iPhone Duo launch: Apple's first foldable sells out, but where were the crowds in India?

The iPhone Duo went on sale amid reports of sold-out pre-bookings, but the launch-day scene at Apple's Saket and Noida stores was surprisingly quiet.

At 7 am on Friday, October 23, I reached Apple’s Saket store in Delhi, expecting the usual excitement that accompanies the launch of a new iPhone. Instead, I was greeted by rows of empty chairs outside the mall. These were meant for customers waiting to get their hands on Apple’s latest device. There was just one person sitting there, and he had come to collect a phone for a friend.

For a moment, I wondered whether I had arrived too early. But as I walked closer to the store, the picture became clearer. There were more Apple employees and journalists than customers. The queue, when the gates eventually opened at 8 am, consisted of just three or four people.

This was Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, and the expectations were high. The device starts at Rs 2,99,900 in India, making it one of the most expensive phones in the country.

Reports ahead of the launch suggested that the first week’s inventory had already been booked, with Apple’s Saket and Mumbai BKC stores among the busiest in terms of pre-orders. Yet, on the ground, there was little of the frenzy usually associated with an iPhone launch.

The contrast was hard to miss. Had the excitement around the iPhone Duo been overstated, or was something else at play?

All the way from Chandigarh

The handful of customers who turned up at Saket were not short on enthusiasm. One of them, Anmol Singh, had driven down from Chandigarh to collect this phone. His journey to the store, however, had not been straightforward. He said he spent nearly half an hour trying to book the device before finally securing an 8 am pickup slot.

He appeared to know exactly what he was getting into, including the compromises that come with buying a first-generation product. “I know it’s a first-generation phone and I know FaceID isn’t there but it will eventually come,” he told me.

Apple has entered a new chapter under CEO John Ternus, and its first foldable is an important test of how the company can take the iPhone in a new direction.

For Anmol, the appeal went beyond the fold feature. “For me, buying the iPhone Duo is about productivity. It also offers a polished experience and it’s intuitive,” he said.

There was another amusing detail. He had come with his wife and jokingly said that if the phone failed to impress him, he could always give it to her. It was a light-hearted remark but it also captured the expectations riding on a device that costs nearly Rs 3 lakh.

The countdown went on, even without the crowd

Apple did not abandon its familiar launch-day ritual. As the clock approached 8 am, the store’s employees gathered to welcome customers, building up excitement with their usual animated countdown.

The ceremony was intact; the crowd was not.

I managed to speak to a few buyers after they had collected their devices. While the reactions were largely positive, the small sample size made it difficult to draw any broader conclusions about customer sentiment.

And the most exciting feature? One of the first customers at the Saket store’s answer was simple: the fact that the phone folds.

Another buyer, who had purchased the 1TB model in Star White, spoke about the exclusivity associated with the device and said he was looking forward to using it. Eventually, more people arrived but they came in waves rather than forming one large, continuous queue.

Similar scenes played out in Noida, where no more than four customers had gathered by the time the store opened. For anyone who has covered an iPhone launch, this was an unusual sight. The product had generated enough interest for its initial stock to be booked, but that demand had not translated into the spectacle outside the stores.

Sold out online, but no long queues outside

The apparent contradiction becomes easier to understand when one looks at how customers were expected to purchase the iPhone Duo.

Launch-day availability was limited, with customers in India needing to check for online booking and in-store pickup slots. Reports ahead of the sale also highlighted a limited supply.

So, if a customer has already secured a pickup slot, there is little reason to turn up hours before the store opens. Furthermore, someone without a booking may have little incentive to join a queue if there is no guarantee of getting a phone.

Apple has not publicly disclosed how many iPhone Duo units were allocated to individual stores in Delhi-NCR, making it difficult to establish how much stock was available.

There is also a possible change in customer behaviour. The iPhone Duo is not an impulse purchase for most people. At a starting price of Rs 2,99,900, it is firmly in the ultra-premium category.

Another possibility is that Apple has learnt from previous launches. During the iPhone 18 Pro launch, customers without bookings were turned away. This time, a booking-led system may have reduced uncertainty for buyers.

And finally, Apple has also had to tackle the problem of people buying multiple devices and reselling them at a premium. Limited availability and tighter purchase arrangements can make it harder. There is, however, no confirmation that preventing such activity was the specific reason for the arrangements in India.

These are plausible explanations, rather than confirmed reasons for the short queues.

China had walk-ins, Delhi had the bookings

The contrast with China was particularly striking. Reports described strong pre-order demand there, with some variants selling out quickly and delivery estimates being pushed back.

The Chinese launch generated the kind of online excitement that many would associate with a major Apple product debut.

It would be tempting to conclude that Indian customers were less excited about the iPhone Duo but the evidence from Saket and Noida does not support that conclusion on its own.

For years, queues outside Apple stores have served as a visible measure of the excitement surrounding a new iPhone. They create moments, social media posts and a sense that something significant is happening. But they are an imperfect measure of actual sales.

India remains important, even at this price

The iPhone Duo's muted launch-day scenes also need to be viewed in the context of Apple's growing business in India.

Apple India reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,03,853 crore in FY26, up 31% from Rs 79,060 crore in FY25.

The numbers underline the importance of India to Apple, but they do not establish how the iPhone Duo itself will perform over time. At nearly Rs 3 lakh for the entry-level model, the foldable is aimed at a much narrower audience than Apple's more accessible iPhones.

For these buyers, the attraction may be a combination of the foldable design, the Apple ecosystem, productivity features and the exclusivity of owning a new category of iPhone.

Apple may not need the queue anymore

If customers have already booked their phones, and the initial inventory has been accounted for, Apple may have little reason to worry about how many people are standing outside its doors.

For journalists and social media creators, the queue is often part of the story. For Apple, the more important numbers are likely to be bookings, sales and the response to the product once it reaches customers.

For now, the most interesting takeaway from Saket is this: the queues may have disappeared, but the demand for Apple's most exclusive iPhone may not have.

- Ends