Pre-orders for the iPhone Duo — Apple's first foldable smartphone with two screens, unveiled at the September 9 event — have officially opened in the US and several other countries. Demand for the new device turned out to be so high that wait times for those who failed to place an order in the first few minutes have stretched significantly: purchasing the device this year is now highly unlikely.

First hours of pre-orders: from a week to January

Buyers who managed to pre-order immediately after sales opened at 3:00 PM Moscow time will receive their iPhone Duo in just a week, on October 23. However, momentum shifted rapidly: just half an hour after launch, delivery dates for some configurations in the US Apple online store were pushed back to late January.

Timelines by configuration and color

At the time of writing, an estimated delivery date of January 22 was set for all iPhone Duo variants with 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB of storage in Star White and Night Sky colors. Thus, both base and top-end modifications essentially landed in the same delivery window, highlighting the scale of the initial shortage.

Retail stores — the last chance before the end of the year

The only realistic way to get Apple's new smartphone before the end of the current year is to find it at brick-and-mortar retail locations, where a limited number of devices will be available at launch. The company itself recommends checking store availability on October 24. In practice, online delivery dates depend on the supply-demand ratio, and the exact volume of available devices on the first day of pre-orders remains unknown.

Production constraints

Earlier, unofficial sources reported that the number of manufactured units would be limited due to manufacturing difficulties associated with low production yields. This explains why, despite high popularity, the model cannot be supplied in the required quantities immediately after launch.

Context: a new form factor for Apple

The iPhone Duo represents a fundamentally new product for the company: for the first time, Apple has entered the foldable device segment with dual screens, which in itself explains the frenzy surrounding pre-orders. For buyers, this means that when planning a purchase, they should focus either on retail locations or January online delivery dates.