Apple Inc. Sells Out Limited In-Store Inventory for New Foldable iPhone Duo

Apple Inc. quickly sold out of its limited in-store inventory for the new iPhone Duo, highlighting strong demand for a foldable device starting at nearly $2,000. The phone went on sale on Friday, reviving the familiar sight of people lining up overnight to secure the device first. Representing the company's most radical reinvention in the iPhone's nearly two-decade history, the Duo marks a major bet by Apple to establish a presence in a category that has largely remained a niche.

The launch filled stores across major global cities from New York to Beijing and Singapore. Early turnouts included customers collecting preorders, walk-in buyers hoping to secure limited stock, and resellers. In Singapore, a few hundred individuals queued early Friday morning, including a family of seven from Myanmar who camped out overnight. In the United States, individual Apple stores received roughly 50 to 200-plus Duo units per location, with items selling out rapidly. A store in Los Angeles ran out of stock for arrivals after 6:30 a.m., while a location in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, depleted its 256- and 512-gigabyte configurations within the first half hour.

Leadership was also present at retail locations during the rollout. Shoppers at the Domain Northside Apple Store in Austin were greeted by new Chief Executive Officer John Ternus, while Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, and Vanessa Trigub, vice president of retail stores, appeared at the Fifth Avenue location in New York.

Consumers placing new orders for the Duo through Apple’s website face delivery estimates stretching to the end of January, though some shipping dates have moved up to November or December. These delays represent some of the lengthiest for a new Apple product in the modern era. The new phones are difficult to produce due to their advanced hinge and display technology, and they are currently built in a limited number of facilities in China.

The iPhone lineup remains Apple’s largest moneymaker, generating roughly half of the company’s revenue. While Apple was not first to market with a foldable phone, the Duo's rollout has bypassed the lackluster debut seen with the Vision Pro headset three years ago, with demand outpacing supply even as prices reach up to $3,199 for 2-terabyte models. Competitors including Samsung Electronics Co., Xiaomi Corp., and Oppo have also raised prices amid shortages of memory chips and other components affecting the broader consumer electronics market.

Apple is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings results on November 2, though those figures will not include sales of the Duo given that the period concluded around the end of September. The upcoming earnings will instead reflect early sales of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models, which debuted on September 18.

"The rapid sell-out of the iPhone Duo demonstrates that strong consumer appetite for true product innovation can overcome high price barriers, even in a mature market. For hardware manufacturers, entering a niche category requires balancing complex supply chain constraints with precise inventory management. Apple's ability to generate immediate retail demand for a $2,000-plus device highlights the enduring power of brand loyalty, though the true test for the company will be its ability to scale production and sustain this momentum across global markets over the coming quarters." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes