r/technology • u/melancholy_dood • 4d ago
Hardware Apple may have just sold 6 million iPhone Duos
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/iphone-duo-shipments-demand-20261.7k
u/sokos 4d ago
They either sold it or didn't. What the fuck is may have??
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u/OddRow8843 4d ago
Well I may have a massive penis.
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u/pezasied 4d ago
They don’t know the total production amount, just that they’re sold out.
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u/mrASSMAN 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yeah but multiple analyst firms are confident that they will produce a minimum of 6mil in 2026 (up to 10mil), and given the preorder timelines it provides very high likelihood that those future 2026 production units have all been sold out
And given that the dates are going well into 2027 now, 6 million is actually a very conservative estimate.
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u/Available_Hat_9833 4d ago edited 4d ago
They've sold out all the preorders.
Basically every Duo they had stockedpiled/will make by the time it's released is spoken for.
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u/mrASSMAN 4d ago
Because they don’t know.. isn’t it obvious
Only Apple knows for sure
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u/OdinzSun 4d ago
It’s an estimation based on some unconfirmed source would be my guess.
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u/Existing_Charity_818 4d ago
Yeah, sounds like Apple announced they sold out of preorders but aren’t telling anyone how many preorders they made available. Analysts are estimating the first production wave was at least 6 million but there’s no confirmation from Apple
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u/Yssup-Yllems 4d ago
It's called "Speculation News" or as I call "Not News" and its been happening for quite some time now. They write lies in a header for a news story but use words like "could", "maybe", "might", "may have", "probably", "should", "expected" and more... I fucking hate the news :)
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u/LiftingCode 4d ago
Why are the top comments on this sub always just dumb, angry, RTFA nonsense like this
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u/Expensive_Finger_973 4d ago
That's a lot of $2k phones.
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u/TCsnowdream 4d ago
Damn. That’s $12 billion.
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u/herefromyoutube 4d ago
It’s not even close to a trillion.
Boring.
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u/MortCrimm 4d ago
You dont make a trillion with bi-fold. Trillion takes Tri-Fold!
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u/Implausibilibuddy 4d ago
Imagine how much they'd make with a phone that's one of those fortune teller finger things.
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u/Key-Cry-8570 3d ago
Why stop there Make a quadrafold that can work as the duo but also folded out into twice its size. Boom IPhone Duo^2
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u/thewhat-whatbutt 4d ago
“Apple is expected to achieve over six million shipments of iPhone Duo by the end of 2026,” said the analysts at Omdia in September. Counterpointanalysts agree on the 6 million figure.
So they’re saying since shipping estimates are already in January, Apple must have taken orders for everything they planned to make this year.
Also how do you quote text in the Reddit app now? “>” isn’t working anymore.
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u/luluhouse7 4d ago
You can’t. It’s so stupid. The only formatting that works on the app is what’s available under the “Aa” menu.
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u/DueAnalysis2 4d ago
You can switch back to markdown after selecting the Aa! It's in the miscellaneous options under the "..." button. I wish there was a way to make markdown the default.Edit: NVM I saw that you said Reddit App. My bad
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u/HairyAugust 4d ago
Upvoting solely for the last line. It bugs the shit out of me that i can’t hold to select text and then copy/quote it on the app
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u/raincoater 3d ago
They may have. They may have just sold 2 iPhone Duos. They may have just sold 6 billion iPhone Duos. We don’t know, but we still wrote this speculative nonsense anyway.
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u/cha614 4d ago
How do you make millions of things every year?!?! Fascinating
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u/JTP709 4d ago edited 4d ago
Automated assembly lines go buuuuuuurrrrrrrrrr
Edit: cheap labor* goes buuuuuurrrrrrrr
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u/suboptimus_maximus 4d ago
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Indian assembly workers. Final assembly of a lot of these consumer electronics is surprisingly not automated.
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u/MisterPenguiner 4d ago
I thought most of it was in Vietnam now
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u/anothercookie90 4d ago
No it’s still China, can’t build a place that handles millions of units and employs thousands of people that fast
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u/andrew303710 4d ago
Hilarious that the Trump admin people thought Americans were ever going to do that work lmao they'd have to tariff iphones like 300% to make those jobs even moderately appealing
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u/00negative 4d ago
US employees would absolutely do that job it's the companies that would either lose margin or have to increase the product price if they were to do it here. You can't pay 10 year olds a dollar a day in the US to do the job like other countries.
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u/omanagan 4d ago
You genuinely think iPhones are made by 10 year olds? Chinese labor is also not cheap. Final assembly workers in tech factories I’ve been in make 8000-20000RMB per month. That’s good money and American workers wouldn’t make more than $20 an hour. The difference is American manufacturing workers making less than $20 an hour are dogshit and lazy as fuck. Just my personal experience in Chinese and US manufacturing
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u/suboptimus_maximus 4d ago
You sure about that? I think most of these big mouthed MAGA boys would be begging to be baristas after their first shift in a Foxconn plant. The “problem” with this assembly work is that it’s no skill, low pay, no pay or skill progression or promotion path. It’s not aspirational work for an advanced economy in spite of what a bunch of clueless commentators who’ve never spent a day in a factory opine - anyone who tells you you want to work in an electronics assembly plant or have your kids work in one is a fucking idiot.
Americans make plenty of money on manufacturing by working up the value chain - Apple for example is the most profitable manufacturing company in the world, they pay American designers and engineers buttloads of money, and the assembly work is done overseas. Americans are not gonna do these mindless jobs where they have to focus and be on task for 8 or 10 hours with no breaks when they could work for Starbucks or just do DoorDash or Uber instead.
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u/00negative 4d ago
This is an economics issue, not a political one although I know the Internet loves try and divide.
Most all manufacturing jobs are boring and repetitive and some workers even in the US have no aspirations of it being anything other than that as they just want to do a job and go home at the end of the day.
The pay scale wouldn't be the same as overseas that was my point to being with and most any manufacturing job would pay better than a retail type position in US
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u/voujon85 4d ago
eventually naysayers have to admit the product is selling well and that apple knows what it's doing.
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u/Joezev98 4d ago
Apple surely knows what it's doing. I'm mainly surprised that there's so many people with enough disposable income for this halo product. Like, I knew income inequality was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad.
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u/Sgt_Dangle_berries 3d ago
Guarantee you a vast majority of people are financing their devices and not paying in full up front.
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u/menocaremuch 4d ago
Oh you think only people that can afford this are buying it?
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u/mellofello808 3d ago
There is a lot of creative financing that makes phones like these "affordable". $2000 all at once is hard for a lot of people, but many can find room in their budget for $50 per month over 2 years.
A phone is something you use all day every day, so people will make sacrifices for the best model.
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u/phatballlzzz 4d ago
The only nay I say is the price lol it’s a great product, seemingly. Just an insane price point
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u/mtgofficialYT 4d ago
Along with what the other user said, it is similarly priced to its counterparts by Samsung and Google. Not saying it's cheap, but it isn't Mac Pro level overpriced.
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u/Ghost_Star326 4d ago edited 4d ago
I don't particularly like apple products.
But I personally don't understand why Apple is getting so much flack for pricing the duo at $2000? Like as if other folding phone making companies like Samsung, Google, Xiaomi etc weren't already doing that for a while but nobody seems to mind.
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u/AwayhKhkhk 3d ago
Because no one really cares about the other brands. They can release $10k phones and no one would care because they just say ‘I ain’t buying that’ and move on.
With Apple, people want/feel the ‘need’ to buy it so they complain about the price.
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u/tidder_mac 4d ago
It’s both an iPad mini and iPhone, so costs as much as both combined. Makes sense to me lol
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u/BinaryIdiot 4d ago
Meanwhile I’m over here wishing I could just use an iPad for cellular and skip the phone sized one lmao
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u/thickener 4d ago
It’s almost like thoughtful, tasteful design and software cues make more of a difference than a spec sheet
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u/GroMicroBloom 4d ago
And it’s almost like an entirely new form factor is exciting, especially one that combines an iPhone and iPad into one device
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u/frenchtoaster 4d ago
The baseline here is the preexisting Android folding phones though which have largely been written off as a gimmick along the lines of 3d tv.
Apple also did their VR and people thought it might be the moment when that would go mainstream and it did not got comparison, so Apple doesn't always have the magic touch to come in late and make a preexisting fringe segment become mainstream.
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u/jackharvest 4d ago
I mean, “phone and iPad in one” vs “ok so I wear this and… what again?” are very separated forks in the road.
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u/Corgi_Koala 4d ago
I'm not a big Apple product guy but I've been using the pixel fold series for a while and foldable phones are pretty awesome pieces of tech if you can stomach the price.
My phone is a perfect e-reader and tablet now.
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u/Interesting-Force866 4d ago
I'm a naysayer because I can't imagine how I could possibly gain more value from my phone this way. Other people may have a use case I don't understand.
