Squawk on the Street · Oct 16, 2026
With Tony Fadell, Former Apple Executive, iPhone Co-Creator and Founder of Nest
Photo: Web Summit, CC BY 2.0 via Wikipedia
Launch-day stock of Apple's foldable iPhone Duo sold out almost at once, and some orders now slip into January 2027. Tony Fadell, the former Apple executive who co-created the iPhone and later founded Nest, told CNBC's Squawk on the Street that most of that demand comes from people who already own an iPhone.
The Duo is being sold as a phone that opens into a tablet. Tony's view is that the buyers lining up want something new, and that many will question the design after living with it.
"Without a doubt, this is totally supply constrained."
Tony created the iPod and co-created the iPhone at Apple, then founded the smart-home company Nest, so he has built both the kind of device Apple is launching and the kind of home product it is now chasing.
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Key Takeaways
Most Duo demand is novelty, from people who already buy iPhones
Apple cannot make Duos fast enough
Some orders are slipping into January 2027
Typing with one hand is one of the tradeoffs buyers may regret
Apple's HomeView smart-home device won't be right until version 3, the same path the Apple Watch took
Apple has the devices, chips and software but no AI agent framework of its own
1. Novelty Drives Duo Demand
Tony said a foldable form factor was considered inside Apple for a long time. The device is pitched to people who want a tablet they can carry everywhere, but in his view that is not where the orders are coming from.
Tony thinks the Duo's buyers are mainly iPhone owners chasing something new, not tablet users
"What you really look at with this form factor is that this is for one set of customers — an iPad that they can take with them anywhere... but really where all the demand is coming from is the iPhone buyer who just wants novelty." — Tony Fadell
Whether the Duo lasts beyond that first wave depends, he said, on what third-party developers build for it.
