Apple's iPhone Duo Pre-Order Was a 'Major Mistake,' Says Gurman

Apple knew it couldn't make enough of them. It opened pre-orders anyway — and within minutes, buyers were staring at delivery dates in 2027.

 

What Gurman reported

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, writing in his Power On newsletter, called Apple's handling of the iPhone Duo launch a "major mistake." His charge, as covered by Business Today: "The company knew there would be severe supply constraints but went ahead with the launch anyway, apparently prioritizing a desire to get the device on the market early in its fiscal first quarter over satisfying demand."

The numbers back him up. Pre-orders opened on Friday, October 16, and delivery estimates slipped to late January 2027 within about half an hour — some configurations sold through in under 15 minutes, according to MacRumors. That is a three-month wait for a phone that hasn't even reached store shelves yet: the official release date is October 23, with 28 more countries following on October 30.

The supply crunch, by the numbers

The iPhone Duo is Apple's first foldable — and foldables are brutally hard to manufacture at iPhone scale. A source quoted by China's Jiemian News said Foxconn's final-assembly yield was only slightly above 60% in mid-September, meaning nearly four in ten units coming off the line weren't shippable. Apple did not comment on the figure.

Then Apple made the pool even thinner by spreading it wider. The original plan, Gurman reports, was a US-and-China-only launch. Instead, Apple opened pre-orders in more than 70 countries and regions simultaneously — dividing a severely constrained supply across the entire planet at once. The result was predictable: almost nobody gets one soon.

The price doesn't help the frenzy. The Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB and climbs to $3,199 for the 2TB model, in two colours — Star White and Night Sky. For that money buyers get the A20 Pro chip, an eSIM-only design worldwide, and iOS 27 with Siri's new AI personal-context features. Apple retail staff have reportedly been told to warn customers against walk-in purchases on October 23, and Apple itself has described demand as "extraordinary" — a word that, in this context, reads less like celebration and more like an apology in advance.

Why Apple launched anyway

Gurman's explanation is fiscal: Apple wanted the device on sale early in its fiscal first quarter — the October-to-December quarter that includes the holidays and decides the company's year. Even a trickle of $1,999-plus sales books revenue in the quarter that matters most, and a sold-out launch generates headlines that money can't buy.

There is a colder reading too. Apple has watched Samsung and Chinese rivals own the foldable category for years while it waited. Launching the Duo — even in tiny quantities — lets Apple plant its flag, start real-world reliability data flowing, and begin the long manufacturing ramp while competitors can't claim the "first Apple foldable" moment for themselves. For context on Apple's broader hardware push this month, see our coverage of the Apple "Welcome Home" smart-home event.

The risk is the one Gurman names: customers who order a $2,000 phone and wait three months don't remember the headlines — they remember the wait. Apple has turned scarcity into desire before, but rarely this deliberately, and rarely with the company effectively conceding that it knew.

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