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u/Limekiller 3d ago
I have a Z Fold 7. I don't think the appeal is hard to understand--it's a phone and tablet in one device. Folded, it is nearly the same size and weight as a normal phone, and unfolded, the screen is the same size as the iPad mini I used to have. Asking what the appeal of unfolding it is, is the same as asking what the appeal of the tablet product category is.
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u/19Lobster19 3d ago
I've always had issues understanding tablets if you're not a designer
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u/Limekiller 3d ago
And that's fair. If you don't want a tablet you wouldn't get a folding phone. Personally, I absolutely hate doing anything on a phone because of how small (and vertical) the screen is. Before folding phones even existed, I remember thinking about how much I disliked reading articles and having to constantly scroll. Now I never have to deal with that, and I almost always have the phone unfolded when I'm looking at it (unless I'm like, responding to a text while walking or something)
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u/kung-fu_hippy 3d ago
The use case is, I have an iPhone and an iPad and I’d prefer to not carry both at the same time (like when getting onto a plane). A folding screen phone would fit both my phone and my tablet uses and it would fit in my pocket instead of in a backpack.
There isn’t going to be some crazy use case you’re missing. If you wouldn’t find yourself using an iPad more often if you had one that was easy to carry, then it’s unlikely you’d want this phone.
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u/Imabuffguy95 3d ago
I'm pretty sure a good chunk of the people who have pre-ordered the Duo are just bored of the same-old iPhone form factor every year and are ready for something new and exciting. They aren't necessarily looking to maximize "value" from their phone in a practical way.
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u/small_tiger_ 4d ago
Thank you to all testers! Will wait for the Duo Dos ✌️
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u/Crazy_Reader1234 4d ago
lol we waited for the 3GS 🤣
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u/Available_Hat_9833 4d ago
Which was so valid considering the cameras and software on 2G and 3G.
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u/Soft_Vacation_5637 3d ago
big dawg are you not aware of apple‘s r&d budget
they probably have a machine built to open and close the phone nonstop for 24h a day for weeks on end to make sure it works fine
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u/donovanish 4d ago
I always bought the first gen and Apple has a great service. Never had issues with first generations actually but I had some recall 3 years after with a MacBook Pro (keyboard issues) and they just replaced it with the latest MacBook.
When there is an issue with an Apple product, they usually just replace it and you get a new device again.
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u/mrASSMAN 4d ago
I’m fine to test it, will just upgrade when next version comes out lol
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u/Crazy_Category_9594 4d ago
Same. The beta tester comments are are the most transparent FOMO comments ever.
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u/PartneredEthicalSlut 4d ago
You're very welcome. Hopefully not too rocky of one. Money isn't an issue but convenience is. I trust Apple quality myself though.
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u/SquizzOC 4d ago
I mean I logged in for my preorder and it was a month out and then just thought “you know? Let’s see how everyone else does as a beta tester” if in 3 months it’s mostly good, I’ll buy my 1tb model
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u/eyeronik1 4d ago
Mine is arriving Saturday. If it sucks I’ll sell it to you.
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u/SquizzOC 4d ago
Ha. Honestly if the damn site wouldn’t have locked up and I got that fast of a delivery, I would have taken the instant gratification, but couldn’t access the store till 10 after and at that point it was early December and now it’s Jan. I’m excited to see them live
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u/ahundreddollarbills 4d ago
6 Million Duos is a lot, but when you compare that to overall iPhone sales it's not a huge number relatively.
Last year Apple sold approximately 245 million iPhones.
There will always be a subset of users who want the latest, greatest and most expensive.
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u/K33P4D 4d ago
In an ADHD fidget generation, they're gonna start breaking these things like tissue paper
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u/Clown_corder 4d ago
I adhd fidgeted with both a pixel fold and a Samsung fold neither had issues with it for years
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u/ixcibit 4d ago
The money generated from repairs is gonna be wild lol
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u/Powerhouse_21 4d ago
The money generated from not allowing repairs is gonna be wild lol
FTFY
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u/Sevastarion 4d ago
Remember all those “who is this for” and “I didn’t ask for this”? Echo chamber once again
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u/gorramfrakker 4d ago
It’s for me. I really wanted to love the Microsoft Duo when it existed but the software always lacked. Maybe it’s because I’m an “iPhone guy” but thought back then how sweet that hardware with iOS would rock.
Now I get to find out if it’s an expensive fantasy.
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u/SophonParticle 4d ago
People complain about the cost of high end phones but the cost per minute of use is probably orders of magnitude lower than any other consumer product.
