Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo hits preorders at $1,999, delivery dates slip into 2027

Apple's first foldable iPhone went up for preorder on Friday and immediately ran into a months-long queue. According to The Verge, delivery estimates for the iPhone Duo slipped to late January 2027 for every configuration less than an hour after preorders opened at 8AM ET on October 16. The device starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model and reaches stores on Friday, October 23.

What Apple is shipping

The iPhone Duo was announced in September at Apple's "Surprise and shine" event, which also introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, according to The Verge. The phone adopts the shorter, squarer folding shape that Samsung brought to market earlier this year.

On the hardware side, The Verge reports a 5.4-inch outer screen that opens into a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display. Inside is the A20 Pro chipset, the same silicon as the iPhone 18 Pro, along with the same 48-megapixel fusion camera, though without that phone's variable aperture. Face ID is absent; instead, a Touch ID sensor built into the edge handles unlocking. Apple rates the device IP68 for dust and water resistance, with Ceramic Shield on the front display and Ceramic Shield 2 around the back, and Apple Pencil support is promised later this year. It ships in two finishes, Star White and Night Sky.

Where to order and what carriers are offering

Unlocked preorders are live at Apple and Best Buy. The major US carriers, meanwhile, are leaning on aggressive promotions, as The Verge details:

• AT&T is offering new and existing customers up to $1,200 off with a qualifying trade-in, applied through 36 monthly bill credits. Switchers can also claim up to $800 via a reward card toward an existing phone balance, and new eligible lines activated online save up to $200 per line through bill credits.
• T-Mobile will take up to $1,000 off with eligible trade-ins on an Experience Beyond or Go5G Next plan, or the same discount with no trade-in when a new line is added and the customer switches from another carrier.
• Verizon is waiving its $40 activation fee for new customers who preorder, with a $55.55-per-month payment option over 36 months at 0 percent APR. Its Simplicity Pro package runs $72.22 per month and bundles extras such as two additional TravelPass days per month plus up to two phone upgrades within any rolling 12-month period.

Getting one before 2027

Online orders now carry a long wait, but The Verge notes that Apple typically reserves units for retail, so an in-store visit on October 23 could still beat the shipping queue. As for what caused the slip, the outlet says it could be heavy demand for a first-generation foldable, limited supply on Apple's side, or a mix of the two — Apple has not clarified which.

Why it matters

Apple's arrival is the strongest endorsement the foldable format has received, and it lands at a premium $1,999 entry price. An across-the-board slide into 2027 within the first hour is a real signal, even if an ambiguous one: either buyers are willing to pay that much for an iPhone that folds, or Apple is starting from a very small production base — realistically, some combination of both. For Samsung, which introduced this shorter design earlier this year, and for other foldable makers, an iPhone-branded competitor backed by carrier subsidies as large as $1,200 changes the US market's calculus. For buyers, the practical takeaway is simple: preorder now and wait until late January, or try an Apple Store on launch day.