Apple's iPhone Duo, the company's first foldable phone, started reaching customers this week, and the early signs point to a launch that is straining supply more than Apple may have planned for.
According to reports from the Economic Times, demand for the Duo has pushed delivery estimates back for customers who ordered online, a familiar pattern for first-generation Apple hardware but a notable one given how long the company waited to enter the foldable category. Samsung, Google and a string of Chinese brands have sold folding phones for years. Apple is arriving last, and apparently to a crowd.
That crowd showed up in person too. The reports describe long queues outside Apple stores in cities including Sydney on launch day, the kind of scene Apple has engineered for iPhone drops for more than a decade, now repeated for a device that folds in half.
But the early word on the Duo itself is not uniformly glowing. The same reporting describes mixed reviews, with praise directed at the phone's design and construction, and criticism aimed at its camera performance and everyday usability. Neither report names the specific outlets behind those verdicts or details what exactly disappointed reviewers about the camera or the software experience, so those complaints should be read as a general signal rather than a settled verdict.
Availability is also limited. The Duo has not launched everywhere at once, and the Economic Times reporting notes that several markets are still waiting their turn, which it suggests could frustrate buyers who expected a simultaneous global rollout. Nothing in the available reporting confirms an India launch date or an India price for the iPhone Duo, so anyone in the market here is, for now, watching from outside the queue.
The demand question carries extra weight because of what is reportedly happening elsewhere in Apple's iPhone 18 lineup. A separate Economic Times report, referenced alongside the Duo coverage, says Apple has cut orders for the iPhone 18 Pro by roughly 20 percent, with suggestions that the Duo could face a similar risk if its initial rush of buyers does not hold. That is a supply-chain signal, not a confirmed sales figure, and Apple has not issued its own numbers for the Duo's launch.
What happens next will depend on whether Apple can clear its delivery backlog and whether it widens the Duo's availability to the markets still waiting, India included. Until Apple or a retailer confirms Indian pricing and a sale date, buyers here have nothing official to plan around.
MDFiled by The Mobile Desk
Phones from leak to launch to price cut: what was announced, what it costs where, and when it goes on sale. Indian launches and prices included, not appended.
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