Apple’s first foldable iPhone didn’t last long on the shelf. Preorders for the $1,999 iPhone Duo sold out within minutes after opening on Oct. 16, and delivery dates jumped from Oct. 23 to late January. It’s also Apple’s first book-style foldable, after years of watching Samsung and Google build the market.
Wall Street noticed right away. “Apple opened iPhone Duo pre-orders this morning, and the early read looks robust in our view,” Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives wrote in a research note, adding that demand is running well ahead of supply, as reported by CBS News. Folded up, the Duo is roughly the size of a passport.
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The $1,999 Duo sold out fast, and the wait is long
The rush started before the store even opened. Apple’s “Get Ready” process, which lets buyers save their choices ahead of time, closed late on Oct. 15, and every model sold out within about 30 minutes of preorders, after store opening at 8 a.m. ET the next morning, according to Forbes. The phone hadn’t even been reviewed yet, and it hits stores on Oct. 23.
Some buyers barely had time to blink. “It’s been 3 minutes, and it’s sold out at every store around the NYC/CT area,” Creativestrat analyst Max Weinbach posted on X. Apple didn’t immediately say how many preorders it had taken.
Tight supply was always part of the story. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring warned in September that supply might fall short of early demand, despite the fact that (“writing that”) Apple appeared more focused on securing enough components than finding enough buyers. He expected Apple to have built 7 million to 8 million foldable iPhones in the second half of 2026.
Woodring was impressed by Apple’s Sept. 9 event, hosted by CEO John Ternus, calling it the company’s most consequential launch since the iPhone X. Morgan Stanley also estimates that with a significant share of Apple customers still running older devices, the iPhone upgrade opportunity remains large.
What the $1,999 actually buys
The Duo is Apple’s most ambitious iPhone yet. It has a 5.4-inch front display and a 7.6-inch foldable inner screen with a nano-texture finish that cuts glare and makes the center crease all but invisible. Users can also run two apps side by side.
The fold opens up some new tricks. The phone can sit like a small laptop, with content on the top half and controls on the bottom, or stand like a tent for movies or a bedside clock, as reported by Yahoo Finance. It’s equipped with wide and ultrawide rear cameras, but no telephoto lens. Up front, Apple’s Center Stage camera helps keep users in view as they move, and a FaceTime camera sits hidden beneath the main folding screen.
Storage ranges from 256GB to 2TB. Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan called the Duo the standout of Apple’s event and pointed to features like dual capture in FaceTime, and apps built for the larger display, as reasons it could reach a wider audience, TheStreet reported. Mohan kept his Buy rating on the stock.
Apple shows up late, as it often does
Apple is walking into a market Samsung has worked on for years. Samsung entered foldables in 2019, and its Galaxy Z Fold8 starts at $1,899, about $100 less than Apple’s new Duo. The two companies are competing for the consumer while also remaining tied through the hardware supply chain. Apple’s huge base of iPhone users, though, could change the economics of the whole category.
Foldables are still a small slice of the phone market. Worldwide foldable shipments were forecast to reach 20.6 million units in 2025, and foldables should make up more than 10% of total smartphone market value by 2029, as reported by IDC. IDC also expects Apple’s foldable to take more than 22% of unit share in its first year.
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The category just hit a major milestone, too. Global foldable shipments should pass 100 million cumulative units by the end of 2026, and Apple could grab about a quarter of the market in its first year, good for second place behind Samsung. Samsung is forecast to keep the lead with 38% of the market.
Some fans are already sold. “I think the 18 is incremental, but the Duo is revolutionary,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said after visiting Apple’s Manhattan store, adding that he plans to buy one as a second phone, TheStreet reported. Still, one buyer’s enthusiasm isn’t proof of broad demand.
What investors should watch next
The big question is how many Duos Apple can actually ship. Ives expects demand to stay strong into 2027 and projects Apple will sell about 10 million Duos over the next few quarters and up to 25 million altogether in 2027.
The Duo could also cushion a softer quarter. JPMorgan expects the foldable and higher prices to offset a temporary December-quarter shortfall, while Citi called it Apple’s “biggest new hardware category since the Apple Watch and AirPods,” as reported by TheStreet. Apple reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Nov. 2.
The numbers at stake are big. Morgan Stanley estimated the foldable could bring in almost $14 billion in sales in the December quarter alone. If Apple can’t build enough of them, though, some of that demand could slip into next year.
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