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iPhone Duo Resellers Demand Steep Premiums As Apple Stores Sell Out, Deliveries Slip To January

Tyler Durden's Photo
by Tyler Durden
Authored...

Apple's first foldable iPhone quickly sold out of limited in-store inventory Friday, with new orders placed Sunday facing delivery estimates stretching into late January. Early demand appears strong, but whether that momentum holds beyond the initial launch rush remains a big question.

The iPhone Duo drew crowds from New York to Singapore. In the US, each Apple Store received roughly 50 to more than 200 units, according to Bloomberg. One Los Angeles location had no phones available for shoppers arriving after 6:30 a.m.

At a New Jersey store, the 256- and 512-gigabyte versions sold out within half an hour, leaving only higher-priced models, including the 2TB version, which costs more than $3,000.

With limited launch inventories quickly depleted at Apple Stores, customers can turn to the resale market, though at a hefty premium.

An eBay scrape found dozens of US and Italian listings for iPhone Duos. The average asking price across all four storage versions was around $4,188 across 38 listings, excluding a $20,000 outlier, as of Sunday morning.

Average asking prices ranged from $3,353 for 256GB models to $5,355 for 2TB versions. These are asking prices, not completed sales. For context, Apple is selling the 256GB version $1,999. 

Scarcity has pushed sellers to charge hefty resale premiums on secondary markets, but those prices may not hold as store inventories replenish over the coming weeks and months. Mass adoption also remains an open question, given that these foldable phones are unaffordable for many consumers.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel provided clients with an update on Friday of the expected supply increase of the Duos: 

Exclusive: Apple raises iPhone Duo shipment target 44% on strong preorders Apple is looking to increase iPhone Duo supply by >40%, from ~10M to ~14M units for the first 12-month period. We think, if true, this supply could come from parts of other iPhones. In addition, we are already estimating 12M units over the first 12 months, and thus don't view this as a material upside driver.

And there's this ... 

In his Duo review last Wednesday, tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee found that the foldable iPhone's cool factor is high, but it is not for everyone. (Read report.)

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