Apple’s first foldable iPhone is already facing delivery waits stretching into next year. Some online orders for the $1,999 iPhone Duo were showing late-January estimates after preorders opened on October 16, while launch-day pickup inventory sold out quickly, according to CNBC.
Apple described preorder demand as “nothing short of extraordinary” in a statement carried by CNBC. The Financial Times also reported that deliveries had slipped into 2027 within hours of orders opening. Apple said it would continue accepting orders online while working to get devices to customers.
The backlog does not mean Apple has postponed the product’s launch. Its September announcement set October 23 as the first availability date, following an October 16 preorder opening. An individual delivery estimate answers a different question: when a particular buyer can expect a particular configuration to arrive.
Earlier iPhone Duo launch-stock warnings concerned the risk that demand would exceed early inventory. The latest reporting moves that story from an anticipated shortage to observed delays, although it does not establish identical waiting times across every country, storage option, colour or sales channel.
That distinction matters for buyers deciding whether the phone is unavailable altogether. Apple’s statement that it will keep taking online orders describes a queue, not a withdrawal from sale. Reported late-January estimates should not be treated as a universal delivery date or a guarantee that every retailer has exhausted its allocation.
The larger workspace is the practical reason to consider it. Apple says users can place two apps side by side, open two windows from the same app and move between the outer and inner displays. Those capabilities describe the product’s intended usefulness; the speed at which its initial allocation sold out does not establish how well it performs in everyday use.
For Apple, the financial opportunity is not simply selling more phones. A customer who would otherwise have bought a less expensive iPhone can generate more revenue by choosing the Duo. Analysts interviewed by CNBC pointed to that shift toward higher-priced models as an important part of the device’s appeal to the company.
The $1,999 figure is the US starting price, not a worldwide price. Our iPhone Duo regional pricing coverage compares the different markets. Buyers also need to distinguish the handset price from the total after taxes, accessories and optional protection, rather than treating every quoted cost as the same purchase.
A long order queue cannot, by itself, reveal the balance between unusually strong demand and unusually constrained supply. Without a confirmed count of the units available and the orders received, delivery estimates do not provide a reliable global sales total. Analyst shipment forecasts remain forecasts, not a tally of completed purchases.
Apple’s first availability date remains October 23. The immediate change is that some buyers ordering through its online store face a wait into 2027, rather than a phone arriving at launch. Whether that queue shortens as production and deliveries progress will be a separate test from the opening rush.
