Foldable iPhone Development History and Price Revealed in New Report

[Nyx1]

Good luck for sell this product with price $2.2k meanwhile your competitor even not charging $2k this is stupid your late 7 years to join the game and you want people pay to $2.2k more this **** calling ultra but the hardware itself even not equivalent with pro.

 

[carrrrrlos]

Kinda excited to see tomorrow 'keynote', also really excited to not buy anything.

 

[Karma*Police]

So Cook’s involvement was seeing a lot of Asians spending a ton of money on foldables and deciding Apple needed to follow suit… 6 years ago??

Apple is lucky to have such a visionary 🙄

 

[BlairMALL]

I am as cautious and excited as the next person about Apple product releases, but I am having trouble seeing how you would use this as a phone. It seems bulky closed, but open is not practical as a phone at all. Is it just me (it is totally fine if it is. I just bought a 17pro, so I am just a viewing in all of this)?

 

[mistymac]

So Cook’s involvement was seeing a lot of Asians spending a ton of money on foldables and deciding Apple needed to follow suit… 6 years ago??

Apple is lucky to have such a visionary 🙄

Exactly! Its asinine! He did a good job for many years and made Apple have a very solid financial future, but it has long been time for him to get out of the way and let a real hardware and product person take control to find the 'next big thing'.

 

[erik.wahlstrom]

Flop

 

[Unregistered 4U]

“Once Upon a Gurman”
What a productive imagination he has. “Unusually energized” seems particularly AI inspired, though. 🙂

 

[misal1337]

Doesn't really matter what the price is bc the economy lives off monthly payments. Just divide by 36 months and people will gladly pay their chosen carrier monthly. Very few people are writing a check for $2,000 to Verizon or whoever. Personally I'll keep my iPhone 17 base (a unicorn some say 😎).

Yup. iPhone 17 is a rare mistake from Apple.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

So Cook’s involvement was seeing a lot of Asians spending a ton of money on foldables and deciding Apple needed to follow suit… 6 years ago??

Apple is lucky to have such a visionary 🙄

No, Gurman is just making it up. I think once he’s retired, he may brag about how he kept being a “person of note” by just making up things he knew Apple would never refute.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Personally, I think STS is probably correct here

View attachment 2659622

If selling over 50 million iPads a year is “people not liking iPads” then the Mac must be TRULY hated as it sells half that… in a GOOD year 🙂

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Tim Cook being "unusually energized"? Does he have a usual enegized state? (Rocking back and forth in his sneakers doesn't count)

That’s how you can tell it’s a tale made up to give folks a reason to keep subscribing to his newsletter. There’s not that much Apple info to support weekly information, so you just embellish it with whatever you think will get eyeballs and attention.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apple is immune lol. They’re worth billions. A bit less corporate greed would be peanuts for them. But Tim Apple likes money. So that won’t happen.

It should be clear that there’s no one on Apple’s leadership team that doesn’t like money. Now OR in the future. 🙂

 

[Unregistered 4U]

At least this device will (most likely) run every iOS app that exists. The Vision Pro had none of that.

My expectation is that some developers won’t want to put forth the effort to test and support apps for it, so, just like for the iPad, they will likely be able to limit the apps to the devices they want to support.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Outside the states most people purchase it directly. Not via payment plans or whatever.

But it’s getting more common sadly.. paying for things you can’t afford.

I'm not sure why people want to focus on phones (and this one in particular) when it comes to people paying a bit at a time (usually interest free or via bill credits from carriers) instead of paying for it all upfront and then inferring that the person is financially irresponsible for doing so.

Not sure about everyone else, but I tend to not buy the whole cow upfront -- I pay for it a little each month when I go to the grocery store and get 5lbs of ground beef or a 4 pack of steaks. Should I save up and not eat beef until I can afford to buy the cow upfront? Current estimates for a processed whole cow is between $2500 and $5000. There is no interest-free plan like Klarna, either. 😀

 

[zenmacx]

If the foldable becomes really popular then perhaps they can remove Face ID from the other iPhones to help make them thinner and more profitable. A win win for everyone. /s

Apple loves “thinner” 😂

 

[abowlby]

From the article: "has an advantage over Android devices in terms of software." A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.. Certainly not recently....

I daily use a modern Samsung and iPhone (2 years old or less, high end models). iOS 26 torpedoed the performance on the iPhone. The Samsung phone is considerably smoother, especially at typing. This should also improve as Google starts to clamp down on app devs with stricter RAM guidelines.

 

[citysnaps]

Apple is immune lol. They’re worth billions. A bit less corporate greed would be peanuts for them. But Tim Apple likes money. So that won’t happen.

