Apple has finally shipped the foldable joke into a product page, complete with colours named like a weather app and a price that could fund a small holiday. The iPhone Duo is real. The hype is louder. What you actually need before Monday is not another hero video. You need a checklist so Get Ready, pre-order morning and delivery day do not turn into a three-act comedy starring your bank card and a spinning wheel.
I pulled the dates and prices from Apple’s own US, UK, Canada, Australia and Ireland shop pages on 10 October 2026. Media chatter about supply is labelled as media chatter. Apple’s footnotes stay footnotes. If a live page changes after you read this, trust the live page.
Confirmed dates (global)
Apple’s shop banners are refreshingly blunt once you ignore the cinematic B-roll:
- United States and Canada: Come back on 12 October to Get Ready. Pre-order from 5:00 a.m. Pacific on 16 October. Available from 23 October.
- United Kingdom and Ireland (and similar EU storefronts): Come back on 12 October to Get Ready. Pre-order from 1:00 p.m. on 16 October. Available from 23 October.
- Australia: Come back on 13 October to Get Ready. Pre-order from 11:00 p.m. AEDT on 16 October. Available from 23 October.
Same Friday pre-order open, different clocks. Pacific 5:00 a.m. is Eastern 8:00 a.m., UK 1:00 p.m. (BST), Central Europe 14:00, UAE 16:00, India 17:30, and Australia 11:00 p.m. AEDT. Set one alarm, not five. Apple will not pause the internet because your kettle boiled.
Verified prices by region
Unlocked “Connect later” style tiers from Apple storefronts checked for this piece. Colours are Night Sky and Star White. Storage is 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB.
- UK: 256GB £1,999; 512GB £2,199; 1TB £2,599; 2TB £3,199.
- US: 256GB $1,999; 512GB $2,199; 1TB $2,599; 2TB $3,199.
- Canada: from C$2,999; 512GB C$3,299; 1TB C$3,899; 2TB C$4,799.
- Australia: from A$3,499; 512GB A$3,899; 1TB A$4,699; 2TB A$5,899.
- Ireland (EU example): from €2,369; €2,619; €3,119; €3,869.
Those figures are the shop numbers, not a currency-conversion party trick. Carrier deals, trade-in credits and AppleCare sit on top and will change the total at checkout.
What Get Ready does (and does not)
Apple’s product and buy pages tell you to come back on the Get Ready date so you can prepare for pre-order. Coverage from MacRumors and 9to5Mac describes the same flow as selecting colour, capacity, carrier options, accessories, AppleCare, trade-in, payment and shipping ahead of time so checkout is faster when the clock hits. That matches how Apple has used Get Ready before: a saved bag, not a velvet rope.
Get Ready is not a reservation. It does not hold stock. It does not guarantee a delivery slot. It does not bribe the warehouse elves. Treat it as homework. On 16 October you still have to complete the order like everyone else, hopefully with fewer taps and fewer panic typos.
Quick product facts (from Apple, not vibes)
- Displays: 7.6-inch inner and 5.4-inch outer Super Retina XDR.
- Chip: A20 Pro.
- Battery: dual battery setup (Apple’s wording).
- Biometrics: Touch ID on the side button. Not Face ID. Muscle memory will betray you the first morning.
- SIM: eSIM-only worldwide. No physical SIM tray for the “I still have a tiny plastic rectangle from 2014” crowd.
- Siri AI footnote: Apple says Siri AI is rolling out in English initially. Separate Apple notes for iOS indicate Siri AI will not be initially available in the EU. Plan for a smarter assistant later if you shop in Europe, not day-one miracles.
Dated checklist (from Saturday 10 October 2026)
- Tonight through Sunday 11 October: Update Apple ID payment method and shipping address. Confirm your carrier supports eSIM for a new Apple foldable (ask them, do not guess from a forum screenshot). Decide colour and storage before caffeine does it for you. If you plan a trade-in, run Apple’s estimate now and screenshot it, knowing the final quote can move when they inspect the device. Check Apple Store pickup vs delivery for your postcode so you are not inventing a plan at 12:59.
