Apple's iPhone Duo demand pushes delivery dates to late January

Apple's (AAPL) new foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, becomes available on October 23, but strong demand for the highly anticipated device has pushed out delivery dates to late January for U.S. customers.

Shares of the Cupertino-based company edged up 1.7% during premarket trading on Friday. Earlier this week, Apple became the second company ever, joining Nvidia (NVDA), to reach the $5T market capitalization threshold.

According to Apple's website, the delivery date estimate for an iPhone Duo, including the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB configurations, is January 29. Despite starting with a hefty $1,999 price tag, customer demand has pushed availability back by three months. However, Apple does suggest checking back on October 24 to see if delivery dates have changed.

Counterpoint Research estimated Apple will sell 6M units of the Duo in 2026. The iPhone Duo comes in two colors—star white and night sky—and it has a nano-texture finish that reduces glare and distractions. It has two batteries and 31 hours of video playback using the inner display and 44 hours using the outer display. The new iPhone Duo has the same 48 MP Fusion camera that is in the iPhone 18 Pro.

Demand for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which were initially released on September 18, has proven strong as well, particularly in China. During its first week of availability, the iPhone Pro series recorded 12% year-over-year growth compared with last year's release. This pushed Apple to the No. 1 spot, capturing 33% of China's smartphone market for the week.

"The delayed launch of the base iPhone 18 may have driven some consumers to trade up to the Pro series, while price hikes of over $200 on many Chinese flagship models may have raised the price anchor, strengthening the iPhone's relative value proposition," said Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam.

The standard iPhone 18, iPhone Air 2 and iPhone 18e are expected to launch around March 2027.