The exact iPhone Duo hinge issue may have been identified, thereby absolving Apple

Apple is unsure when it will get more of its new foldable iPhones back in stock as the company heads towards the key Christmas trading period, the BBC reported. The iPhone Duo sold out just over a week after its launch, despite costing nearly $2,000. Apple warned of constraints in sourcing key components and stated it was difficult to predict when supply and demand would balance. John Ternus launched the Duo after taking over as chief executive from Tim Cook in September. The device represents the smartphone's first major design change in almost 20 years, but some buyers reported problems with the screen. Last week, Apple stated it would replace any handsets affected by an issue causing a small number of devices to crack along the inside fold. As Apple released its latest financial figures on Monday, executives did not mention any problems with the iPhone Duo. Ternus said he was thrilled by the early reaction to the foldable phone, while chief operating officer Sabih Khan noted the company is working hard to get the Duo to customers as quickly as possible. Apple's results for the three months to September 26 did not include sales of the Duo, which was released at the end of October. Nevertheless, Apple reported selling more iPhones globally over the last year than ever before. Mac computer sales grew over the three months by 27% to a record $10.7 billion. Overall, Apple sales between July and September rose from $102 billion to $114 billion, while pre-tax profit increased from $32.8 billion to $36.1 billion. However, sales for both the iPad and wearable products fell by 10% and 7% respectively. Khan stated that most Apple devices are still experiencing supply constraints driven partly by difficulty obtaining enough microprocessors with advanced nodes, mostly manufactured through TSMC in Taiwan. Khan indicated this problem is expected to continue into next year, impacting iPads and Macs, and is worsened by unexpected demand. Ternus also noted that Apple is seeing unprecedented cost increases for memory as the artificial intelligence industry invests billions in building data centres. Apple has lifted prices on nearly all of its hardware products by around 20%. Sunil Krishnan from Aviva Investors told the BBC that Apple posted a reasonably solid set of results with a pretty good performance from its iPhone business, alongside profit margins well north of 45% despite concerns over memory chip costs.