iPhone Duo Preorders Sell Out Quickly, Pushing Deliveries to January 2027

Apple opened preorders for the highly anticipated iPhone Duo on October 16, and delivery estimates quickly slipped into 2027. The company’s first foldable iPhone is now facing extended backorders, with new orders estimated to ship as late as January 25, 2027. The phone is still available to order, but customers who missed the initial preorder window will have to wait months to receive one.

The first preorder shipments are scheduled to arrive on October 23, giving early buyers a chance to receive the foldable iPhone on launch day. The rapid shift in delivery estimates suggests strong initial demand, although it remains unclear how much of the delay is attributable to customer interest versus supply constraints.

Strong Initial Demand for Apple’s First Foldable iPhone

Apple has prominently showcased the iPhone Duo, including dedicated in-store demonstration areas for its foldable design. The rapid extension of delivery estimates suggests that the company has attracted considerable interest in its first foldable smartphone.

Earlier reports from China indicated that Apple had increased production orders by 30%, although total production was still expected to remain below 10 million units. Those figures have not been independently confirmed here, and the extended delivery estimates alone do not establish the phone’s eventual sales performance.

Apple announced the iPhone Duo in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. While its foldable design has generated considerable attention, some online criticism has focused on its $1,999 starting price and the camera features it lacks compared with the more conventional Pro models.

iPhone Duo pre-orders sold out within minutes this morning. As of now, every configuration is backordered until late January next year https://t.co/8Jk1HNbnQa

— 9to5Mac (@9to5mac) October 16, 2026

Camera Features Come With Trade-Offs

The iPhone Duo features a dual-camera system built around a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera with a 26mm-equivalent F/1.6 lens. It is joined by a 48-megapixel Fusion Ultra Wide camera with a 13mm-equivalent F/2.2 lens.

Unlike the iPhone 18 Pro, the Duo’s main camera does not have a variable aperture. The iPhone 18 Pro allows its 48-megapixel main camera to switch between F/1.48, F/1.8, F/2.8, and F/4.0, providing additional control over exposure and depth of field.

The foldable phone also lacks the dedicated telephoto camera found in the iPhone 18 Pro models. Instead, it offers an optical-quality 2x telephoto option using the main camera, limiting its reach compared with the Pro models’ dedicated telephoto hardware.

The front-facing Center Stage camera is another area where the Duo differs from Apple’s latest Pro phones. It uses a 12-megapixel camera, compared with the 18-megapixel front camera in the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. The Duo also omits the Pro camera controls that allow users to adjust settings such as aperture, shutter speed, and white balance.

These omissions may disappoint photographers who expect the most extensive camera capabilities from Apple’s most expensive iPhone. However, the initial preorder rush suggests that the foldable design and its other features are attracting buyers despite those compromises.

Pricing and Availability

The Apple iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model. The top-end 2TB version costs $3,199.

Preorders are available through Apple’s online store, but current delivery estimates extend to January 25, 2027, across the available color and storage configurations. The first units are scheduled to arrive on October 23.

Whether the early preorder demand translates into sustained sales remains to be seen. For now, Apple’s first foldable iPhone appears to have made a strong initial impression, even as its premium price and camera trade-offs draw criticism.