Your New iPhone Duo Will Greet You by Name at the Store — If You Can Find One
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While Apple is planning to offer a large number of demo units and new displays in Apple Stores for next week’s iPhone Duo launch, supplies of the foldable device will be tight, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
Gurman says Apple will be setting up an extra “spotlight” table for the new iPhone in most Apple Store locations, using Apple’s white display tables with central posts and a new fixture to demonstrate how the new phone folds and unfolds. Apple is also planning to set aside a section of its flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City.
The availability of demonstration units will vary greatly from store to store. For example, while Apple’s Fifth Avenue store will score 150 or more handsets to put on display for customers to try out and the Apple Park Visitor Center Store will have close to 100 units available, standard Apple retail stores will have about 20 on hand for demonstration purposes.
There will also be prominent stores that will have numbers falling between those extremes, such as Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, The Grove in Los Angeles, and Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Each of those locations is expected to have approximately 30 to 40 demo-ready devices on hand.
Apple is planning another dedicated takeover area at its Fifth Avenue flagship location, while most stores will receive a second spotlight table — the display fixture with a white top and posts in the center — specifically for showcasing the iPhone Duo. I’ve heard that Apple has developed a new fixture that will show the device opening and closing. The goal is to make the Duo impossible to miss when customers walk into stores, giving as many people as possible a chance to experience Apple’s first foldable iPhone.
A new MagSafe stand will be erected on store tables designed to display an unfolded iPhone Duo alongside two standard iPhones for comparison purposes. Customers will be allowed to try out the Duo’s new StandBy mode without being tethered to a table.
The demo units will be located along the side of the Apple Stores, in an area Apple refers to as “The Avenue.” As you might imagine, it’ll likely be harder to get your hands on one to try it out at non-flagship stores, due to the limited number of demo units that will be available at those stores.
Apple is facing a tight supply of the new iPhone Duo. According to Gurman, Apple initially believed it might not have enough in the pipeline until later in November. In the end, the Cupertino company decided it had sufficient inventory to proceed with an October launch, although it sounds like it barely crossed whatever line it had set, as stock will reportedly still be quite limited.
Apple is providing a special feature for those who opt to buy a new iPhone Duo at a US Apple Store instead of through their carrier, with an option to personalize the boot screen of your new precious by having it greet you by name.
Apple will reportedly have a system on hand that can modify the boot process of the iPhone Duo to show an on-screen “Hello” followed by the owner’s name. For example, mine would say “Hello, Chris” when it turns on for the first time (and I’ll buy one there just as soon as I can scrape together $2,000).
While Gurman didn’t go into detail as to how this will be done, it may make use of Presto, Apple’s system for updating the software of in-stock and still-in-the-box iPhones. Apple first began using the system in stores in March 2024. He also didn’t mention whether the feature can be modified or disabled after purchase.
Availability of such personalization will be limited to iPhone Duo purchases in US Apple Stores, and only in English or Spanish.
iPhone Duo pre-orders kick off at 8 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, October 16. Deliveries and in-store availability begin on Friday, October 23, 2026. The base 256 GB model starts at $1,999 in the United States.
