Apple’s first foldable iPhone Duo sold out so fast after Friday pre-orders that delivery estimates already stretch into 2027, a surge analysts say runs well ahead of supply.
Pre-orders for the iPhone Duo opened Friday at 8 a.m. ET on apple.com and in the Apple Store app. Within minutes, estimated delivery dates slipped past the device’s official Oct. 23 launch date and into the following year.
By Friday afternoon, the phone was backordered until late January. CBS News reported the rapid sell-through of Apple’s first foldable handset, a high-priced device that buyers still rushed to reserve.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how many pre-order requests it received. The company left the early demand picture to outside observers and the delivery calendar itself.
Analyst Max Weinbach of market research firm Creativestrat posted on X about the pace of the sell-out near the open.
"It's been 3 minutes, and it's sold out at every store around the NYC/CT area,"
Weinbach’s note covered physical Apple stores in that corridor. Online channels told the same story through later ship dates.
Wall Street analyst Dan Ives, a partner at Yorkville Ives, issued a research note describing the same open as strong from the first hours.
"Apple opened iPhone Duo pre-orders this morning, and the early read looks robust in our view, with demand for Cupertino's first foldable running well ahead of supply out of the gates,"
Ives projects Apple will sell around 10 million Duos in the next few quarters and up to 25 million units in 2027. He expects demand to stay firm well into that year.
Prices start at $1,999 for a model with 256 GB of storage. When folded, the device is about the size of a passport. Unfolded, it carries the largest display of any Apple phone.
The screen can split for two apps at once, or show two windows of the same site. Those features mark the hardware shift Apple is selling at a premium.
Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, announced the iPhone Duo last month. He also announced the iPhone 18 at the company’s annual fall showcase; that model went on sale last month.
The Duo itself appeared on display during an Apple event on September 9, 2026, at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park in Cupertino, California. The official launch date remains Oct. 23. Pre-order reality has already moved many buyers past that date and into late January delivery windows.
No government program forced this run. No subsidy filled the carts. Customers saw a new form factor, accepted a four-figure price, and reserved units faster than Apple could promise near-term stock.
That is the market doing what it does when a company ships something people actually want. Delivery slips into next year are an operations problem. They are also a demand signal.
Ives’s unit forecasts, 10 million in the coming quarters, as many as 25 million in 2027, assume the early rush is not a one-day spike. Whether Apple can build enough units to match that pace is the open question the company has not answered with pre-order totals.
For now the calendar is the proof. Friday morning open. Minutes later, ship dates past launch. Friday afternoon, backorders into late January and talk of strength into 2027.
When shoppers line up for a $2,000 phone without a mandate, the product, not the press release, is doing the talking.
