Apple has confirmed the iPhone Duo remains supply-constrained — with no clear end in sight. Ship dates for online orders now stretch into January 2027, and Apple’s COO Sabih Khan told investors on Monday’s earnings call: “It’s really hard to predict when supply and demand will be in balance.” No timeline.
No quarter. Just that phrase, repeated across two major outlets, as the official stance on its first foldable iPhone. The device sold out within hours of preorder launch last month. It’s still sold out almost everywhere that matters.
The bottleneck isn’t just assembly or logistics. It’s memory. AI-driven demand has spiked prices and strained availability of DRAM and NAND chips, a crisis hitting Apple and every other hardware maker. Khan said Macs and iPads are also constrained in Q4 for the same reason.
CEO John Ternus added Apple expects “even higher memory costs” going forward, and that memory purchase pricing “continuing to increase.” Manufacturing purchase obligations jumped $33 billion between Q2 and Q3 alone. That pressure is already baked into pricing. Apple raised iPhone prices in September, including for the Duo, after earlier hikes for Macs and iPads in June.
The company calls those increases “reluctant,” but they’re real: the iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US and Rs 1,89,900 in India. Verizon is handing out gift cards to apologize for delays. Apple is responding operationally, not just financially. It’s deepening its partnership with Perryman, the titanium supplier for the Duo’s hinge and frame, a sign that material sourcing, not just chip shortages, is part of the ramp challenge.
Still, sales numbers are strong. IPhone revenue hit a record Q3 high, despite launching only the Duo and the iPhone 18 Pro models, with no base iPhone 18. And Mac sales also set a Q3 record for new-to-Mac customers, buoyed by the MacBook Neo and AI-capable Mac minis. But none of that changes the fact that if you didn’t preorder, or stand in line, you’re waiting.
Not weeks. Not months. January 2027. That’s when Apple’s own website says your iPhone Duo will ship.
And Khan’s answer to when that date might move up? “Hard to predict.” Next step: watch for any update in Apple’s Q4 earnings call, scheduled for late January 2027.
TBFiled by The Tech Business Desk
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