# Apple Stores expect no walk-in iPhone Duo stock on launch day

Source: https://idevice.com/apple-stores-expect-no-walk-in-iphone-duo-stock-on-launch-day
Published: 2026-10-17

> Staff are telling shoppers without a pre-order not to come in, and Apple's own deliveries now run to late January.

If you didn't pre-order an [iPhone Duo](https://idevice.com/phones/iphone-fold/roadmap), don't plan on walking out of an Apple Store with one on launch day. Store employees told MacRumors they've been advised there will likely be no Duo stock for walk-in buyers. They've also been told to discourage people without an order from coming in at all, and to warn them they'll be disappointed if they do.

Apple's website still invites shoppers to check back for availability on October 24. That date guarantees nothing. Some stores may get no shipments beyond the units already promised to pre-order customers, so a night in line outside the store could end with nothing to show for it.

Pre-orders opened on October 16 with prices from $1,999 for the 256GB model, and the line runs all the way up to 2TB. Within a day, delivery estimates for every model had moved to late January. Apple called demand for the phone "extraordinary" in a statement the same day and said it would keep taking orders online.

Supply was tight long before the launch.

Production was reported at only a few hundred units a day in late August. Apple hasn't said how many phones it built for launch, or how many each store will get, and it hasn't commented on the store guidance either.

Scalpers are already charging steep markups on Duo orders that arrive close to launch day. With Apple's own dates now in January, those listings are the fastest way to get the phone this month, for anyone willing to pay well over $1,999 for it.

In the US, carriers and Best Buy take orders too, and according to 9to5Mac they've looked like a better bet than Apple for getting a Duo early. Check their dates before you settle for January.

Without a pre-order, the realistic choices right now are a late January delivery from Apple, a carrier or Best Buy order in the US, or a reseller's price. Walking into an Apple Store on October 24 and leaving with a Duo probably isn't one of them.