iPhone Duo Launch Weekend: LA Campouts, 50-Unit Stores and Delivery Dates Sliding to January
Apple’s first foldable did something no iPhone has done in years: it brought back the overnight queue. The iPhone Duo went on sale on Friday, October 23, and by the weekend the pattern was clear — small in-store allocations, fast sellouts, and delivery dates for new orders sliding deep into next year. This is the launch-weekend follow-up to our launch-day post, and the picture it paints is of demand comfortably ahead of supply.
Los Angeles camped out at three stores
In Los Angeles, customers camped or lined up overnight at three Apple Stores, according to ABC7’s local reporting: Pasadena, The Grove, and Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. The outcome depended heavily on which store a buyer picked. A shopper at Manhattan Village in Manhattan Beach reported around 50 people in line with everyone getting a phone, while the Century City location had already sold out, and one Los Angeles store had nothing left for anyone arriving after about 6:30 in the morning. That lottery — same city, same morning, opposite results — was the launch weekend in miniature.
Small allocations, fast sellouts
US stores generally received between roughly 50 and just over 200 Duo units each, and they went quickly. The 256GB Star White model at $1,999 was the popular pick. In New Jersey, the Lawrence Township store sold out of its 256GB and 512GB configurations within the first half hour, leaving only the pricier 1TB and 2TB models. In Las Vegas, the crowd outside the Town Square store grew from an estimated 30 to 40 people at 4:15am to more than 150 later in the morning. In New York, the Fifth Avenue line was already stretching multiple blocks by 5am, three hours before doors opened. The queues were not only an American story: in Singapore, a few hundred people stood in line before dawn, including a family of seven from Myanmar who had camped out overnight.
What happens now
For anyone who missed launch weekend, the wait is the story. Consumers placing new orders on Apple’s website were being offered delivery at the end of January, though some shoppers saw their estimates move up to November or December — among the lengthiest waits for a new Apple product in the company’s modern era. Resellers were present at the queues, hoping to flip scarce units at a premium, which makes Apple’s own restock channels the safer route for buyers who can wait. For readers in Pakistan, nothing has changed on availability: the Duo is not a launch country, and the importer pre-order prices on our product page remain the only local route, with delivery from late November.
Read our launch-day coverage: iPhone Duo Goes on Sale Worldwide as Pre-Orders Sell Out, and see the full specifications and Pakistan prices on the iPhone Duo product page.
