**Nothing** CEO **Carl Pei** publicly called Apple’s $1,999 foldable phone, the “iPhone Duo,” “a waste of money.” But the device sold out shortly after preorders began, with some predicting that select Apple Stores may have no units available for walk-in purchases.
Key points
Carl Pei dismissed the iPhone Duo as “a waste of money,” saying it lacks Face ID and a telephoto camera.
Within minutes of preorders opening on October 16, the estimated delivery date for Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, had slipped to late January next year.
Some Apple Store employees were reportedly instructed to warn walk-in customers without reservations in advance that there might be no stock available on launch day, October 23.
Carl Pei’s attack
In a video posted to Instagram and YouTube last week, Pei took direct aim at the iPhone Duo, saying it “would be a waste of money.” In the caption, he wrote, “$2,000 is a lot to pay just for a bigger screen and fancy animations.” Before founding Nothing in 2020, Pei was a co-founder of **OnePlus**.
In the video, Pei pointed out that Apple’s first foldable phone lacks Face ID and a telephoto camera, and that its inner selfie camera also falls short of the $1,199 iPhone 18 Pro. He said Face ID was omitted because, at just 5.2 mm thick when unfolded, the device leaves little physical room for the necessary sensors.
Pei also downplayed the opening and closing animations that earned praise in early hands-on reviews, saying they were “ultimately just animations.” He added that someone had already “vibecoded” a similar effect for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8. However, he acknowledged that Apple is the company most obsessed with details, making it the only brand that can charge top dollar for a foldable.
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The iPhone Duo is getting the opposite market reaction
Early sales indicators point in a different direction.
As soon as preorders for the iPhone Duo opened on October 16, estimated delivery dates slipped to January within minutes. About 30 minutes later, the Apple online store in the U.S. showed an estimated delivery date of January 25 for every model. Apple described demand as “nothing short of phenomenal.”
Some Apple Store employees were later reportedly instructed to tell customers who came to stores without a reservation on the official launch day, October 23, that there would be almost no iPhone Duo stock available.
Foldable smartphones have so far remained a niche segment of the global smartphone market. Even so, **Counterpoint Research** estimates that Apple could sell about 6 million iPhone Duos this year alone.
Apple CEO **John Ternus** was among five engineers who filed a patent for a foldable device in 2011. He has criticized rival foldable products over the years, saying they “looked crude and cheap.”
Pei has also been critical of foldables more broadly. In 2023, he said foldables were “an innovation manufacturers are forcing on consumers,” and that rival products were so similar they were indistinguishable if you covered up the logos. Nothing still hasn’t released its own foldable smartphone.
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