minutes.
