{"id":3221,"date":"2026-10-24T12:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T07:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2026-10-24T12:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T07:03:48","slug":"apples-foldable-iphone-hits-stores-with-2000-price-tag-and-scarce-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3221","title":{"rendered":"Apple’s foldable iPhone hits stores with $2,000 price tag and scarce supply"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Apple\u2019s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, hit stores around the world on Friday with a \u200bprice tag of about $2,000 and less of the fanfare that accompanied previous iPhone launches.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Singapore and Shanghai to London and San Francisco, demand was strong but with sales rationed, there were fewer of the round-the-block queues \u200cand overnight camp-outs that once marked new iPhone days.<\/p>\n

Competitors such as Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold premium foldable phones for years, and the Duo is a test of whether Apple can reinvent the small foldable mobile market the way the iPhone did for smartphones.<\/p>\n

It is also an early challenge for Apple\u2019s new CEO John Ternus, the former hardware chief who unveiled the phone barely a week after taking charge in September.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s estimated delivery dates for the Duo had slipped to late January within minutes of pre-orders opening a week ago, as demand outpaced supply. The US company called the response \u201cnothing short of \u200bextraordinary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Apple capped pre-orders at two handsets per customer and limited sales to walk-in shoppers. In China, France, Hong Kong, India and Japan, they were only available to those who had ordered online.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, where the first Apple store began selling \u200bthe new passport-shaped phones on Friday, a queue formed outside before opening at 8am local time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a bit of a luxury item for me, because it\u2019s so expensive, but \u2060I just think, you know what? Life\u2019s too short,\u201d said Simon Krishnan, a 48-year-old engineer who paid A$3,899 ($2,734) for a 512GB Duo.<\/p>\n

CEO Ternus played greeter at a store in Austin, Texas, throwing open the doors and high-fiving customers as they streamed in, a video \u200bposted on X by CBS Austin showed.<\/p>\n

A known car enthusiast, Ternus\u2019s Austin visit coincides with this weekend\u2019s Formula 1 US Grand Prix in the city, with Apple holding exclusive US broadcast and streaming rights to the racing series.<\/p>\n

At Apple\u2019s Fifth Avenue store in New York, \u200bmarketing head Greg Joswiak opened the doors to a crowd of customers, social media posts showed. Some posts said people had camped outside the store since as early as 4am local time.<\/p>\n

Mohit Chandel, a 32-year-old San Francisco resident and consultant, had promised his father in Singapore an iPhone Duo for his retirement but forgot to pre-order one.<\/p>\n

So when he spotted a dozen people lining up outside an Apple store around 11pm Thursday, he joined them, ordered a bench and pillow from Walgreens and settled in for the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know that. All the pre-orders are gone. He\u2019s expecting a Duo sometime in \u200bthe mail, so now I have to buy it,\u201d Chandel said.<\/p>\n

In China, a soft consumer market and rising memory costs have led to six straight quarters<\/a> of declining smartphone shipments, although Apple\u2019s market share has rebounded as some buyers trade up to premium devices.<\/p>\n

Liu Wei, \u200ba 26-year-old healthcare professional, already has a foldable phone from Xiaomi, but still queued outside a Shanghai store from 6 a.m. for Apple\u2019s first foldable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve used Apple products for many years, and I have more trust (in the brand), so I bought one on launch day to try it \u200cout,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many \u2060queued to pick up pre-orders, while others hoped for limited stock or to browse display models.<\/p>\n

Others were resellers.<\/p>\n

In Hong Kong, May, 38, who declined to give his full name, bought a 256GB iPhone Duo, priced at HK$17,499 ($2,231.73), in an online pre-sale and planned to resell it for a profit of around HK$4,000. \u201cA few meals\u2019 worth of money,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Paul Francis, 53, was one of several dozen fans who queued overnight outside London\u2019s Regent Street store in pouring rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people think it was mad. Including myself,\u201d the charity manager said.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Mixed reviews<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Early reviews have praised the Duo\u2019s design as well as its sturdy and barely visible hinge, a major feat for phones whose prominent creased screen has long been a drawback and potential deterrent for buyers.<\/p>\n

But reviewers said camera compromises, including no telephoto lens, and third-party apps still \u200bto be reworked for the new display size could disappoint some \u200bbuyers.<\/p>\n

They also said the folded Duo is less handy \u2060for the quick tasks most users do daily, and several prominent reviewers recommended against it for many Apple customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun trying the Duo out for a week, but it feels like I\u2019ve gotten to use an extraordinarily polished prototype \u2014 not a finished product that I\u2019d want to buy and carry,\u201d wrote longtime Apple commentator John Gruber.<\/p>\n

Tech commentator Marques Brownlee said in a YouTube \u200breview that for a regular person who mostly texts and browses, \u201cit is probably a no. But if the $2,000 doesn\u2019t mean much to you, and you like the idea, after the learning \u200bcurve and getting used to not having \u2060facial identification, it is a really fun phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Berlin, YouTube content creator Patrick Wolter was impressed that the Duo works as a phone and an iPad in one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always found it a hassle to carry around a separate tablet, especially since I already have a laptop and other gear,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the long run, this will likely end up replacing those other devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tough to find<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Apple\u2019s entry into the relatively niche foldables market could bring the format to a much broader audience, said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at market researcher IDC.<\/p>\n

IDC expects Apple will take 44% \u2060of the foldable \u200bmarket value in 2026 on 31% of units. By 2027, it will become the market leader both in value and units shipped, IDC forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple has made \u200ba convincing case for this form factor,\u201d Jeronimo said after spending a week with the Duo.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow comes the next test: turning excitement into availability, adoption and a lasting new chapter for the smartphone market,\u201d Jeronimo said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple\u2019s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, hit stores around the world on Friday with a \u200bprice tag of about $2,000 and less of the fanfare that accompanied previous iPhone launches. From Singapore and Shanghai to London and San Francisco, demand was strong but with sales rationed, there were fewer of the round-the-block queues \u200cand overnight camp-outs that once marked new iPhone days. Competitors such as Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold premium foldable phones for years, and the Duo is a test of whether Apple can reinvent the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}