• News

Apple may already have a third of the global foldable market.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

As Apple already immediately sold out of iPhone Duo units through January 2027, the company likely just sold at least 6 million of its foldable in a couple of hours. And the number might approach 10 million.

That means Apple may have just claimed between a quarter and a third of the global foldable market.

iPhone Duo sells out in minutes

The iPhone Duo went up for preorder on Friday morning, and Apple ran out of its prelaunch stock in minutes. Well before noon, anyone placing an order for the foldable from the U.S. Apple Store was told their product wouldn’t ship before January 2027.

“Demand for iPhone Duo, our first foldable iPhone, has been nothing short of extraordinary. We are working hard to get this revolutionary new product into customers’ hands as quickly as possible, and we will continue accepting orders online,” according to a statement from the company gave to a variety of news sites on Friday.

While Apple claims extraordinary demand, judging actual demand for a product based on preorder sales is a dicey business. It depends on how many units of the product are available at launch.

For example, if Apple had only made 100 iPhone Duo units, of course they all sold out. That would reveal nothing about demand for the product.

But Cupertino made far more than 100 iPhone Duo units. More than a few thousand. Analysts estimate it produced millions of them and continues to make more… and they all sold out in a couple of hours.

6 million iPhone Duo shipments in 2026

Apple did not reveal how many units of its new foldable it is producing. That’s a figure the company never makes public for any of its smartphones. But analysts fill in the gap.

“Apple is expected to achieve over six million shipments of iPhone Duo by the end of 2026,” said the analysts at Omdia in September. Counterpoint analysts agree on the 6 million figure.

It could be higher, though. Sources told Nikkei Asia that Apple will make as many as 10 million units this year. A report from last week in China’s Securities Times said much the same.

And considering the wait time for the foldable is now January 2027, those units aren’t sitting in warehouses hoping to someday be sold. They are already sold, including the pre-launch units as well as the ones that will be assembled between now and January.

Apple now a big player in the foldable market

Android manufacturers launched the first foldable smartphones years ago, with Samsung introducing its original Galaxy Fold in 2019. Apple waited until 2026 to enter the market with the iPhone Duo, yet analysts already expect the device to account for roughly a third of global foldable phone shipments this year.

Omdia estimates that manufacturers shipped 18.2 million foldable smartphones worldwide in 2025. The analysts at the rival market analysis firm IDC approximate the total at 20.6 million.

So if Apple really will ship between 6 million and 10 million iPhone Duo units before the end of 2026, that will equal approximately one-third of the entire foldable market in 2025. And the total could be between a quarter and a third of the 2026 market after adding in Apple’s own shipments. 

Putting iPhone Duo in perspective

To be clear, even if analysts are correct and Apple ships 6 million or more iPhone Duo units in the next few months, the foldable will represent only a small slice of the company’s overall smartphone business. Analysts at GF Securities predict the company will ship around 257 million iPhones worldwide this year, meaning the Duo’s projected shipments would account for maybe 2%-3% of the total.

That would still be a significant debut for Apple’s first foldable, but it puts the device’s expected sales in perspective: Apple’s conventional iPhone models will continue to account for the overwhelming majority of its smartphone shipments.

Foldables in general remain niche products. Omdia estimates that manufacturers shipped approximately 1.25 billion smartphones overall in 2025, of which 18.2 million included folding screens. That means foldables accounted for just 1.5% of global smartphone shipments.