Apple's foldable iPhone hits stores

Apple's first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, hit stores around the world on Friday with a price tag of about $2,000 and less of the fanfare that accompanied previous iPhone launches.

From Singapore and Shanghai to London and San Francisco, demand was strong but with sales rationed, there were fewer of the round-the-block queues ‌and overnight camp-outs that once marked new iPhone days.

Competitors such as Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies have sold premium foldable phones for years and the Duo is a test of whether Apple can reinvent the small foldable mobile market the way the iPhone did for smartphones.

It is also an early challenge for Apple's new CEO John Ternus, the former hardware chief who unveiled the phone barely a week after taking charge in September.

Apple's estimated delivery dates for the Duo had slipped to late January within minutes of pre-orders opening a week ago, as demand outpaced supply.

The US company called the response "nothing short of extraordinary".

Apple capped pre-orders at two handsets per customer and limited sales to walk-in shoppers. In China, France, Hong Kong, India and Japan they were only available to those who had ordered online.

In Sydney, where the first Apple store began selling the new passport-shaped phones on Friday, a queue formed outside before opening at 8 a.m. local time.