The iPhone Duo is surprisingly expensive, but my initial concern was appleChina’s first foldable phone looks solid.
On the day of the global launch on Friday, scalpers like Alex Wang stood outside his flagship store in Beijing’s popular shopping area Sanlitun, offering customers an extra 3,000 Chinese yuan ($448) to buy their newly purchased phones on the spot.
“I think Duo can sell at a high price for half a month,” he told CNBC as he looked at the line of Duo customers who had pre-ordered phones. “The main reason is lack of supply.”
According to Counterpoint Research, foldable products remain a niche product globally, but the Chinese market is the single largest.
Apple fan Mary Tong, who was at the front of a line of about 100 people at the Sanlitun store, showed up at 6 a.m. to pick up her foldable device.
“Apple has fallen behind,” she says. “I think many Chinese people prefer flip phones.”
Huawei is promoting its own AI assistant, XiaoYi, to boost the Chinese smartphone maker’s competitiveness against Apple and other domestic rivals. Huawei, which already has an extensive lineup of foldable phones, launched a new tri-fold phone, the Mate XT2, priced at about $3,000, on September 7, two days before Apple’s Duo announcement.
Around the same time, China’s Xiaomi announced its own expensive foldable device, “18 Fold.”
At an Apple store in Beijing, even before regular business hours, walk-in customers came to try their luck at getting a new phone. Apple said Duo would not be available for purchase on launch day in mainland China and would be “limited” in other countries. Each online purchase was limited to two mobile phones.
Zhang Zheng said he tried ordering on the site, but was deterred by the delivery date, which would take until January 2027. He said he still wanted to buy it.
“I think it’s useful for work, and it looks cool,” he said.
The iPhone Duo smartphone was sold at Apple Inc.’s Sanlitun store on Friday, October 23, 2026, on the first day of in-store sales of the new device in Beijing, China.
Stringer | Anadolu | Getty Images
There was a lot of buzz about the device itself, but expectations for Apple Intelligence were minimal. The company said a version of its AI system will be beta-tested for the mainland Chinese market this month and will include features such as live translation, photo cleanup and writing tools.
On October 14th, the Chinese government approved alibaba The AI model used in the Duo and other Apple devices as part of the US tech giant’s pending AI rollout in the country. Apple received approval from Chinese regulators over the summer.
Chinese government media reported that former CEO Tim Cook said during a recent visit to China that Apple’s improved Siri AI would not yet be available in the country.
John Zhao, a Duo customer, said he tried Apple Intelligence while working overseas and said it was “great, but not what I expected.” He expects the Chinese version to be less exciting.
