Apple's Folding iPhone Sold Out in an Hour. Most Buyers Wait Until January

Apple started taking orders for the iPhone Duo at 8AM ET on Friday, and shipping dates slipped into next year in less than an hour.

Apple's website showed late January delivery for every version of the Duo, according to The Verge. Store sales are still planned for October 23rd.

The Duo was announced in September. It is Apple's first iPhone that folds in half. The cheapest version has 256GB of storage and costs $1,999. It comes in "star white" and "night sky."

Apple had set Friday, October 16 as the order date, according to Apple. Apple also put new accessories up for order at the same time. It had told shoppers to get ready by 9 p.m. Pacific Time on October 15.

Inside, the Duo has an A20 Pro chip to run its screens and a new C2 chip to connect to mobile networks, according to Reuters. A folding screen needs careful control of power and heat, not just good pictures. A new Apple-made network chip also needs wide testing with phone carriers.

That work was flagged before. In April, Apple's folding iPhone had engineering problems that could delay first shipments by months in the worst case, according to Reuters. That report did not say which part had trouble.

The broader context here helps explain the delay. When every color and storage size slips at once, it usually means Apple only built a small first batch. It is like a bakery selling out of every kind of bread on opening morning. The issue is total supply, not one popular choice.

Looking at what this means for shoppers, the launch is now split in two. A small first group gets phones around October 23rd. Most people wait until after the holidays. For work phone fleets, testing labs, and case makers, January is the safer date to plan around. Early reports on crashes, battery life, and signal will also come from only those first owners.

In my view, this tight start is normal. A first folding phone needs the hinge, the bendable screen, the crease, and the software to all work together, and factories get better as they build more. Phones often look very different after a year of fixes. If Apple reaches steady supply by late January with screen, chips, and network working well, that will matter more than the first quick sellout.