From global pre-order records to A-list stars begging for early access, Apple’s first foldable has become the most coveted device on the planet—and the wait is already stretching into next January. Welcome back to CWEB. Today we turn our attention to a story that is, at its heart, about the power of a great product launch. It is the story of the Apple iPhone Duo—the company’s first foldable iPhone—and the extraordinary, almost unprecedented global demand that has greeted its arrival. Pre-orders opened on October 16 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Within thirty minutes, every single configuration on Apple’s online store was showing a shipping estimate of January 25, 2027. The device, which starts at $1,999, was no longer available for delivery before Christmas. By Friday afternoon, the backorder had pushed past the official October 23 launch date and deep into the new year. This is not a story of failure. It is a story of demand so intense that it has outpaced even Apple’s most optimistic projections. The company described the response as “nothing short of extraordinary” in a statement to Bloomberg. And the market agreed. Apple shares edged higher on the news, with analysts pointing to the extended delivery timelines as a signal of both worldwide demand and sharply constrained supply for the $1,999 device. The roots of this global frenzy were planted weeks before pre-orders even opened. In September, Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, walked the Emmy Awards red carpet with the unreleased iPhone Duo in hand. He opened the device for reporters, and the reaction was immediate. According to reports, A-list celebrities privately begged Ternus to be placed on a priority pre-order list. One male star reportedly approached him directly, asking to be moved to the front of the line. The scene was described as famous figures “begging him to give them the phone”. By the time pre-orders went live globally, the die was cast. Analyst Max Weinbach noted on X that within three minutes, the device was sold out at every store around the New York City and Connecticut area. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote in a research note that demand for “Cupertino’s first foldable” was “running well ahead of supply out of the gates”. The scale of the opportunity is enormous. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anurag Rana and Josh Christensen have projected 14 million units sold and $28 billion in revenue for the iPhone Duo in Apple’s fiscal 2027, and they suggested sales could exceed those estimates. Dan Ives projects Apple will sell around 10 million Duos in the next few quarters and up to 25 million in 2027. Of course, the story is not without its complexities. Reports before launch suggested that Apple had struggled to ramp up production of the complex foldable design, leaving the company potentially short of inventory from the outset. The device relies on Nittobo T-Glass from Japan’s Nitto Boseki, and supply of that critical component has been a bottleneck. There is also the matter of the reseller market. eBay listings have already shown the 2TB model—which retails for $3,199—selling for nearly $5,000. Some of the early demand appears to be driven by scalpers, a familiar challenge for Apple that the company has not yet fully addressed. The wait may be months. But for those who have already ordered, and for the millions more who will join them in the year ahead, the anticipation is part of the experience. Before you go, check out a deal from Paris Jewelry. Visit ParisJewelry.com for the lowest prices on any jewellery plus free shipping, and take 20 per cent off with the code SAVE20 at checkout. That is ParisJewelry.com, code SAVE20. You have been listening to CWEB. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, or Pandora for more. You can also watch some of our CWEB reels on X, TikTok, and Facebook.
