At a launch event on Wednesday at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple is widely anticipated to reveal a costly folding iPhone. Since Apple eliminated the physical home button from the iPhone X in 2017, this event—the first under new CEO John Ternus—will be the most obvious redesign of the company’s flagship product. In its most recent fiscal year, the iPhone generated $209.6 billion, or slightly more than half of Apple’s total sales.
The keynote speech will also be Ternus’s first in-depth remark. Ternus was Apple’s hardware chief before, but aside from a few product launches and environmental projects, he has maintained a low public profile.
Ternus will have to convince Apple’s clientele that they require a foldable gadget that might cost over $2,000—a record for a multinational company that has established mass luxury.
Although Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) have been selling folding phones since 2019, the devices have remained a niche among tech enthusiasts. However, analysis organizations like IDC predict that Apple will sell every foldable iPhone it can manufacture and win a 40% share of the profitable niche by the end of next year, despite the high price tag.
Additionally, analysts anticipate that Apple will profit from its delayed entry into the folding phone market by addressing important engineering hurdles including developing a sophisticated yet robust hinge that can withstand multiple openings and reduce the amount of a wrinkle that appears where the screen folds.
The gadgets’ ability to withstand water and dust could be a major unresolved issue. In this regard, Google’s most recent Pixel 10 Pro Fold outperformed Samsung’s products with an IP68 classification, which means the device is waterproof and dust-tight.
