Apple’s first foldable phone is effectively sold out before it has even reached store shelves. Preorders for the foldable opened Friday at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, and within minutes delivery dates on Apple’s online store slipped from the October 23 launch day into November. By 5:30 a.m., every configuration of the iPhone Duo showed an estimated ship date of January 25, 2027, according to MacRumors, which tracked the store as the backlog built in real time.
The phone starts at $1,999 for 256GB of storage and climbs to $3,199 for the 2TB model, with two finishes — Night Sky and Star White. Apple’s retail launch is still set for Friday, October 23, but walk-in buyers should not expect much stock on shelves. Customers hoping to reserve an in-store pickup are being told to check back on Saturday, October 24, and Apple’s site now warns that online orders placed today will not arrive before late January.
Apple, for its part, is framing the frenzy as a demand story rather than a supply failure. Demand for the iPhone Duo has been “nothing short of extraordinary,” the company said in a statement to the Financial Times, adding that it is “working hard to get this revolutionary new product into customers’ hands as quickly as possible.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman separately reported that shipping timelines moved into early next year within minutes of the preorder window opening, underscoring both intense interest and tight initial supply for the $1,999 foldable.
iPhone Duo Demand Called ‘Extraordinary’ by Apple
The speed of the sellout is notable even by Apple launch standards. Rumors ahead of preorders had warned that iPhone Duo supplies could be constrained by manufacturing difficulties, and those warnings proved accurate within the first half hour. Macworld’s live coverage found the store’s order page opened at 8:07 a.m. Eastern, with the unlocked 256GB model first slipping into December and then every model showing January 25 by 8:37 a.m.
The iPhone Duo is the company’s most ambitious hardware debut in years, and its engineering is under unusual scrutiny. Apple hardware engineering vice president Tom Marieb told TechRadar in September that the phone uses a matte nano-texture display designed to cut glare and minimize the visibility of the fold crease — the chronic weak point of rival foldables. When asked whether the crease would worsen over time, Marieb said, in effect, to hold Apple accountable. The device carries four cameras, including a rear 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera, a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera, and a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera in the outer display.
iPhone Duo Already Resold for $5,000 on eBay
Where official supply ran dry, the resale market filled the gap within hours. A sold eBay listing for an iPhone Duo in Night Sky with 2TB of storage fetched $5,000 — an $1,800 premium over Apple’s $3,199 price — while a “confirmed preorder” of a 1TB model in the same finish sold for $4,400 against a $2,599 retail price. That, too, represents an $1,800 markup.
The flip market suggests buyers expect the shortage to persist well past launch day. Carriers with their own allocations, including Vodafone and Three in the UK, also took orders separately from Apple’s store; Three expects more 256GB and 512GB models by November 11, according to T3, though that is a retailer’s expectation rather than a guarantee.
What iPhone Duo Buyers Can Do Now
For shoppers who missed the first wave, the options are patience or vigilance. Apple lists the iPhone Duo for launch in more than 70 countries, meaning early supply is being spread thin across the globe. With past iPhone launches, constrained supplies have sometimes cleared faster than initial estimates suggested, so January dates could improve — though there are no guarantees.
Checking Apple’s store pickup page on October 24, monitoring carrier allocations, and watching for retail restocks are the most realistic paths to a 2026 unit. For everyone else, the iPhone Duo will be a January phone — the clearest sign yet that Apple’s foldable gamble has found its audience, even at a price that starts two thousand dollars.