Americans froze on sidewalks overnight and handed over up to $3,000 for Apple's new foldable iPhone Duo — only to find stores sold out by breakfast while scalpers walked away with two phones apiece.

The launch-day circus at Apple stores across the country Friday exposed the ritual in its rawest form: ordinary people sleep on concrete so they can pay premium prices for a more sophisticated tracking device from the same company that decides what speech is permitted on its platform.

At Apple's Fifth Avenue glass cube in New York, a "massive queue" formed by 4:15 a.m., the New York Post reported. One customer, Alex Wong, told The US Sun he got in line at 2 p.m. Thursday — 18 hours before doors opened — and was still only around 25th. By 10 a.m., the store was out of walk-in stock.

The picture was worse in the Philadelphia suburbs. A shopper in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, arrived at 5:45 a.m. and found the store sold out by 7:30. Apple's King of Prussia location went empty shortly after 8 a.m. Willow Grove Park, too. He watched entire families — parents hauling babies in strollers into the cold morning — buy two phones each. "Scalpers suck," he fumed.

At the World Trade Center store, a Reddit user counted roughly 200 people and reported: "Many scalpers. Many ordering 2, don't even know what they're ordering."

6abc Philadelphia found Allister Surgenor, who drove from Harrisburg and camped outside the Ardmore store. "We froze together, held each others line so we could run to Wawa and go to the bathroom," he said. Jenny Lin and her family traveled from New York City for the privilege.

The phone opens to a 7.6-inch display — 80% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro — and supports Apple Pencil and split-screen apps. Rivals Samsung, Motorola, and Google have had foldables for years. Apple is late to the party but charging like it invented the concept: $1,900 to $3,000 depending on storage.

9to5Mac reported that Apple is also playing software gatekeeper. iOS 27.1 shipped Friday but is exclusive to the Duo — every other iPhone jumps straight to iOS 27.2 next week. Apple bypassed the usual beta cycle for 27.1 to keep Duo features hidden until launch, the outlet explained. So much for the "open" ecosystem.

Some locations pushed back on the madness. In Denver, mall security kicked early campers out of the Cherry Creek Apple store and barred them from lining up until 7 a.m. In Orlando, security guards were stationed throughout the queue.

The scarcity was by design. Apple warned walk-in quantities would be limited, and online pre-orders sold out almost instantly, 6abc reported. The limited supply only fueled the frenzy — and the secondary market where scalpers will flip the Duo at a premium.

The same company that sold you the leash is deciding who gets to hold it, and at what price. The question isn't whether the phone folds — it's whether Americans will ever stop volunteering for the collar.