A 2TB Apple iPhone Duo has apparently resold for $5,000 on eBay, about $1,800 over retail, after preorders for the foldable phone sold out in minutes Friday.
Key Points:
- A 2TB iPhone Duo listing on eBay was marked sold at $5,000, against Apple's $3,199 price.
- Every U.S. configuration showed a Jan. 25 delivery estimate about 30 minutes after preorders opened.
- Reports of weak assembly yields and slow production had warned of tight supply for weeks.
iPhone Duo eBay Resale
A completed listing on the marketplace shows a 2TB iPhone Duo in the Night Sky color sold for $5,000, a configuration Apple prices at $3,199 in the U.S. Vadim Yuryev, who runs the YouTube channel Max Tech, first flagged the sale on X.
It was not the only one. A separate listing for a confirmed preorder of a 1TB model, also in Night Sky, sold for $4,400. Apple charges $2,599 for that version, so that buyer also paid a premium of roughly $1,800.
Dozens of preordered units were listed on the site soon after orders opened, with some resellers asking as much as $5,200. New orders placed with Apple online will not arrive until next year.
Also Read: How Apple’s iPhone Duo Went From Preorder To Backorder In 30 Minutes
Apple Supply Crunch, Counterpoint Forecast
The resale premiums trace back to how fast Apple's stock disappeared on Friday morning. Preorders opened at 8 a.m. ET, and delivery estimates for every color and storage option slipped from the Oct. 23 launch date to mid-November in under five minutes. By 8:30 a.m. ET, all U.S. models showed Jan. 25, and some buyers saw dates as late as Jan. 29.
Apple's retail stores also ran out of launch-day stock, and Counterpoint Research expects the company to sell about 6 million iPhone Duos this year, in a market where foldables remain a niche product.
Foldable phones are hard to build in volume because of their complex hinges and delicate bendable screens, tech reporter Raymond Wong wrote, adding that yields are often much lower than on ordinary phones. He also expects resellers to flip the phone well above its $1,999 starting price.
Warnings about supply had piled up for weeks. A September report suggested that only slightly more than 60% of assembled units met Apple's manufacturing standards, a figure the company has not confirmed. Another report last month said Apple was building just a few hundred iPhone Duos a day, well behind the pace of a typical iPhone launch while production was still ramping up.
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