Follow Up--iPhone Duo Launch Day Brought the Lines Back to Apple Stores on October 23, Walk-In Stock Ran Out at Some of Them, iOS 27.1 Shipped for the Duo Alone, and Store Pickup Was Due Back October 24, 25 Years to the Day After the iPod

2026October 24, 2026Macs Only!Apple hardware
A crowd waiting behind a rope line outside the glass-walled Apple Domain NORTHSIDE store in Austin, Texas, in morning sun, most of them looking at their phones and one holding an open MacBook, with the Apple logo on the glass, trees overhead and a tall apartment building behind the store.
Photo: Apple · A crowd waiting behind a rope line outside the glass-walled Apple Domain NORTHSIDE store in Austin, Texas, in morning sun, most of them looking at their phones and one holding an open MacBook, with the Apple logo on the glass, trees overhead and a tall apartment building behind the store.

The iPhone Duo reached Apple Stores on Friday, October 23, and Apple's launch-day press release says that "Across the globe, customers filled stores and team members invited them to experience the first foldable iPhone," with John Ternus and Deirdre O'Brien at Apple Domain NORTHSIDE in Austin and Greg Joswiak and Vanessa Trigub at Apple Fifth Avenue. Lines formed overnight, MacRumors found dozens to hundreds of people waiting from Honolulu to Shanghai, and walk-in stock ran out at some stores. Apple also released iOS 27.1 the same morning, for the Duo and nothing else. It fell 25 years to the day after Steve Jobs introduced the iPod.

The lines came back, store by store

MacRumors' 10:55 a.m. Pacific report says the long lines of the early iPhone years had become rare once online pre-orders took over, until the Duo. It found "Anywhere from dozens to hundreds of people lined up," some overnight: one customer was 25th in line at Union Square with "people here with actual couches," about 30 waited at the Kahala store in Honolulu, and an employee in Boulder, Colorado said the store had enough for everyone in its line. Apple's own pictures show the queues outside the Austin store and Apple Jing'an in Shanghai. 9to5Mac's 6:39 a.m. report says Apple had warned that walk-in inventory would be "limited" and "that appears to be the case," with store employees telling shoppers who left empty-handed to check the Apple Store app at 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, October 24.

Walk-ins were capped at two and pickups came back slowly

MacRumors' launch-morning buying guide lists walk-in purchases in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Mexico and several European countries, a pickup reservation required in ten others including France, China, India and Japan, and a U.S. limit of two per customer. The prices did not move: $1,999 for 256GB, $2,199 for 512GB, $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for 2TB. By 1:16 p.m. Pacific, MacRumors' second report had pickup reservations returning in Australia, China, Japan and South Korea with "few to no time slots available for all configurations." For the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Singapore, Apple's online store said to "check back on Saturday, October 24." Online delivery dates slipped to January 25 within half an hour on October 16, as our October 19 report on the pre-orders recorded, and Apple's September 9 press release puts 28 more countries and regions on Friday, October 30.

iOS 27.1 is for the Duo alone

The Duo ships with iOS 27.1 preinstalled and asks for a newer build during setup, per MacRumors' 8:35 a.m. report: build 24A94425, with notes that say only "bug fixes for your iPhone." No other iPhone can install it. MacRumors says 27.1 "was likely kept exclusive to the iPhone Duo so that Apple could prevent certain Duo-specific software features from leaking before the device launched," and every other iPhone went straight to the 27.2 betas. Apple's security releases page lists iOS 27.1 for iPhone Duo on October 23 with "no published CVE entries." The Mac's 27.2 is still the release candidate in our October 20 report on build 26B118.

Owners reported cracks along the hinge

MacRumors' 11:05 a.m. report says "Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums," most of them showing "a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen." One owner's Duo cracked along the hinge after fewer than 20 openings and an Apple Store replaced it. The report says "It isn't known how widespread the issue is," and we have not handled a Duo.

Then and now

On October 24, 2001, our report on the iPod ran the day after Jobs' press conference: a 5 GB FireWire drive holding 1,000 songs, $399 at the Apple Store on November 10, and "If you are a music freak, this is your audio device!" Our November 12, 2001 review of our own iPod picked one up at Tysons Corner, where "about a dozen were stacked in back of the Genius Bar," and our June 30, 2007 report on the first iPhone found every store in the U.S. showing green on launch night and bought one in twenty minutes the next morning. Apple marked the iPod's 25th anniversary on October 23 where the iPod still lives: MacRumors' report on the hidden iPod says any page that does not exist on music.apple.com, such as music.apple.com/ipod, shows a working first-generation iPod, click wheel and all. Then a new Apple device was announced one day and bought off a stack two weeks later; now the stack ran out before the doors opened and the next one is a January delivery. We would still rather wait for January than pay a reseller, and we would open the hinge gently.

