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iPhone 17 Pro Max You guys aren’t seriously considering buying a “Folding” iPhone Are you ?
- Thread starter TheRealAlex
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Luftkopf
macrumors 68000
Yes, we’ll ask the 2.5% of the smartphone market who buy folding phones.
Even at 2.5%, that represents tens-of-millions of users. I am sure Apple has done the research to support entering the foldable market.
EVs also represented a miniscule market share just a decade ago with an abundance of naysayers and skeptics. The Model Y proved them all wrong by becoming the best-selling vehicle globally three years in a row (2023-2025).
The foldable market will see explosive growth after Apple introduces their foldable iPhone. Not even Apple can continue to make slab phones bigger every year. The iPhone Pro Max has become gargantuan and unwieldy to one-hand, and innovation has stagnated for a while with flagship slab phones.
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And I also think it’s important to note that not every Phone Apple makes has to have the gargantuan success of the Pro Max.
Anyone remember the iPod line? The iPod nano every single year was the most successful iPod until about 2010, and yet Apple continued to happily sell iPod Classics and shuffles.
The folding iPhone is a different form factor, a type of phone that is not even necessarily meant to appeal to everyone. But it’s also going to be $2000.
People keep trying to compare this to the mini, but there’s no comparison to be made. The Mini was absolutely identical to the regular 12 or 13 in every single way, other than screen size and battery, and it was cheaper.
For every million $700 iPhone 12 minis they sold, they sold like 20 million $800 regular iPhone 12s, at that point it literally just makes business sense. The more expensive one is already selling better, clearly the one that’s in demand, the other one needs to go.
The folder is coming from the opposite end of the spectrum, even if Apple only sells 2.5% of their units as folding phones, that’s still $5.5 million $2000 phones.
5.5 million folding phones being sold is over $10 billion, and given apples margins they are likely getting at least 4+ billion of that.
Meanwhile 5.5 million Minis doesn’t even reach 5 billion.
We go through these exact same arguments every single time Apple releases a slightly new product. Just because they released it and they are Apple doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to do iPhone Pro Max numbers. The Mac Studio makes up like 2% of apples yearly computer sales, should it be discontinued? Of course not.
Not everything has to sell in the hundreds of millions of units every year the way the regular iPhone slabs do. Apple sells approximately 18 iPhones for every Mac.
One of the biggest question marks for me will be how well wallet cases work with the shorter form factor. Believe it or not, not being able to easily have it double as my wallet could actually be the deal breaker…
cjsuk
macrumors 68020
I spent most of my life trying not to fold phones. I'm not going to start now.
Veoronox
macrumors member
Not me. I find them way too big, too soft screen and expect the hinge and fold crease to have problems soon. But in general I went for an 17 Pro instead of pro-max especially because I found them too big. Especially the crease I think will have problems within a year or 1-1,5. For instance with the Galaxy Fold I saw posts on reddit from people who claimed their fold 5 had a broken screen within a week.
I have tried some folds or flips in a store but never really liked them either.
I have tried some folds or flips in a store but never really liked them either.
surferfb
macrumors 68030
Also (and I realize this is your point) it’s worth saying explicitly the that 2.5% is without an iOS option. Apple controls something like 66% of the “phones over $1000” market, and there are plenty of people who are potentially interested in a foldable but see Android as a nonstarter. Apple’s entry and marketing will likely expand the entire category.
Does that mean it’ll be the best selling phone? Of course not. It’ll still be niche as far as sales numbers go. But a very profitable niche.
Even if I’m wrong and Apple foldables sell at the existing 2.5% of phones sold share, assuming a $2000 ASP we’re still talking ~$4.5B in additional revenue even if you assume every single one sold is replacing a $1200 ProMax sale. If it’s 5% of iPhone sales we’re at an extra $9b and over $18b if it accounts for 10% of iPhone sales. For context, Apple Watch revenue is around $10 billion.
Again, those numbers assume every foldable sold replaces a ProMax sale, and an average selling price of $2k - both of which are probably extremely conservative.
Long way of saying even a “flop” in terms of units sold (2.5% is roughly 5-6 million iPhones) will still be a huge business.