- Monday 12 October (US/UK/IE and peers; AU is 13 October): Open apple.com or the Apple Store app and complete Get Ready. Save the config. Do not confuse a green tick with a secured phone.
- Tuesday to Thursday 13 to 15 October: Keep payment details valid. If media reports of tight supply worry you, treat them as unconfirmed reporting, not an Apple stock ticker. Still show up early on Friday with a boring plan, not a conspiracy theory.
- Friday 16 October, pre-order morning: Be online at your region’s open time (UK 1:00 p.m., US 5:00 a.m. PT, AU 11:00 p.m. AEDT). Finish checkout. If you change colour or storage at the last second, expect the “fast bag” to become a slower bag. That is on you, not the product manager.
- Friday 23 October: Pickup or delivery day. Bring ID if the store asks. Activate eSIM with the carrier before you throw a leaving party for the old handset.
- After launch, EU buyers: Expect Siri AI later per Apple’s EU timing note. The foldable cinema still plays video without waiting for the assistant to finish its European holiday.
Traps worth skipping
- eSIM-only carrier surprises. If your network still lives in nano-SIM nostalgia, sort the migration before you pay nearly two thousand pounds for a hinge.
- Changing the config at checkout. Get Ready speeds the bag you already built. Rebuild mid-stream and you join the people refreshing a spinning logo for sport.
- Assuming Face ID. Duo uses Touch ID on the side button. Masks, gloves and wet fingers are a different argument now.
- EU Siri AI day-one expectations. Apple’s own rollout language puts English first and flags EU delay for Siri AI on iOS. Budget for features to land on Apple’s calendar, not yours.
- Treating Get Ready as a hold. It is prep. Stock is still first-come, first-served when pre-orders open.
- Ignoring trade-in quote timing. Estimates are estimates. Condition checks can shrink the credit after you have already emotionally spent it on cases.
While the Duo is busy being a pocket cinema with a hinge and a price tag that makes routers look shy, the living-room screen still needs a boring, reliable player. A certified Google TV or Android TV box with Ethernet (or at least honest Wi-Fi) is the unglamorous second screen that keeps streaming stable when the foldable is off doing foldable things:
Best IPTV boxes to buy
These are certified Android TV / Google TV media boxes and sticks that can run players and licensed apps from Google Play. They are not pirate hardware. They do not come with channels or playlists. I am not claiming I personally lab-tested every SKU this month.
Buy one of these when: Fire TV sideload is a hassle on your model, you want Play Store apps on a proper TV OS, or you want a dedicated player shell behind the sofa. No Fire TV device is on this shortlist.
- NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro: the premium pick, a certified Android TV player with AI upscaling, Dolby Vision/Atmos and Gigabit Ethernet for the main living-room telly. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Google TV Streamer 4K: solid Google TV living-room default with Ethernet, 32GB storage and Dolby Vision/Atmos. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen): Google TV box with 32GB storage, Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision/Atmos, the cheaper box route than the Streamer. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Xiaomi TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen): budget Google TV stick with Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision/Atmos when you want HDMI-simple, not a full box. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Strong LEAP-NOVA: Google TV certified 4K stick on Android 14 with 32GB storage, Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision, for a second telly. Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- MECOOL MEon1: Google TV certified 4K box with AI upscaling and 32GB storage for a dedicated player behind the sofa. Amazon UK
Still shopping for a Fire TV device? Fine for Prime Video and the Appstore universe. Not the shortlist above. And none of these boxes magically make unlicensed streams legal.
Sources checked for this guide: Apple US iPhone Duo, Apple US buy iPhone Duo, Apple UK iPhone Duo, Apple UK buy iPhone Duo, plus Apple Canada, Australia and Ireland storefront banners for regional dates and prices, with Get Ready behaviour summarised carefully against MacRumors and 9to5Mac reporting (prep for faster checkout, not a reservation). If Apple updates a banner after 10 October 2026, trust the live page.
Written by Dr Husham Memar
