Thinking of ordering the iPhone Duo - Beware of preorder scam targeting your personal data
The sun is rising on a new dawn for Apple, as the tech giant gets ready to release the first-ever folding iPhone. It wasn't exactly a surprise when September 2026's 'Surprise and shine' event announced the folding iPhone, and while the heavily rumored iPhone Ultra was eventually unveiled as the iPhone Duo, most of the other leaks were right on the money.
Speaking of dollar signs, the iPhone Duo comes with a hefty price tag and will launch at $1,999.99 on October 23.
There's less than a month until the first folding iPhone releases, and considering the first iPhone from 2007 sold for a whopping $190,000 in 2023, many are trying to get their hands on one in hopes of nabbing a collector's item.
With people destined to sell their grandma in order to get an iPhone Duo, Apple sleuths have warned about a preorder cybersecurity scam that's exploiting wannabe customers.
What is the iPhone Duo scam?
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Knowing how popular the iPhone Duo is going to be, Malwarebytes reminds us that we can't even preorder one until October 16. That hasn't stopped bad actors from popping up online and promising 'official' iPhone Duo preorders ahead of Apple itself.
Those looking to order the iPhone 18 were warned of the same, and even though Malwarebytes notes that most of the scams are pretty standard ones that have been seen before and aren't too hard to spot if you keep your wits about you, another is sounding alarms.
Lurking behind an Apple-inspired landing page, there's a countdown clock, and everything looks pretty legit. There's the added bonus that you're promised a $500 voucher to shave some money off that lofty launch price, but beware because the page uses the DarkSword exploit chain to target older iPhones.
The fileless zero-click iOS exploit chain hones in on unpatched iPhones that are running iOS versions 18.4 through 18.7.
Automatically starting when you visit a compromised website or a malicious decoy page on Safari, the exploit's payload attempts to contact its server with a device identifier, information, and status. As well as sending a list of installed apps and scraping Apple Notes, the DarkSword exploit looks for cryptocurrency wallets and attempts to recover saved credentials from your compromised phone's keychain.
Despite the page even having an Apple copyright at the bottom, clicking the "Claim $500 Voucher” is the biggest reveal that something's amiss. The submission form lists natural titanium as an iPhone Duo color option, while size options are incorrectly listed as 6.3 and 6.9 inches instead of 7.6 inches unfolded and 5.4 inches folded.
Filling out the form will lead to a "Pre-Order Successful” message, but more than never actually getting your iPhone Duo, chances are that your precious data has already been stolen.
Here's where you can pre-order the new iPhone 18 Pro:
What do we know about the iPhone Duo?
If you do get your hands on an actual iPhone Duo, there are a whole host of features you can enjoy. Despite fears that MagSafe charging wouldn’t be part of the iPhone Duo, it's since been confirmed, as well as a high-tech Liquid Metal hinge to make the crease less visible than other manufacturers.
Some have complained that we're opening ourselves up to infinite doomscrolling due to the ability to use different apps on different screens, while the outer display showing selfies has been branded a relationship saver.
Still, some are complaining that the iPhone Duo is missing a slew of major features, including the likes of Face ID and a telephoto camera. Due to the wafer-thin thickness of the iPhone Duo, we knew that Touch ID was going to be a likely workaround, and it isn't too much of a big deal for many.
Speaking of which, the Duo's unfolded 5.2 mm thickness makes it 0.4 mm thinner than the already slinky iPhone Air.
All the other standards are here, like the iPhone Duo being powered by the advanced A20 Pro Chip and getting a bump in the AI stakes thanks to the integrated Siri AI assistant.
The iPhone Duo definitely looks like an impressive piece of kit for the company's first punt at a folding phone; just make sure you don't fall for the growing number of scams out there in the world.