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u/goAwayUCreep 4d ago
People don’t say this enough. Some people blew insane amount of money on cars but they only drive them in the weekend, and by the time they’re old and no longer in good health to drive them, they only clock them at 5000 miles.
People should spend money on things they regularly use
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u/CanadianMapleBacon 4d ago
I agree! A lot of people are saying “you can buy a MacBook Pro and this and that” but to be honest, I have an M1 Air that I use once a week for budgeting. Why would I want a MacBook Pro? I use my phone 4-7 hours a day for work and leisure. It’s an obvious choice.
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u/rabbledabble 4d ago
Yeah. You mean my most frequently used tool? The one that I manage 90% of my administrative and social life from? Yeah imma splash for that.
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u/NotAnRSPlayer 4d ago
This. I use my phone daily in a work environment, I need to look at spreadsheets and docs on the fly without having to get my cumbersome laptop out just to look at something unless it’s administrative management. I rack up 6-10 hours a day on my phone every week, I will get use out of this product to make it worth the $3899 (AU) I paid for it
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u/valdecsgo 3d ago
Exactly. There isn't a single piece of literally anything that i own, that i KNOW i will use every single day out of every single year, other than my phone. I've been in the hospital, army, work, wherever i am, atleast once a day i've used my phone. I Paid 1099€ for my S26U which i'm planning on keeping for 7 years, and i think its a damn good deal.
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u/crazydave33 4d ago
12 fucking billion. God damn. I can’t believe 6 million people actually blew two grand each.
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u/AnonBaca21 4d ago
They didn’t, most of them blew $100/mo for 24 months.
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u/iExtrordinary 3d ago
Nah, most of us took the trade in promo for 1200$ off making the phone only $800 lol
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u/emphis 3d ago
Exactly. I was in the “I’m not spending $2000 on a phone” camp, but $800 is a completely justifiable price point for an upgrade.
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u/valdecsgo 3d ago
Curious: What was this 1200 deal thingy? Did you have to trade in a year old iPhone 17 PM to get that or...?
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u/LateOnsetPuberty 4d ago
Why?
I see people with $4k wheels on their truck that are basically only cosmetic. $3k handbags.
You shouldn’t be shocked.
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u/pvt_miller 4d ago
The general consensus of Redditors is that whatever they feel, experience, and dislike are the correct things to feel, experience, and dislike, therefore everyone should feel, experience, and dislike the same things.
And if you have 2 grand to blow in a phone, you’ve done so by spending your Ill-gotten gains and it’s impossible that anyone has 2 grand to spare because they don’t have 2 grand to spare. It’s impossible that you have a good job and can save money, because they can’t get a good job or save money.
To all those who worked hard, saved up to buy something they like, and didn’t bitch or piss or moan about other people’s money or how it’s “not fair” - credit to you, keep at it.
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u/tapia3838 3d ago
I love Reddit, bro not everyone is poor and living paycheck to paycheck.
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u/Bruvvimir 3d ago
Reddit loves poverty porn.
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u/WallabyBeginning9443 3d ago
I make 10 gazillion dollars a year and drive a 10 year old Toyota! Now clap Reddit
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u/clocked__ 4d ago
The entire world isn’t struggling. Just most of the world, unfortunately.
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u/FabiusBill 4d ago
And the business world realized it should cater to those who aren't struggling, because they have the money to spend.
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u/flojo2012 4d ago
And many people are foregoing things like saving, investment, and retirement, to continue consuming the new things.
My theory is that this is why we have staved off recession for so long. We’ve been in YOLO mode since Covid. But if we all got smart with our money, we’d crash the economy
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u/Frequent_Opportunist 4d ago
They just print more money for themselves anytime this happens now and they call it quantitative easing. The inflation doesn't hurt them anywhere near as much as it hurts us.
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u/CyberKillua 4d ago
Some people got to realise that not everyone is struggling, and 2k isn't that much for some people.
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u/appleparkfive 4d ago
Yeah there are a lot of people thriving lately. It's unfortunately a very uneven economy right now.
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u/SargeUnited 3d ago
How is it unfortunate? I remember what everybody else was doing when we were the same age, and I’m not surprised by what they’re doing now.
Other than like the 10,000 people at the top, the vast majority of inequality is really not a problem that needs to get solved
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u/crankthehandle 4d ago
I mean, there are probably 50-100 million millionaires on this planet who could easily buy this and then there are even way more who are in the market for a 1k phone but can actually afford to spend 2k once instead. And then there are the ones who can still afford 100$/month for 2 years. No surprises here.