That's silly, Apple as a business is hardly immune. If their costs increase due to inflation, they are ultimately passed on to consumers. Other tech companies do the same.

Just as one example... has GM/Ford/Peterbilt etc kept their auto prices constant over the last 5-10 years by eating their many increased costs due to inflation?

How about other consumer goods? Or gasoline... does Standard Oil (a company with a valuation of $200 Billion) keep their gasoline prices from increasing as their cost of crude oil increases?

What about utilities and home prices - they don't increase over time?

How about rising food prices? I could go on and on.

 

[zenmacx]

Personally, I don't care one but about this foldable phone. I don't need it or see any use for it.

This was my position…

Then a colleague let me try his Z Fold7, the experience was eye opening.

Ideally suited for my Mon through Fri workflow, I bought one immediately. Now many months later it’s been well worth the money having saved me time and improved my productivity.

Yes, it requires a bit of care being less robust because of the hinge, but that’s a small adjustment and worth it for the gains. The much debated “crease” is a non issue.

Of the many smartphones I’ve owned, this one has made the largest positive impact on my workflow.

Stepping back and looking at the big picture, I now have a clear appreciation for the folding smartphone category. While certainly not for everyone, the form factor is highly useful for a segment of the population.

 

[Vecna]

Have been waiting for the foldable for a long time.

Some of you all testing preferences are... strange. Did you know phone like that existed since 2005? What stopped you from getting one if you wanted it SOOOOO badly. But jokes aside, I truly hope the sales tank because who needs a phone-laptop. Some of you all say stuff like "I've been waiting for a microwave that I call from since I was 2"

 

[Kriss_De_Valnor]

I have to be honest, I do not see a lot of folding phones (if any) out in the wild at all the cafes and stores I stop at.

This includes a LOT of travel through and in Starbucks locations as I charge my EV at many of them across 3 states.

I think this product is a pretty niche/nerd oriented model, for sure.
My skepticism on mass adoption is quite high here.

One nurse I work with has a foldable Samsung, I have no idea which one but the crease is there and you can see it straight away.

 

[AirunJae]

For me, FaceID and their best camera system is a must. I find the Foldable form-factor interesting, but the compromises don't seem worth it for me personally.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I daily use a modern Samsung and iPhone (2 years old or less, high end models). iOS 26 torpedoed the performance on the iPhone. The Samsung phone is considerably smoother, especially at typing. This should also improve as Google starts to clamp down on app devs with stricter RAM guidelines.

Modern flagship Android phones scream over an iPhone. Picked up last years Moto Razr Ultra for next to nothing and my gosh -- even compared to my Samsung S24+ it flies! Compared to my iPhone 17 Pro Max -- my iPhone feels laggy and sluggish.

 

[btrach144]

Ultra should mean no compromises. Best battery, best cameras, and durable.

 

[zenmacx]

This device is a hard pass. Besides cost, the form factor doesn’t work for me. Maybe if it was as tall as the Pro Max and then opens to be two Pro Max phones instead.

As a very happy user of the Z fold7, I was eagerly awaiting a folding iPhone before any details emerged.

Then it became apparent that the short wide form factor was chosen by Apple, a size and shape that simply doesn’t work for me.

The upcoming Ultra or whatever it ends up being called, with it’s smaller inner display and it’s lack of space vertically when unfolded is disappointing.

My Z Fold7 with it’s taller form factor is positively ideal for my workflow.

Yet that said, the Samsung TriFold would be ever better. Or the Huawei Mate XT2 with its beautiful 10.2" display is quite compelling.

The quest for the best smartphone for the job continues.

 

[iRun26.2]

I still think the price needs to come in at $2000. Psychology is everything and Apple will need to dig DEEP to cut costs in the supply chain. If the iFold is $300 more expensive than Samsung’s version, serious buyers are going to entertain switching over (and the carrier promos on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 are very generous right now).

Look at the last iPhone release with a major modification to the platform:
The base iPhone 8 (64GB) launched at a $700 MSRP. The base iPhone X (64GB) launched at a $1000 MSRP, a 43% premium to the regular model.

Assuming that the base iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) gets priced at $1200, how on earth are they going to price the foldable at $2200, an 83% premium to the pro model? Even if the foldable is priced at $2000, that’s still a 67% premium to the pro model.

Or consider this: buying an iPhone 18 Pro ($1200) + iPad Air ($750) would save you $250 vs a $2200 iFold. The math isn’t mathing on a $2200 MSRP, especially when the combined BOM cost of those 2 items probably exceeds the BOM cost of the iFold.

The math doesn’t need to make sense to you. All that matters is that someone (like me) is willing to buy one.