iPhone Duo supply constraints aren’t going away anytime soon, and Apple currently has no timeline for when they will.
If you missed the preorder rush for Apple’s first-ever foldable device, expect a long wait. Orders placed now won’t be delivered until late January. And the problem isn’t going away.
iPhone Duo supply constraints have no end date yet
Apple’s chief operating officer Sabih Khan talked about the shortage on Monday’s earnings call. He said the iPhone Duo is constrained and the ramp is going well, but it’s “really hard to predict when supply and demand will be in balance.”
While Khan didn’t say what is holding back Duo output, Apple CEO John Ternus did say the company is working hard to get the foldable into customers’ hands as quickly as possible.
A strong possibility for the shortage is the company’s struggle to produce the very complex hardware of the folding iPhone. Some customers had to deal with units with screens that spontaneously cracked almost immediately.
Demand outran stock from day one
Preorders for iPhone Duo opened October 16. Unsurprisingly, launch-day delivery vanished within minutes, with new orders quickly sliding to late January 2027.
Apple described preorder demand as “nothing short of extraordinary”, with some early buyers saying estimates moved up by weeks. Still, new orders played now show a late January delivery.
Carriers felt the squeeze as well. Verizon apologized to some customers whose preorders ran late by reportedly offering $100 gift cards.
So if you’re still hunting for a Duo, patience is your best bet. Apple hasn’t given a date, and it looks like one is coming anytime soon.
Memory costs add to Apple’s headache
Turns out the iPhone Duo isn’t Apple’s only supply problem. During Monday’s conference call with investors, Ternus called memory pricing for all its devices unprecedented, and Apple executives expect higher memory costs to keep pressuring margins.
For Apple’s holiday-quarter forecast, the company expects its revenue to grow 7% to 10% year over year, which it says reflects its best view of constrained supply. Revenue growth last quarter was 12%.
And Apple guided gross margins of 45% to 46%. Most of the drop from September’s 47.9% is because of rising memory costs.
Also during the call, CFO Kevan Parekh said Apple reluctantly increased prices on a number of products. The company raised iPad and Mac prices around June, and the new iPhone 18 Pro models debuted at higher prices in September.
In hopes of reducing future increases in component costs, Apple is considering spending to lock in parts. Its manufacturing purchase obligations increased by $33 billion between the June and September quarters, and Ternus noted Apple is deepening ties with U.S. titanium producer Perryman.
Anurag Chawake is a tech-focused writer specializing in smartphones, apps and consumer technology. His interest in computers began during the Windows 98 era, eventually leading him to explore everything from operating systems to mobile devices and PC hardware. Anurag previously contributed to The Indian Express, covering Apple, Android, gaming and the broader technology landscape.
