On October 23, 2026, Apple officially launched sales of its foldable-screen iPhone Duo smartphone in the United States, China, the United Kingdom and several other countries. According to Bloomberg, some customers began lining up outside stores on the evening of October 22 and spent the night there in hopes of being among the first to buy the new device.

The publication noted that such large crowds outside Apple stores have become uncommon in recent years. Demand for the new smartphone, which starts at $1,999, has been compared with the excitement surrounding the launch of the first iPhone models.

In New York City, the queue had stretched across several streets by 5:00 a.m. local time on October 23. At one Apple store in New Jersey, all iPhone Duo models with 256 GB and 512 GB of storage sold out in just 30 minutes. A customer in London told Reuters that they had been waiting in line since 8:30 p.m. on October 22, despite heavy rain.

Around 100 people gathered outside an Apple store in Beijing, while nearly 200 people queued in Singapore. A seven-member family from Myanmar also said they had spent the night outside a shopping centre in Singapore to purchase the new smartphone.

A queue of customers hoping to buy the iPhone Duo also formed in the car park of a Costco hypermarket in Nanjing, China. Ziniu News reported that around 30 people were waiting there. Some spent the night at the site while waiting for the store to open. According to a store employee, customers had begun gathering as early as the evening of October 20.

Costco had purchased the smartphones from Apple in advance and sold them to loyalty-card holders under a restriction allowing each cardholder to buy only one iPhone Duo.