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u/petar_is_amazing 4d ago
And a lot more, me included, are waiting for new stock. I didn’t wanna wake up early.
It’s something you use 2-3 hrs a day, every day. Fun to have the latest and greatest
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u/dark77star 3d ago
Though I fail to see the appeal for me specifically, I can readily see how others might find the duo appealing. Given that, it is not surprising that the Duo may have sold that many units.
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u/noobs1996 3d ago
Am I the only one that can’t get myself to understand spending $2k to a phone?
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u/SpecificInitials 3d ago
I am not getting the duo but I understand the mindset - you use your phone ALL the time. Not just like a few minutes a day. So spending a lot of money on something that you use daily is justifiable I think, to some
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u/bigphillip76 3d ago
That’s what people used to say about spending 1k on a phone. And $500 before that.
People spend the amount this costs on like, half an exhaust system for their sports car and no one bats an eye. But a device you use every day for hours and will own for 4 years? Everyone loses their minds. I don’t understand people who don’t understand it.
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u/sdh68k 2d ago
Yeah, 2k over 4 years is about $1.30 a day for a fucking supercomputer in your pocket.
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u/aspen0414 3d ago
The disconnect is that we used to spend this amount annually. Which isn’t happening as much anymore. Although some foolish people still buy a new phone every year the way some foolish people buy a new car every two years. If you annualize the cost over 4 years, it’s not so crazy, but “subconsciously” or something we still think of it as a yearly expense.
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u/thegiantgummybear 3d ago
I think it's because so many people see phones as disposable and upgrade every 1-2 years. But with people keeping them longer now, spending more starts to make more sense.
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u/PaleJicama4297 3d ago
I feel you. I think a larger and larger percentage of the population are full-on foregoing personally owned computers/laptops completely. I can see folks rationalising this in their heads.
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u/questionableintentsX 3d ago
I mean I spent 1100! On a phone and 500 on a tablet and that was before memory prices went nuts
Seems like 300$ extra for all in one isn’t that crazy
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u/Chessdaddy_ 3d ago
The whole “just 30 dollars a month” stuff works really well with human psychology
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u/DanielPhermous 3d ago
It's better to think of it as a phone and a tablet in one.
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u/punarob 4d ago
Seems to explain the slow sales of the 18 Pro & Max. When they get rid of TouchID and put a camera with a real zoom on it I'll probably buy it.
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u/whytakemyusername 4d ago
I long for touchid. I’m always holding my phone when using it anyway. Sometimes I’m at a weird angle
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u/wolvesscareme 4d ago
Having used both pixels and iPhones extensively, I prefer Touch ID and it’s not particularly close.
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u/Lleaff 4d ago
The crazy part to me was that it doesn’t have the option to shoot in raw… Like why? It has the chip.
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u/stumblios 4d ago
If I was a betting man, I'd put money on "so they can release it as a new feature on an upcoming release."
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u/CMDRTragicAllPro 4d ago
Saving it for the duo pro max ultra plus special edition. Just 4 monthly payments of 1999.99.
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u/WkndWarrior12345054 4d ago
Imagine the demand for a “gimped” Duo is already this high, adding Telephoto and FaceID? Even starting at $3k it will sell.
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u/redyellowblue5031 4d ago
They brought back touchID? I’m still not a mini 12 so only have faceID.
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u/The_Summary_Man_713 4d ago edited 4d ago
And I’m one of those 6 million sales and couldn’t be more pumped.
$12 billion in sales in like a few hours is insane
Edit: $12B assumes everyone bought the base model which we know isn’t true. So very well could be several more billion.
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u/No-Telephone-695 4d ago
Well surprise, people are actually willing to pay for "new" product designs. Not like the normal iphone which hasn‘t had any noteworthy redesigns/improvements for 5 years.
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u/DataDude00 4d ago
What’s the cancellation policy on preorders
Tough to gauge real demand vs scalpers who go an order in and are waiting to see what demand looks like in the real world
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u/senshi_of_love 3d ago
I wonder how much this is hype and how much the hype will hold once it starts being used by the general public.
I still am skeptical because of the downgraded camera, battery and lack of face id. But I may be in the minority considering those things important lol.
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u/yomommasbathwater 4d ago
To scalpers
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u/bigphillip76 3d ago
Some exist but genuine demand is huge otherwise scalpers wouldn’t have a market
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u/ADrenalinnjunky 3d ago
If I had a pro camera I’d get one, but nah. I’d rather it was foldable but the same size as the 18
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u/AgarFifthRim 4d ago
Yeah well Tommy just sold half a million brake pads