Overview
- Following Monday’s earnings call, CEO John Ternus told Reuters that production is ramping but Apple cannot predict when supply and demand for the iPhone Duo will be in balance.
- Preorders that opened on October 16 sold out within minutes and the phone launched on October 23, with new online orders now showing delivery estimates in late January.
- Users and teardown reports show inner-display cracks concentrated along the hinge crease, and Apple says a very small percentage of units have been returned and are being replaced through AppleCare.
- Analysts and industry teardowns point to low yields for custom foldable OLED panels and complex titanium hinge assemblies as manufacturing challenges, though Apple has not publicly identified a single root cause.
- The Duo’s high price and tight supply have driven scalper activity, tightened replacement parts availability, and led Apple to factor constrained Duo shipments and rising memory costs into its holiday-quarter revenue and margin outlook.