Apple's First Foldable iPhone Launches to Strong Demand, Rationed Supply and Mixed Reviews

In Sydney on Friday, a queue was already waiting outside the first Apple store to sell the iPhone Duo when the doors opened at 8 a.m. local time. Simon Krishnan, a 48-year-old engineer, paid A$3,899 (about US$2,734) for a 512GB model. "This is a bit of a luxury item for me, because it's so expensive, but I just think, you know what? Life's too short," he said.

The Duo, Apple's first folding phone, went on sale worldwide that day at about US$2,000, from Singapore and Shanghai to London and San Francisco. Demand was strong, but sales were rationed, and there were fewer of the round-the-block lines and overnight camp-outs that once defined new iPhone days. Apple's estimated delivery dates slipped to late January within minutes of pre-orders opening a week earlier. The company called the response "nothing short of extraordinary", capped pre-orders at two handsets per customer, and limited in-store sales to walk-in shoppers. In China, France, Hong Kong, India and Japan, stores sold only to people who had ordered online.

The launch matters because Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold premium foldables for years. The Duo is a test of whether Apple can reinvent the small foldable market the way the original iPhone did for smartphones. It is also an early test for new CEO John Ternus, the former hardware chief, who unveiled the phone barely a week after taking charge in September. On Friday he played greeter at a store in Austin, Texas, throwing open the doors and high-fiving customers, according to a video CBS Austin posted on X. His visit coincided with the weekend's Formula 1 US Grand Prix in the city; Apple holds exclusive US broadcast and streaming rights to the series, and Ternus is a known car enthusiast. At the Fifth Avenue store in New York, marketing head Greg Joswiak opened the doors to a crowd, and some social media posts said people had camped outside since as early as 4 a.m.

The people in line had varied reasons. Mohit Chandel, a 32-year-old San Francisco consultant, had promised his father in Singapore a Duo for his retirement but forgot to pre-order. Spotting a dozen people outside an Apple store around 11 p.m. Thursday, he joined them, ordered a bench and pillow from Walgreens, and stayed the night. His father does not know yet, he said, and expects one in the mail. In London, charity manager Paul Francis, 53, was among several dozen fans who queued overnight in pouring rain outside the Regent Street store. "Some people think it was mad. Including myself," he said.

In China, a soft consumer market and rising memory costs have produced six straight quarters of declining smartphone shipments, though Apple's share has rebounded as some buyers trade up. Liu Wei, 26, a healthcare professional who already owns a Xiaomi foldable, queued from 6 a.m. in Shanghai anyway, citing years of using Apple products and greater trust in the brand. Not everyone in line was a user: some were resellers. In Hong Kong, a buyer who gave his name only as May, 38, pre-ordered a 256GB Duo at HK$17,499 (about US$2,232) and planned to resell it for roughly HK$4,000 profit, "a few meals' worth of money," he joked.

Reviews have been mixed. Early critics praised the design and a sturdy, barely visible hinge, a notable achievement for a category long dogged by a prominent screen crease. But they flagged camera compromises, including no telephoto lens, and third-party apps that have yet to be reworked for the new display size. They also found the folded Duo less handy for the quick tasks most people do daily, and several prominent reviewers advised many Apple customers against buying it. Longtime Apple commentator John Gruber wrote that after a week it felt like "an extraordinarily polished prototype", not a finished product he would want to buy and carry. Marques Brownlee said that for someone who mostly texts and browses, it is "probably a no", but that for those unbothered by the US$2,000 cost, and once used to having no facial identification, it is "a really fun phone." In Berlin, YouTuber Patrick Wolter liked that it works as both phone and iPad, and expects it to replace other devices over time.

Research firm IDC sees Apple's entry bringing the niche format to a far broader audience. It expects Apple to take 44 per cent of foldable market value in 2026 on 31 per cent of units, and to lead in both value and units by 2027. IDC vice president Francisco Jeronimo, after a week with the phone, said Apple has made a convincing case for the form factor. The next test, he said, is turning excitement into availability, adoption and a lasting new chapter for the smartphone market.