The Apple Store will only let you check out two iPhone Duos

Apple will warn you to adjust the number of Duos in your cart if you attempt to buy more than two.

Apple

Apple is limiting the number of iPhone Duo units you can pre-order to two per customer, not just in the US, but also in other regions around the world. We've tried adding more than two units to our cart on the Apple Stores for Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, in addition to the US, and we've received a warning notice across all the online stores. The notification said: "A maximum of 2 iPhone Duo can be purchased per customer. Please adjust the total quantity of iPhone Duo in your order before checking out." It didn't matter what configuration we tried to purchase — we got the same warning if we had more than two units in our cart.

As MacRumors reports, it's not clear when Apple put the limit in place. According to people on Reddit's iPhone Duo community, some customers were able to place an order for more than two when the company started taking pre-orders on October 16. It's also unclear if and how the company is preventing scalpers from buying more than two units by creating multiple accounts and using different credit cards. That Apple is implementing a purchase limit doesn't come as a surprise. It previously said that the demand for the iPhone Duo was "nothing short of extraordinary," and it had to push back shipping dates to 2027 soon after pre-orders started. 

Sure enough, all the stores we've checked show a shipping estimate of January 22, so you will probably have to wait until next year if you haven't pre-ordered yours yet. Some people have been reporting that their shipping estimates were bumped up to earlier slots than the ones they were originally told, but you may have to look at retailers if you want to get your hands on a unit for the holiday season. Best Buy is still showing us a November 10 pick-up and shipping date for the 512GB Duo and December 14 for the 256GB.