New to this? Read it in simple words
- Apple started taking orders for the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, on October 16.
- Within about half an hour, new US orders showed delivery in late January.
- Apple calls the demand “extraordinary”, but did not say how many phones it sold.
- The phone costs from $1,999 and goes on sale on October 23.
- Preorder
- Ordering a product before it goes on sale, so it is sent to you as soon as possible.
- Foldable
- A phone with a screen that folds, so it opens into a bigger screen.
- Private Cloud Compute
- Apple’s own servers that run AI tasks too big for the phone, which Apple says keep data private.
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo on September 9. It folds open into a 7.6-inch screen. Preorders began on Friday, October 16, at 5 a.m. Pacific time, which was 14:00 in Budapest.
How fast the dates moved
Delivery estimates in Apple’s online store moved from November to December, and then to late January, within minutes, MacRumors and 9to5Mac report.
By 5:30 a.m. Pacific time, the US store showed January 25 for all eight versions: two colours and four storage sizes from 256GB to 2TB, MacRumors found. The earliest orders will arrive on launch day, October 23.
Store pickup for launch day sold out, CNBC and MacRumors report. In Brazil, estimates moved to early February, according to 9to5Mac.
From MacRumors’ and 9to5Mac’s checks of Apple’s US store on October 16, and Apple’s statement. Apple gave no order numbers.
What Apple says
Apple said in a statement that preorder demand had been “nothing short of extraordinary”. It said it is working to get the phone to customers as quickly as possible, and will keep taking orders online.
Apple gave no number of orders and no reason for the long waits. Bloomberg had reported earlier, citing unnamed sources, that supply would be limited, MacRumors notes.
Tarun Pathak of the research firm Counterpoint told CNBC that demand will be higher than supply. Analysts’ forecasts of how many phones Apple will sell this year differ.
What the phone costs, and where its AI runs
The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US. The 2TB version costs $3,199. It goes on sale in more than 70 countries on October 23, and in 28 more countries on October 30.
Apple says its AI features use processing on the phone and on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers. Its new Siri AI is rolling out as a beta with iOS 27.
Apple’s own specifications, such as twice the computing power for AI models on the phone, are company claims. Independent reviews have not been published yet.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1
- 2Research · October 16, 2026Apple’s $1,999 iPhone Duo puts the company’s status-symbol power to the test CNBC
- 3Research · October 16, 2026Didn’t Pre-Order an iPhone Duo Yet? Wait Times Are Significant Now MacRumors
- 4Research · October 16, 2026Apple Calls iPhone Duo Demand ‘Extraordinary’ After Orders Slip to 2027 MacRumors
- 5Research · October 16, 2026Apple calls iPhone Duo pre-order demand ‘extraordinary’ as shipping dates slip 9to5Mac
The delivery dates come from outlets that checked Apple’s store, and “extraordinary” is Apple’s own word. Apple has published no order numbers.
New orders for every iPhone Duo version showed late-January delivery within half an hour, signalling strong demand, though buyers face long waits. How we rate the mood