If you were hoping to score some iPhone Duo devices from Apple when the new foldable becomes available Friday, we have some bad news for you: The tech giant is limiting sales of the phone to two per person.
As reported by MacRumors earlier this week, when we tried to add more than two to our bag at the Apple Store, we received the following message: “A maximum of 2 iPhone Duo can be purchased per customer. Please adjust the total quantity of iPhone Duo in your order before checking out.”
The limit of two foldables per purchase will presumably also apply to those who shop in-store when the phone finally launches on Friday.
While pre-orders are supported until the end of January – our estimated delivery if you add two to our bag is January 25, as of the time of publication – Apple will have limited stock of the iPhone Duo in stores, but you’ll have to wait in line overnight to be one of the few people who can get their hands on one (or two).
While companies can limit the number of devices in each order, especially for stock-scarce products like game consoles, it’s been a while since Apple has limited how many phones people can buy at once. Nearly two decades ago, the company launched the original iPhone to great fanfare in September 2007, but limited buyers to two per order (later easing to five through the holidays). The restriction returned in 2012, when Apple limited orders to two iPhone 5 pre-orders per customer.
If you want to buy more than one iPhone Duo, we found that we could add several to our carts when shopping at Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Best Buy, although all of these purchases require you to sign up for a line of service with a carrier. However, pre-orders will also be back-ordered until the end of January.
The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable phone to enter the mobile niche that Samsung and Motorola have been fighting over since 2020, with Google entering the fray with the first Pixel Fold in 2023. Chinese phone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi have also released their own foldables, but none have sold widely in the US.
Despite sophisticated devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which were released earlier this year, analysts predict that Apple’s new device will cut out a significant part of the market: the International Data Corporation expects the duo to grow 31% of the foldable share of the phone by the end of 40 2027.
Customer pre-orders appear to have followed these predictions, but we’ll have to wait and see if this appetite continues through the holidays and into the new year. Early reviews have been positive, with CNET senior reporter Abrar Al-Heeti noting that despite some drawbacks attributable to a first-generation device, Apple’s finer details of folding make the experience fluid and cohesive.
“Personally, I have no plans to switch back to a flip phone anytime soon,” Al-Heeti said in her review.
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