Apple $AAPL began selling the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, at Apple Store locations around the world on Friday, while demand for the device outpaced supply, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Customers filled stores, and staff offered hands-on demos, Apple said. The phone starts at $1,999.
Earlier this week, U.S. orders through Apple's online store faced an average wait of 92 days for shipping, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited data provider Navi. That wait exceeds what buyers faced for September's iPhone 18 Pro lineup, as well as for the iPhone 17 and 16 lines of the previous two years. U.S. carriers that had Duo units in stock quoted quicker turnarounds, though the newspaper, citing Navi, said even those were longer than what customers saw in earlier years.
Apple said in a statement that only a small number of iPhone Duo units will be on hand at its stores for shoppers who show up without an order, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple told Reuters that what shoppers can find without an order depends on the country, with only small stockpiles in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Mexico and much of Britain and Europe. In China, France, Hong Kong, India and Japan, the phones would be set aside exclusively for people who had placed online orders, Apple told Reuters.
Outside the Apple store at San Francisco's Union Square $SQ on Friday morning, the queue of shoppers wrapped all the way around the block, according to The Wall Street Journal. The shopper at the front of the queue had shown up at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Counterpoint Research anticipates a supply of roughly 6 million units or less in the short run, according to CNBC. IDC expects tight supply early on, citing how intricate the device is and the production and quality bars Apple sets, CNBC said.
Apple opened preorders for the iPhone Duo on Oct. 16, and shipping estimates for new U.S. orders moved to Jan. 25 within 30 minutes. Apple stores sold their entire launch-day allotment within minutes of the 8 a.m. ET preorder start. Apple disabled in-store pickup during the online preorders.
Reviews of the phone have been mixed, according to The Wall Street Journal. Reviewers singled out the big interior display, endurance of the battery and durability as strengths, while faulting the exterior screen, the camera, the buttons and the phone's heft.
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