The First Folding iPhone Is On Sale. Why Is It So Hard to Buy?

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0:33Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Monday, October 26th. I'm Danny Lewis for The Wall Street Journal. Apple's first ever folding phone, the iPhone Duo, is finally on sale. It's one of Apple's splashiest new products. But have you actually tried buying one yet? Because just minutes after pre-orders for the nearly$2 ,000 phone went up, The company's website was quoting shipping dates as far out as January. WSJ Apple reporter Rolf Winkler is here to unpack what's going on. So, Rolf, my first thought reading your story was, wow, this doesn't bode well for a brand new product. But then I thought, wait, maybe this is kind of the new, like, Tickle Me Elmo.

1:12You know, it's just flying off store shelves because the duo is in such high demand. Which is it? Not many of our listeners are going to remember Tickle Me Elmo Day. That's a deep cut right there. So it's not clear that Apple's supply chain or this device were quite ready yet. And there's two things happening there. First off, it's the most innovative change to the iPhone since the iPhone was released. It's always been a black rectangle. And now I guess it's still a rectangle, but it's one that you can unfold to create a tablet. So it sparked a lot of interest. There's a lot of foldables from other companies, but until Apple made one, I think a lot of people weren't even paying attention to that category.

1:56So this creates a lot of buzz. And they just haven't been able to make enough of them, it seems, to meet the demand. You mentioned the supply chain, and that's one of the things that Apple is maybe the most famous for besides, you know, the iPhone. What does this say about Apple's ability to manufacture these devices? I think they'll be fine. I think foldable devices can be made and it's going to just take them time to spin up that supply chain to make as many of them as they can sell. They wanted a really cool new thing to show the world when John Ternus took over as Apple's new CEO in September.

2:32And they said, here you go. This is the coolest thing we've made in quite some time. but unlike the other iPhones, which went on sale in September, they said, well, this one can't go on sale till the end of October. And even then when the pre-orders open, you're not going to get it until after Christmas, which is just disappointing, right? You're already a quarter of the way till the next iPhone duo, presuming they come out with V2 next fall, right? If you're not getting this one till January, I mean, aren't you sometimes buying these devices for the holiday season. So it's just a little bit disappointing that they couldn't get the supply chain going.

3:09I think they will. This is a company that knows how to make devices better than the other company in the world. But it's still a little bit of a disappointment, I think, for them and for customers. I mean, does it say anything about Apple's confidence in how it will sell? I think it'll sell well. Look, it's going to be a niche device at$2 ,000 for the entry level and much more if you want more flash storage. It's not going to appeal to everyone. And it's a heavy phone. Your hand gets tired over time trying to use it. It feels like a big lump in your pocket when you have it there. And there's other trade-offs.

3:41The camera isn't as good. The buttons are in strange places. The apps aren't ready for this new screen. That should get fixed relatively quickly. But some of those other trade-offs are just, that's what comes in this first version of the device and they got to make it better. So I think maybe demand will increase as they improve the device. But again, this is still going to be a little nichey. Does Apple's foray into folding phones make you more interested in getting one yourself? If you're a listener on Spotify, leave us a comment with your thoughts. Coming up, some people have been able to get their hands on an iPhone Duo.

4:18What do reviewers have to say? That's after the break. Thank you.

5:03Welcome back. We've been talking about the launch of the iPhone Duo and Apple's efforts to make enough to meet demand. We've talked a little bit about what the device has been like to use so far. What's the wider response been? I used it a little bit when I was there in September at the launch. And to me, it felt heavy and typing was a little awkward because you're doing it on a larger screen and your thumbs can't quite meet the middle of the screen. You can separate the keyboard, but it's still just not quite the same. Those were some of my frustrations, I guess, using it for five minutes. Reviewers came out this week and said, look, there's problems with this device.

5:39The front-facing screen has layout problems. It gets hot to the touch. The middle screen is amazing. It's very cool. Is it worth all these trade-offs? And some people, including our reviewer at the Wall Street Journal, Nicole, wrote that she wouldn't recommend buying it yet. Wait till Apple improves it. I think that's the general reception. You mentioned that this was really kind of a big showcase for Apple's new CEO, John Ternus. It's one of the company's first major brand new product launches since the Vision Pro headset a few years ago. And Ternus was the hardware guy at Apple. How does this set the stage for his tenure running the company?

6:20Well, I think they wanted to show off that they can be innovative. This has been a knock on Apple during the Tim Cook days. Sure, they came out with the Vision Pro. Nobody bought it. It was too expensive. It was too heavy. It's not a consumer device. They did AirPods. They did the watch. But they haven't done anything truly innovative like the iPhone, things that Steve Jobs created. So people have worried, has Apple lost some of that magic? Tim Cook scaled the devices that Steve Jobs' team invented. He scaled them amazingly well. The company is 14 times larger than it was when he took over. But people have really pined for those days when Apple came out with devices that surprised you.

6:57It did really cool things. and the duo was something they wanted to show off for John Ternus as he took over. Look, our innovative chops are back. I think that was something they wanted to do. And what does that say? That says they're cognizant of it, but it's tough. It's really hard. How do you beat the iPhone? The biggest selling, largest consumer product ever invented. It's hard to top that. So it's going to be difficult for him to do so. You know, also, as you and some of our other colleagues have talked about on the show recently, Apple does have its new dedicated smart home hub coming out soon too.

7:30Is this kind of like a brave new world for Apple trying to really do a lot more innovation in its hardware development? I think they want to do more. I think it's true that they want to sell more types of devices and just have a bigger menu for customers. The HomeView, that's another product that's a little tricky and that reviewers are like, it just seems like a big Apple Watch on my desk. I can't use third-party apps. But they're going to try a lot of things, and they're going to see what sticks. That was WSJ Apple reporter Rolf Winkler. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to leave us a comment.

8:06Today's show was produced by me, with supervising producer Katie Ferguson. I'm Danny Lewis for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tomorrow with a new episode. Thanks for listening.

8:44We'll see you next time. in their flow. Seriously. Make work less work with Gemini on Google Cloud. Check response. Subscription required.