Apple’s first foldable iPhone sparked a launch-day circus in New York on Friday, with fans lining up for hours — and in some cases overnight — before stores opened, only to find some flagship locations were already out of walk-in stock by mid-morning.
asserted
locations → spark → morning
At Apple’s glass-cube Fifth Avenue store, a video posted online showed a “massive queue” around 4:15 a.m. as customers waited for the new iPhone Duo.
By 10 a.m., a Reddit user posted that the store had “ran out of stock for walk-ins,” adding that the remaining line was made up of customers with confirmed pickup orders.
asserted
line → post → orders
The frenzy began well before dawn.
asserted
frenzy → begin → dawn
One launch-day customer, Alex Wong, told The US Sun he got in line at 2 p.m. Thursday — a full 18 hours before the Fifth Avenue store’s 8 a.m. opening — and was still only around 25th in line.
asserted
he → tell → line
Elsewhere in the city, crowds and inventory varied sharply from store to store, underscoring just how uneven Apple’s launch-day supply appeared to be.
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supply → vary → store
At the World Trade Center store, one Reddit user wrote that employees came out at 6 a.m. to start processing orders and that there were “probably 200 people in line.”
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employees → write → line
The same poster complained: “Many scalpers.
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poster → complain → scalpers
Many ordering 2, don’t even know what they’re ordering.”
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they → order → what
Another poster at the same location estimated the crowd at “maybe 130 people” and said store staff had warned shoppers there were “very few units” available.
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staff → estimate → shoppers
Downtown Brooklyn offered a slightly different picture.
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Brooklyn → offer → picture
One earlier post estimated about 50 people were outside, while another shopper later reported: “WAITED IN LINE, THEY JUST GOT STOCK.
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THEY → estimate → STOCK
The run on the Duo comes after Apple warned that walk-in quantities at US stores would be limited on launch day.
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quantities → come → day
The social media chatter suggests the scarcity only added to the hype.
uncertain
scarcity → suggest → hype
But in Ardmore, Penn., just outside of Philadelphia, one shopper said he arrived at 5:45 a.m. and the store was “Sold out 7:30ish.”
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store → say → a.m.
The same shopper reported that Apple’s King of Prussia, Penn., location sold out shortly after 8 a.m., while nearby Willow Grove Park had also run out by the time he arrived around 9 a.m.
He complained about entire families purchasing two phones apiece, including parents who brought babies in strollers and carriers into the chilly morning air.
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who → report → air
“[S]calpers suck,” he fumed, adding that he planned to console himself with ice cream while waiting until December for his phone.
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he → suck → phone
At Delaware’s Christiana Mall, another shopper estimated that 200 to 300 people were lined up for the new gadget.
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people → estimate → gadget
In Orlando, Apple’s store at the Mall at Millenia stopped accepting walk-in orders by about 8:15 a.m., according to a Reddit user who reported that security guards had been stationed throughout the queue and at the cutoff point.
uncertain
guards → stop → point
In Colorado, some would-be customers weren’t even allowed to camp out.
asserted
customers → allow → Colorado
One Reddit user said mall security kicked early shoppers out of Denver’s Cherry Creek location and barred them from lining up until 7 a.m.
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security → say → a.m.
The customer subsequently headed to another Apple store in Colorado Springs.
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customer → head → Springs
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a social media user reported that the crowd outside Apple’s Town Square store swelled from an estimated 30 to 40 people at 4:15 a.m. to more than 150 later in the morning.
asserted
crowd → report → morning
The Aporia
