Apple’s first foldable iPhone went up for pre-order on Friday, October 16, and it was effectively sold out before the morning was over. Within minutes of the 8 a.m. Eastern opening, estimated delivery dates for the iPhone Duo slid past the October 23 launch day and into November. By Friday afternoon, CBS News MoneyWatch reported, the backorder stretched to late January.

This account rests on reporting from CBS News MoneyWatch and MacRumors; neither carried an Associated Press or Reuters credit on the pieces we read, and Apple has not published order numbers. Where a claim comes from a single source, we say so.

What happened on Friday

The Duo starts at $1,999 for the 256 GB model, according to CBS, and MacRumors lists the 2 TB version at $3,199. It is a book-style foldable: about the size of a passport when closed, with a 5.4-inch outer screen and a 7.6-inch inner display, per MacRumors. CBS says the inner screen is the largest on any Apple phone and that split-screen mode lets owners run two apps, or two windows of the same site, side by side; the article says the device feels closer to an iPad than to a traditional iPhone. Apple CEO John Ternus announced it on September 9 alongside the iPhone 18, which has been on sale since September.

Pre-orders opened at 5 a.m. Pacific. MacRumors tracked the delivery estimate moving from October 23 to November within minutes, and to January 25 by 5:30 a.m. Pacific. Apple, in a statement MacRumors attributes to the Financial Times, called demand “nothing short of extraordinary” and said it is working to get the phone to customers as fast as it can.

One early data point is anecdotal: an analyst-community account on X said every Apple store around New York and Connecticut showed the phone sold out within three minutes. That is a single social post, not a count, and Apple did not answer CBS’s request for pre-order figures.

Empty modern electronics store counter with rows of blank smartphone display stands in soft overhead light

What nobody has confirmed

Analyst Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote that the early read looks robust and that demand is running well ahead of supply. He projects roughly 10 million Duos over the next few quarters and as many as 25 million in 2027. Those are one analyst’s estimates, not Apple guidance.

There is also a supply story. MacRumors notes that rumors before pre-orders began pointed to manufacturing difficulties with the device. “Sold out” therefore says something about how many units were available at launch, and much less about total demand. A backorder to late January is consistent with both a blockbuster and a thin first batch, and the public numbers cannot tell the two apart.

What it means for anyone who wants one

The official launch date is still October 23. MacRumors reports that Apple’s site tells shoppers to check back October 24 for availability, with some store-pickup stock possible as early as the following week, and it points out that Apple has shipped constrained products ahead of its estimates before. No guarantees there. Apple has not said whether walk-in stock will exist on launch day; a separate MacRumors headline says retail staff were told to warn customers against coming in without a pre-order, and another reports one unit resold on eBay for $5,000. One listing is not a market price.

Stack of plain cardboard shipping boxes on a pallet in a bright warehouse
  • Order only from Apple or an authorized reseller, and be wary of listings that promise early delivery at a large markup.
  • Check the estimated delivery date at checkout again before you pay; it has been changing by the hour.
  • Confirm the return window and trade-in terms at the time you order, since they apply to the order and not to a headline.
  • If you are waiting for store stock, watch for Apple’s own availability notice rather than rumors.

A practical note on reading backorder dates: they are estimates that Apple updates as its supply picture changes, so a January date today is not a promise of a January delivery. Early shipments of constrained products sometimes arrive sooner than first quoted, and sometimes the date slips further. Buyers who care about having the phone by a particular occasion, such as the holidays, should treat the current estimate as a planning range and keep a fallback in mind.

The wider picture

The Duo arrived in a rough week for tech shares. CBS reported that the Nasdaq fell 2.1% on Friday, its worst week since June, as worries about AI-related debt spread; our earlier piece on CoreWeave’s debt scare covers that thread. Demand for a $1,999 phone and anxiety about technology financing can exist at the same time, and the Duo’s first weekend is a reminder that consumer appetite for new hardware is not tied tightly to the stock market.

Close-up of a smooth metal hinge on a dark foldable electronic device on a slate surface

What to watch next: whether Apple gives any unit figure when it reports earnings, how long the January backorder holds, and whether reviewers confirm the durability of the hinge once the first units are in hands. Those answers will say far more than a sold-out screen on launch morning.

Sources