Apple reportedly gave its own stores about 80% of the iPhone Duo launch stock and left 20% for delivery, walk-ins and reservations. New online orders were quoting January 25 to 29 delivery windows, while a single store held roughly 50 to 250 phones.
Mark Gurman gave the split on the October 30 episode of his Power On podcast, citing people close to the logistics. He also says Apple first planned a United States and China launch at the end of November, then opened pre-orders in more than 70 countries.
iPhone Duo Launch Stock Favored Apple’s Own Stores
Gurman says Apple sent roughly 80% of its initial iPhone Duo inventory to retail stores, and the remaining 20% had to cover delivery orders plus walk-in pre-orders and reservations. Most people who got a phone in a store on October 23 got it by waiting in line, which fits the limited walk-in stock reported for launch day.
The top of the store range, about 250 phones, was probably the Fifth Avenue store in New York, he says. Apple had planned a takeover area for the iPhone Duo there, and executives were due to attend the launch, so Apple did not want customers complaining about missing out in front of them.
One host still calls the pre-order launch a mistake and says the rush shows in the software too. His examples are no picture-in-picture for FaceTime on the inner display and no Share button in Safari, and he says pulling down for notifications fails for him about 75% of the time.
Replacement Phones Were Hard to Find in Stores
The shortage hits hardest for owners with a cracked inner display. Gurman says most people he knows who went to an Apple Store for a swap left without one because the store had no inventory. One friend’s iPhone Duo showed a black screen in the Camera app from day one and he could not get a replacement, though Gurman says AppleCare may have better luck than the stores.
Apple’s response to his report on the cracked displays came 18 minutes after it ran, he says. Apple said the problem affects a small number of units and told owners to contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Gurman and Chris Welch, who joined him on the episode, say Apple should have set aside a handful of phones in every store for swaps. Some locations did and the policy was not uniform, and the hosts say Apple did not have enough phones to spare. One of them recalled that when his iPhone X launch unit turned out to be defective in 2017, the Union Square flagship in San Francisco had inventory held back for swaps and he left within minutes with a new phone.
Bots and Campouts Are Still Draining New Stock
Apple put the iPhone Duo on sale in 28 more countries and regions on October 30. The hosts say buyers are building bots that watch local store inventory and buy the moment Apple lists a phone, and units disappear within seconds. One host says store staff in Los Angeles told him people were still camping outside every night a week after launch, which he has never seen for a new Apple product.
One host expects supply to level out by spring, and the other points to an end-of-January target that matches the January 25 to 29 delivery estimates on new orders. Apple has not said how many iPhone Duo units it had at launch.
