Apple's new boss can't make enough folding iPhones

Apple can't make its folding iPhone fast enough, and its new boss can't say when it will.

Asked about the $1,999 iPhone Duo on his first earnings call as CEO on Monday, John Ternus said supply is "constrained as of today", and that Apple can't yet predict when supply will catch up with demand, The Globe and Mail reported.

The phone sold out online within hours of going on sale. First-day preorders soon showed estimated shipping dates in 2027, CNBC reported.

Apple is calling it a hit. In its results release, Ternus called the Duo "the most transformational iPhone since the original".

The cracks

Ternus was also asked about the reports of Duo screens cracking down the fold. He said "a very small percentage" of phones have been returned for display problems, and that Apple is replacing them.

None of this showed up in Monday's numbers. The Duo went on sale after Apple's quarter ended on Sept. 26, and the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max only counted for a few weeks.

Even so, it was a record. Apple made $114.5 billion in the quarter, up 12% on a year ago, with $57.6 billion from the iPhone alone. Ternus said Apple had capped off its "best fiscal year ever".

You're paying more

The other admission was about prices. Apple "reluctantly" raised them to cover the cost of parts, Ternus said, CNBC reported.

Apple added $100 to the price of the iPhone 17 when the iPhone 18 Pro launched, and raised the price of some MacBooks, according to The Globe and Mail. The cause is memory chips. "We did see higher memory costs as compared to the June quarter," Ternus said. His predecessor, Tim Cook, called the spike in memory prices a "100-year flood".

Wall Street wasn't thrilled. Apple expects sales to grow 7% to 10% over the holidays, short of the 11.4% analysts wanted, CNBC reported.

Ternus took over from Cook on Sept. 1, and Monday was his first time leading the call. He didn't sound worried.

"We've never been more confident that the best is yet to come," he said.

If you want a Duo for Christmas, though, you may be waiting a while.