Apple says it’s ‘hard to predict’ when iPhone Duo constraints will improve
- ID
- 42206
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 03 Nov 2026, 7:25 AM
- Fetched
- 03 Nov 2026, 7:45 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/02/apple-says-its-hard-to-predict-when-iphone-duo-constraints-will-improve/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 4.5
- Created
- 03 Nov 2026, 7:46 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_founders
What happened
On Apple's fiscal Q4 earnings call (Nov 2, 2026), COO Sabih Khan said the new foldable iPhone Duo is 'constrained as of today' and that it is 'really hard to predict when supply and demand will be in balance,' with non-preorder ship times now stretching into next year and Verizon offering customers gift cards over the delays. The call was dominated by questions about rising memory chip costs driven by AI-industry demand, and Khan said Apple has raised prices on a number of products 'reluctantly.' Apple also said it is 'deepening' its partnership with titanium supplier Perryman for the foldable device.
Why it matters
The concrete signal here isn't the phone — it's that AI-driven memory demand is now showing up as higher component costs and price increases at the largest hardware buyer on earth. If you're budgeting device fleets, edge/hardware prototypes, or anything with RAM/storage in the BOM for 2027, plan for higher unit costs and longer lead times rather than assuming last year's quotes hold. The article contains no Malaysia-specific detail, so treat local impact as an inference, not a stated fact.
Discussion angle
If AI datacenter demand keeps inflating memory prices, which parts of your stack or product BOM get repriced first — and would you lock in hardware or cloud commitments now, or wait a quarter?