Ludatyk
macrumors 604
Well, about the only time I fold my Galaxy Fold is when I'm outside or traveling... but more often than not I have mine open.
Makisupa Policeman
macrumors 6502a
You get used to the weight and size of the 17PM after a while. It actually hurt my hand and was aggravating my carpal tunnel for the first few weeks, but my grip adjusted and now it’s totally fine. The only time I notice how cumbersome it is to carry around is whenever I’m wearing my very out-of-style skinny jeans 😭
Spock
Contributor
I am so sick of these types of posts and comments. Just because you don’t think a folding iPhone is useful, doesn’t mean that other people feel the same. Apple is going to give you choice. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. It is a pretty simple concept.
I’ll have it launch day. I can lose the zoom camera. However, if it doesn’t have MagSafe I might go with the 18 Pro Max instead.
I got tired of hitting Hotspot data limits and reduced resolution with my phones unlimited data. My Samsung Fold 7 combined my devices very nicely for bed, traveling, and especially camping. Can't wait for the Fold 8 (wide). 😉
Tom
NYCValkyrie
macrumors 6502a
I’m in the serious considering if it’s good camp. I travel for work a lot. So I have my laptop, my phone and an iPad always, at minimum. If I can combine the phone and iPad to give my poor eyes a break, that would be amazing. Because I also work on events so I’m on my feet at venues and not at my computer 60% of the time but I can’t fit an iPad in my pocket, not even a mini.
So I’m definitely excited to see it.
So I’m definitely excited to see it.
Jumpthesnark
macrumors 68000
" In 2026, foldables account for an estimated 8.2 percent of global smartphone shipments, up from roughly 5.1 percent in 2024 and barely 1.5 percent in 2022. The trajectory is not just upward; it is accelerating." Source here.
I don't know whether the number you state is accurate, or the number I quoted, or some other number. But even a small percentage of the smartphone market is a staggeringly huge number of people.
Once again, I'm glad the people in the MR forums don't work in leadership at Apple. There would never be any new products coming from Cupertino.
Yr Blues
macrumors 68040
You can't out physics physics, but you can make it a marketing gimmick and have a yearly screen replacement subscription for $499.99.
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I wouldn’t get used to the weight, let’s put it this way, even after having my Air for 7 months I find it too heavy and big to me at times lol. I only enjoy smaller, light phones.
Happy_John
Suspended
I have no interest in having a folding phone.
But there are people who are interested in folding phones. There’s absolutely no sense in sneering or criticising Apple, or any company, for meeting that demand, or at people buying - it’s their money, they can chose what they spend it on.
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Too many trade offs ! no Face ID. Only 2 cameras, Not holdable in one hand, smaller outside screen which for most people will be the one they use the most , won’t fit in your pocket etc. etc
However the main reason to think twice is this is Apples first iteration of an iPhone fold. And even though Apples been testing it for around 10 years , You’ll be better off buying the second version next year after the real world tests it and Apple refines it
However the main reason to think twice is this is Apples first iteration of an iPhone fold. And even though Apples been testing it for around 10 years , You’ll be better off buying the second version next year after the real world tests it and Apple refines it
Yes i plan on buying one at launch. Ive been waiting years for apple to put one out. If i can have both an iPad and iphone in the same device i dont need a stand alone iPad.
I probably won’t but I can understand why others are interested. Phone screens kept getting bigger and now I think at 6.9” we’re about at the max screen size a regular slab style phone can offer without being just absurd for the average person to hold. But plenty of people (myself included) sometimes want an even larger screen. A foldable solves that problem.
If there were no battery life or camera compromises between the fold and the same year pro max, I’d be very interested. But I’m not spending so much extra for a slightly worse phone and slightly worse mini tablet experience than what I have now. My iPad mini 7 fits in my purse so it is always with me anyway.
If there were no battery life or camera compromises between the fold and the same year pro max, I’d be very interested. But I’m not spending so much extra for a slightly worse phone and slightly worse mini tablet experience than what I have now. My iPad mini 7 fits in my purse so it is always with me anyway.