Apple's catch: a folding iPhone is practically not in demand in the Russian Federation

The first folding iPhone Duo in Russia turned out to be unclaimed: pre-orders for it are rare, sellers told Izvestia. Some retailers have completely refused to pre-order new items. At the same time, the demand for flexible smartphones from other brands remains high, with sales in the tens of thousands. Experts point out that the Duo costs about twice as much as the average folding smartphone. At the same time, Apple continues to impose restrictions on Russians. In addition, a folding smartphone is a new format for the company, so some potential buyers doubt the reliability of the device.

How many iPhone Duo are ordered in Russia

Apple's first folding smartphone, the iPhone Duo, has so far been purchased by individual buyers, electronics sellers and experts told Izvestia. Usually, retailers open pre-orders for new company models after the traditional autumn presentation. So, on October 16, restore started accepting them:. However, some retailers have decided not to pre-order the Duo. In particular, they did not open it on the Svyaz.ON network.

— Preliminary market analysis and work with the customer base show limited and not very confident demand — buyers would like to see the model live first. According to our information, pre—orders from many of the networks that announced them are still limited," the company said.

In addition, it is not yet known when exactly the Apple folding smartphone will appear on the Russian market, so retailers cannot tell customers the exact delivery dates, the network added.

The isolated nature of pre-orders for Duo was confirmed to Izvestia by a source close to one of the online sellers.

Pre-order for this model started on Wildberries on September 11. At this stage, users showed moderate interest in the new product and were somewhat more active in choosing the iPhone 18 Pro, which went on sale earlier, the united RWB company said.

"However, we expect that after the official launch of Duo sales, sellers' offers will become more accessible to consumers, and demand for the new form factor and the first real novelty in a long time will be high," they noted.

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At the presentation, the company showed a bendable smartphone, new Pro models, Apple Watch and AirPods.

About 800 ads for the sale of this smartphone are presented on Avito, the average price of the device is about 230 thousand rubles. The company considers the model a niche one: first of all, it is designed for users who have been waiting for a folding smartphone from Apple for a long time. Many of the potential buyers had previously looked at folding devices from other brands, but did not want to leave the familiar ecosystem. For this audience, the Duo is interesting not only for its new form factor, but also for the opportunity to try out a folding smartphone from a brand whose technology they already use, the company added.

According to Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, several hundred announcements about Duo delivery to Russia are now posted on online platforms a few days after the start of global sales on October 23. Sellers are asking for up to 1.5 million rubles for the device, the expert claims. At the same time, about a month after entering the world market, its price may drop to 300 thousand rubles, so you should not rush to buy, he believes.

As for pre-orders in official retail, there are really few of them, the expert noted. In his opinion, it is not necessary to count on big sales.: The Duo costs about twice as much as the average folding smartphone of similar models of the Fold line. At the same time, about 21,000 of the company's flagships have been sold in Russia since the start of sales of the 18 Pro at the end of September, the analyst added. According to his forecast, about 800 thousand iPhones of all models and modifications will be sold in Russia in 2026.

What are the prospects for Apple's first clamshell in Russia

Over the past year, the Russian market for folding smartphones has grown by about 20%, and the average price of such a device is now about 101 thousand rubles, says Eldar Murtazin. The indicator is influenced by compact Flip models, which already cost less than 100 thousand rubles. Larger Fold devices cost about 140 thousand rubles.

According to "M.Video", in the first half of 2026, 53 thousand folding smartphones worth a total of 4.84 billion rubles were sold in Russia. In the same period of 2025, sales amounted to 42 thousand devices worth 4.39 billion rubles.

"The market is becoming more massive due to the gradual decrease in the average cost of devices. If in the first half of 2022 a folding smartphone cost an average of 121.6 thousand rubles, then in 2023 - 96 thousand, in 2024 — 104.9 thousand, in 2025 - 104.3 thousand, and in the first half of 2026 — 90.7 thousand rubles," the retailer's materials say.

At MTS, Duo accounted for 3% of pre-orders, while 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max took the rest, said Oleg Yablokov, NTI wireless expert. Earlier, this information was confirmed to Izvestia by the company itself.

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What is the reason for this and what allowed Samsung to break ahead?

— According to one analyst, this year about 12 18 Pro devices will be shipped for each folding iPhone. At the same time, there are still not enough folding smartphones. Customers who place an order at the American Apple store now are promised delivery only at the end of January," the expert said.

According to Oleg Yablokov, the basic version of Duo in large retail chains costs about 300 thousand rubles. At the same time, the Russian price of the 18 Pro is about 1.5 times higher than the American one, and the Duo is 1.8 times higher, he noted. The guarantee for smartphones imported under the parallel import scheme is provided by the seller, not Apple, Oleg Yablokov added. This is not so critical for a regular iPhone, but the Duo's most vulnerable elements are the hinge and the flexible screen. In addition, the folding smartphone belongs to the first generation of devices with this design. The lack of a full-fledged guarantee in these conditions causes caution among many buyers, the expert believes.

In an optimistic scenario, provided that buyers appreciate the new form factor, suppliers offer discounts and financial instruments to stimulate demand, and deliveries are prompt, Duo sales in Russia may exceed 20,000 devices by the end of the year, according to Svyaz.ON. According to the company's representative, by the end of 2027, the total sales of the model in all modifications may reach 50-80 thousand units.

The Duo is likely to be sold in extremely limited quantities in Russia. Buyers who can afford such a smartphone will probably prefer to order it or purchase it themselves abroad, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. In addition, in Russia, a number of important functions are not available on the device, as on other iPhones, he added.

In particular, owners of new devices will not be able to use the updated version of Siri with a personal context, which takes into account the contents of applications and performs complex actions inside the system, Izvestia wrote. The official ChatGPT integration via Siri and the built—in Writing Tools, which are tools for rewriting, shortening, and changing text style directly in applications, are also unavailable. In addition, Genmoji for creating your own emojis, Image Playground image generator, Visual Intelligence system for recognizing objects using a camera, advanced photo search and the Clean Up function are not available. The restrictions also apply to instant transfer of messages, phone conversations and audio via AirPods and a number of other features.

The demand for the apple cot may grow when the company increases production, and the margin due to the shortage will decrease, Oleg Yablokov believes. According to him, this will not happen before spring.