Order an iPhone Duo from Apple's Malaysian online store today and Apple says it ships on 22 January. That is the date the store showed on the morning of 3 November for every one of the eight models it lists, from the RM9,499 256GB version to the RM15,499 2TB one.
The same morning, Apple's own pickup check showed the cheapest model available for collection in Kuala Lumpur.
Quick facts
- Price in Malaysia: RM9,499 (256GB), RM10,499 (512GB), RM12,499 (1TB), RM15,499 (2TB), on Apple's Malaysian store.
- Online ship date: 22 January for all eight models, both colours, checked twice between 10:37am and 10:43am on 3 November, with a Kuala Lumpur location.
- In store: both 256GB colours showed "Available Today" for pickup at Apple The Exchange TRX in the same checks. The 512GB, 1TB and 2TB models showed "Unavailable for Pickup".
- For comparison: a 1TB iPhone 18 Pro Max, checked in the same 10:43am pass, showed a wait of 1 to 2 weeks online and was available for pickup at TRX.
Why the wait is this long
Apple's chief executive, John Ternus, told Reuters that Apple is "not able to predict when supply and demand will be in balance" for the iPhone Duo, as reported by The Verge. The Verge reports that pre-orders for Apple's first folding iPhone sold out quickly after its launch last month, with some shipments expected to arrive in 2027.
In the same Reuters interview, Ternus said "a very small percentage" of iPhone Duos had been returned over cracked screens, and that Apple is replacing them. Apple did not give a number.
The wait comes in a strong quarter for the iPhone. Apple's own financial statements show US$57.58 billion in iPhone revenue for the three months to 26 September, up from US$49.03 billion a year earlier, and The Verge notes that iPhone Duo pre-order sales are not included in that report. On the earnings call, Ternus also warned of "even higher memory costs" in the December quarter.
When we ran Apple's pickup check from Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang and Johor Bahru postcodes, it returned one store each time: The Exchange TRX. Store stock moves through the day, so the TRX result is a snapshot, not a promise. Carrier stock is a separate channel: CelcomDigi opened iPhone Duo pre-orders in October.
We filmed the iPhone 18 Pro's arrival at the same store in September:
What it can film
On Apple's Malaysian spec page, the main camera is listed as recording 4K Dolby Vision at up to 120 frames per second, so 4K footage can be played at a quarter of normal speed on a standard 30fps timeline. Sensor-shift stabilisation on the main camera and Action mode up to 2.8K at 60fps are Apple's tools for steadier handheld walk-and-talk shots. Cinematic mode, the blurred-background video effect, runs up to 4K at 60fps.
The outer front camera is 12MP and records 4K at up to 60fps, and Apple lists stereo and Spatial Audio recording with wind noise reduction. One gap matters to filmmakers: the page lists HEVC and H.264 as the only video formats, with no ProRes and no Apple Log, so the spec page lists no Apple Log profile to grade like film. Apple lists low-light video improvements at 1080p. For log footage on an iPhone, the RM5,499 iPhone 18 Pro with Blackmagic's free camera app is one option.
The iPhone Duo uses eSIM only, with no physical SIM slot, and at matched 256GB, 512GB and 1TB list prices it costs RM2,200 to RM2,800 more than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8, as our Galaxy Z Fold8 price comparison found. In our checks of Apple's Malaysian online store and its TRX pickup tool between 10:37am and 10:43am on 3 November, the only iPhone Duo shown as obtainable before 22 January was the 256GB model, listed as available for pickup at TRX that day.
