Anyone planning to put an iPhone Duo under the tree will be waiting until after the holidays. Apple's US online store lists an estimated shipping date of January 25 for every configuration, as pre-orders opened.
That date applies across the board. No configuration ships sooner, so shoppers cannot trade down to a different model to get the phone earlier. The estimate also lands in 2027, a full month after Christmas Day.
The timing matters because a phone is a common holiday gift, and a pre-order that arrives in late January misses that window entirely. Buyers who order now face the same date as everyone else, so there is no early-bird advantage to chase and no cheaper variant that works as a workaround.
The listing covers Apple's own US store, and January 25 is an estimate rather than a delivery promise. For anyone who still wants to give the phone as a present, the realistic option is a card with a note inside. A January 25 date lands exactly one month after Christmas, which is a long time to carry an IOU.