Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, reached stores Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, and the Sanlitun location became a resale bazaar. Scalper Alex Wang paced the pickup line for pre-booked phones, dangling a 3,000 yuan ($448) premium on the spot. "I feel the Duo can be sold with a higher price for half a month," he said, pointing to "the tight supply."
The queue formed early. Apple fan Mary Tong turned up at 6 a.m. and led a line of roughly 100 customers. "Apple has been the laggard," she said. "I think many Chinese do prefer foldable phones." That mirrors the market: foldables are still niche worldwide, but China is the biggest market, per Counterpoint Research.
Shoppers without reservations arrived before regular hours to try for a unit, even after Apple said there would be no walk-in sales in mainland China on launch day and described availability elsewhere as "limited." Online orders were capped at two phones.
Some buyers pushed online anyway and hit long waits. Zhang Zheng tried Apple's site but saw delivery pushed to January 2027. He still plans to buy. "I think it will be useful for work and it's cool to look at," he said.
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Competition is busy too. Huawei is promoting its XiaoYi assistant and on Sept. 7 launched the Mate XT2, a trifold priced around $3,000 - two days before Apple's Duo announcement. Around the same time, Xiaomi unveiled a premium foldable called the 18 Fold.
Excitement about the hardware overshadowed chatter about Apple Intelligence. According to Apple, the mainland China build will start beta testing this month, bringing features such as live translation, the Photos Clean Up capability, and writing tools. Beijing granted approval on Oct. 14 for Alibaba AI models to be deployed in Duo as well as across other Apple devices, a step tied to the company's forthcoming AI rollout in China, and Apple had already obtained regulatory sign-off in the country during the summer.
State media in China, quoting ex-CEO Tim Cook from a recent trip, said the revamped Siri AI will still not roll out in the country for now. John Zhao, a Duo buyer, recounted that he used Apple Intelligence during a stint working abroad and called it "nice but not beyond imagination." He expects the local version to be less exciting.
Early demand looks ahead of supply, from street premiums to delivery windows that reach into 2027. Watch how quickly Apple adds inventory, whether the China beta of Apple Intelligence resonates, and how devices like Huawei's Mate XT2 and Xiaomi's 18 Fold influence buying in the world's largest foldables market.
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