If you're hoping to pick up an iPhone Duo of your very own, you're going to have to wait. The foldable is technically on sale, but unless you managed to score a pre-order right away then you could be looking at a months-long wait before your unit actually arrives.
At the time of writing, it doesn't actually matter which iPhone Duo variant you want — they're all equally (albeit temporarily) sold out. That's the bad news, but the slightly better news is that you don't necessarily have to wait until 2027 to pick up one of your own. I don't mean getting gouged for a scalped unit, that's a complete waste of money. I mean shopping around at different retailers and carriers to see what options are available.
You won't be able to magically pick up an iPhone Duo tomorrow, but at the time of writing some units will be available before the end of the year — or several weeks before Apple expects to be able to fulfil new orders.
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iPhone Duo Availability (Updated October 23)
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Apple |
AT&T |
T-Mobile |
Verizon |
Best Buy |
Walmart |
Star White (256GB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 31 - Jan 6 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Star White (512GB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Star White (1TB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Star White (2TB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (256GB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (512GB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (1TB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (2TB) |
Jan 22 |
Dec 22 |
Dec 16 - Dec 22 |
Nov 30 - Dec 18 |
Dec 22 |
Out of Stock |
As you can see, Apple is completely out of iPhone Duo units and isn't expecting to start shipping more until late January — though delivery estimates have been reduced by a few days across the board and some pre-orders will be arriving sooner.
It's also been confirmed that Apple has implemented a two device limit on all Duo pre-orders. It's not entirely clear whether this has always been the case, or if Apple realized this was necessary after the fact. Which should help avoid pre-order waits getting too extreme.
Apple is pretty much your only option when it comes to buying an unlocked iPhone Duos for the time being. However, if you are willing to lock your device down to a specific carrier, you can pick one up a lot earlier.
Both AT&T and Verizon currently promise some iPhone Duo units will be available in mid-December, while T-Mobile is expected to have stock available from late December and into January depending on the storage configuration.
Best Buy is also expecting to deliver all storage variants in late December, and you will be forced to lock your phone to either AT&T or Verizon. Sadly it doesn't matter which carrier you choose, they're all due no earlier than December 22.
Sadly, Walmart is totally out of stock at the time of writing, with no mention of when iPhone Duo units might be available to ship.
iPhone Duo UK Availability (Updated October 23)
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Apple |
EE |
O2 |
Three |
Vodafone |
Carphone Warehouse |
Argos |
Currys |
Star White (256GB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Star White (512GB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Star White (1TB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Star White (2TB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (256GB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (512GB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (1TB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
Night Sky (2TB) |
Jan 22 |
"More than 28 days" |
"More than 4 weeks" |
Jan 20 |
13-14 weeks |
Jan 7 |
Out of Stock |
Out of Stock |
iPhone Duo availability in the U.K. is pretty dire, and it's not looking good for those of you that will want to get your hands on one. A pre-Christmas delivery is going to be borderline impossible, especially since Apple is out of units until January 22, while both Argos and Currys are completely sold out. Carphone Warehouse is out of stock until January 7.
When it comes to mobile networks, Three has made it clear it won't be getting more iPhone Duos until January 20. Vodafone promises a 13-14 week delivery window, which takes us to January 20.
Meanwhile EE and O2 have been far less helpful, giving very vague details about how deliveries will happen more than 4 weeks into the future. This could mean anything from late November to this time next year for all we know.
Can I just go to the Apple Store?
Apple confirmed that Apple Stores would have a "limited" amount of iPhone Duo stock on launch day, but we didn't expect that would last very long. At the moment we don't know if and when Apple Stores will get hold of more iPhone Suos, but given the extreme demand online we don't expect them to be available for in-person purchase anytime soon.
Apple has confirmed that the in-store pickup option will be returning to the Apple website on October 24. Not only does that mean you should be able to see if any Apple Store in your vicinity have iPhone Duos in stock, it's likely this will give you the opportunity to reserve a unit to save any disappointment when you actually get there.
However, it's unclear how effective this will be at getting you an unlocked iPhone before January.
What to do if you can't grab an iPhone Duo this year?
The good news is that those of you that have picked up iPhone Duo pre-orders from Apple may have noticed that your delivery estimate has actually decreased over the past few days. It's unclear whether is happening everywhere, but the fact that Apple is adjusting its delivery estimates does bode well.
One thing you should also note is that Apple operates a two-week return policy. It's possible that some of the Duo units that are shipped to customers on October 23 will be returned, either because someone decided they didn't want it anymore or because they were purchased by resellers who couldn't sell their stock.
That could lead to a trickle of Duo units being recirculated from the returns department and back out to other customers — especially if they're unopened. We can't predict how much of an impact this will have on wait times, though, and it will likely differ from region to region.
The last thing you should do is resort to buying from scalpers and resellers, regardless of where they may be selling. You'll end up paying an overinflated price for a phone that will be back in stock in the near future, and all you'll gain is a few extra months of time. Apple wants to get these to you as soon as possible, so don't waste your money.
Finally, if you just want a foldable and don't have your heart set on an iPhone Duo, you can always try out one of these six alternatives. They're Android phones, but given how many brands love to mimic iOS, you may not notice much difference.
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