If you want an iPhone Duo in time for the holidays, the useful date is the one Apple shows for your order. On November 2, 9to5Mac reported that some Apple Store delivery estimates had slipped to late January 2027. Apple itself has given no date for when the wait will ease.
CEO John Ternus told Reuters on November 2 that production was ramping up, but Apple could not predict when it would be able to meet demand. That leaves room for an individual store to get units earlier. It also means buyers should not treat January as the month when the Duo will suddenly be easy to find.
What the queue tells us about the Duo
The wait establishes one thing: Apple has more buyers than phones it can currently supply. It does not tell us how many phones Apple has sold. A queue can form when demand is unusually strong, when relatively few units are available, or both. Ternus did not put a number on either side of that equation.
Apple’s latest earnings report cannot settle the question either. The company’s fiscal fourth quarter ended September 26. The Duo went up for preorder on October 16. Apple’s record September quarter for iPhone revenue therefore tells us about the phones it was already selling, not how well its first foldable sold.
What about the cracked screens?
In the same Reuters interview, Ternus said a small proportion of units had been returned over display issues and that Apple was replacing affected phones. He did not give a return rate. For buyers weighing a first-generation foldable, that distinction matters: returns to date cannot tell you how an inner screen will hold up after a year of opening and closing it.
Real Talk
Before paying a reseller more to skip the queue, try the Duo in person if you can. Open an app you actually use. Read a long page, compare two documents or pull up a map. If the larger screen solves something that bothers you on your current phone, you have a reason to wait. If you close it and prefer using the outside screen, the shortage has made the phone harder to buy without making it more useful to you.
💡 IskraCore Take
If the Duo is a gift or a replacement for a failing phone, check delivery and pickup for your exact configuration and postcode. If neither meets your deadline, choose a phone you can get in time. If your current phone still works and you specifically want the foldable screen, we’d keep it a little longer and skip the reseller premium.