Sources

  1. Apple Newsroom, “iPhone Duo arrives at Apple Store locations worldwide - Apple” accessed Oct 24, 2026October 23, 2026: "On Friday, October 23, the highly anticipated iPhone Duo made its debut at Apple Store locations worldwide"; John Ternus and Deirdre O'Brien at Apple Domain NORTHSIDE in Austin, Greg Joswiak and Vanessa Trigub at Apple Fifth Avenue in New York; "Across the globe, customers filled stores and team members invited them to experience the first foldable iPhone"; pictures captioned at Apple Domain NORTHSIDE ("customers lined up to enter the store") and Apple Jing'an in Shanghai (store queue); the Austin storefront-lines picture; accessed October 24, 2026.
  2. 9to5Mac, “iPhone Duo launch day: Lines form at Apple Stores, walk-in availability limited - 9to5Mac” accessed Oct 24, 2026Chance Miller, October 23, 2026, 6:39 am PT: "Lines formed at Apple Stores worldwide overnight"; "Apple warned it would have 'limited' inventory at retail stores, and that appears to be the case"; "Apple Store workers are telling disappointed shoppers to check the Apple Store app tomorrow at 10.m. ET for in-store inventory details" (tomorrow being Saturday, October 24); accessed October 24, 2026.
  3. MacRumors, “iPhone Duo Brings Back Long Lines at Apple Stores - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Joe Rossignol, Friday October 23, 2026, 10:55 am PDT: long lines were common in the early iPhone era and became rare with online pre-orders until the iPhone Duo; "Anywhere from dozens to hundreds of people lined up", some arriving overnight; a customer "like 25th in line" at Union Square (city not named) with "people here with actual couches"; "about 30 customers in line" at Apple Store Kahala in Honolulu; in Boulder, Colorado, "The Apple employee said they had enough units for everyone"; "some locations have now sold through their walk-in inventory for launch day"; a line outside Apple Fifth Avenue around 4:15 a.m.; accessed October 24, 2026.
  4. MacRumors, “Where to Buy iPhone Duo Today: Stores, Pickup, and Wait Times - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Tim Hardwick, Friday October 23, 2026, 4:27 am PDT: walk-in purchases available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Mexico and several European countries; pickup reservations required in France, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the UAE (ten); a U.S. limit of two per customer; 256GB $1,999, 512GB $2,199, 1TB $2,599, 2TB $3,199; accessed October 24, 2026.
  5. MacRumors, “Apple Store Pickup for iPhone Duo Starting to Resume But Very Limited - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Joe Rossignol, Friday October 23, 2026, 1:16 pm PDT: pickup reservations returning on Apple's online store in Australia, China, Japan and South Korea with "few to no time slots available for all configurations"; for the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Singapore, Apple's site says to "check back on Saturday, October 24"; accessed October 24, 2026.
  6. MacRumors, “Apple Released iOS 27.1 for iPhone Duo Only - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Joe Rossignol, Friday October 23, 2026, 8:35 am PDT: iOS 27.1 is available only for the iPhone Duo; the Duo ships with iOS 27.1 preinstalled and users download a newer build during setup; build 24A94425 (restore file iPhone19,4_27.1_24A94425_Restore.ipsw); Apple's release notes "bug fixes for your iPhone"; "iOS 27.1 was likely kept exclusive to the iPhone Duo so that Apple could prevent certain Duo-specific software features from leaking before the device launched"; other iPhones moved on to the iOS 27.2 betas; accessed October 24, 2026.
  7. Apple Support, “Apple security releases - Apple Support” accessed Oct 24, 2026Read October 24, 2026: the newest entry is iOS 27.1 for iPhone Duo, dated October 23, 2026, "This update has no published CVE entries"; the entries before it are the September 28, 2026 updates to iOS 27.0.1, iPadOS 27.0.1, macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1, watchOS 27.0.1 and visionOS 27.0.1.
  8. Apple Newsroom, “Apple unveils iPhone Duo - Apple” accessed Oct 24, 2026September 9, 2026: availability beginning Friday, October 23 in more than 70 countries and regions; 28 more countries and regions beginning Friday, October 30; "iPhone Duo will be available with iOS 27.1"; accessed October 24, 2026.
  9. MacRumors, “Crackgate? iPhone Duo Owners Report Screens Breaking Along the Hinge - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Juli Clover, Friday October 23, 2026, 11:05 am PDT: "Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums"; most show "a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen"; one owner, quoted from Reddit, "Had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and had probably opened it fewer than 20 times" before it cracked along the hinge, and "Apple replaced the broken device right away" at an Apple Store; "It isn't known how widespread the issue is"; accessed October 24, 2026.
  10. MacRumors, “Apple Music Has a Hidden iPod You Can Play With - MacRumors” accessed Oct 24, 2026Joe Rossignol, Friday October 23, 2026, 7:11 am PDT: a nonexistent page on music.apple.com, such as music.apple.com/ipod, shows a working first-generation iPod with a click wheel; it marks the 25th anniversary of Apple announcing the original iPod on October 23, 2001; accessed October 24, 2026.

Then and now

All pairings

In 2001 we reported the iPod the day after Steve Jobs showed it, $399 and in stores November 10; in 2026 the iPhone Duo reached the stores on the same date, and the lines came back.

More on iPhone 18

Also on October 24, other years

Every October 24 since 1997

Saw something? Send a tip or a correction

The archive ran on reader tips. What did you see, where, and do you want the credit? Something wrong on this page? Say so and it gets fixed.

Read by the editor. You get a copy by email. Never published without your say.

More in Apple hardware · This month in the archive