In what might come as a sizable shock to the wider industry, Apple is apparently eyeing a much lower launch price for its upcoming iPhone Fold, placing Samsung and other major smartphone OEMs in a bind as they contend with escalating cost pressures.
Apple might launch the iPhone Fold with a base price of $2,000 instead of the rumored ~$2,300 retail price
According to a fresh report out of South Korea, Apple is eyeing a base price of around $2,000 for the upcoming iPhone Fold, which if realized, would constitute a substantial discount to the heretofore rumored price of between $2,300 and $2,400.
Even so, we would urge our readers to take this particular rumor with a hefty grain of salt. For one, two relatively credible sources have pointed to a higher base price for the iPhone Fold in recent weeks. First, Fubon Research's analyst, Arthur Liao, had declared back in November 2025 that Apple's upcoming foldable would debut at a base price of $2,399. Then, just this week, the Weibo-based tipster, Instant Digital, noted that the 256GB base storage variant of the iPhone Fold would go on sale at $2,325. As is evident, these two tidbits complement each other to a certain extent, boosting the overall probability of the $2,300 - $2,400 price range for the iPhone Fold.
What's more, the South Korean report also contains something of a contradiction. It rightly suggests that for foldables, the cost of the hinge mechanism and the display can equal that of the AP. However, the report then fails to take into account that Apple's iPhone Fold is expected to leverage a modified hinge mechanism made out of 'liquid metal.' Moreover, in order to minimize the display crease, Apple is widely expected to use the Ultra-thin Flexible Glass (UFG) tech, and apply a color filter - called the COE or Color Filter on Encapsulation - onto the protective encapsulation layer of the iPhone Fold's OLED panel, rendering the resulting displays lighter and much more efficient. Obviously, all of these technologies entail a hefty cost component, which seemingly precludes a $2,000 base price for the foldable.
Finally, do note that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently included the iPhone Fold in a list of 'Ultra' products that Apple is gearing up to launch in the coming months. As can be reasonably inferred, this 'Ultra' label denotes a high price plateau. Also, given the fact that the 2TB version of Apple's iPhone 17 Pro Max can be purchased for ~$2,000 in the US right now, the iPhone Fold would presumably launch at a higher price point to justify its 'Ultra' credentials. It is for this reason that some tech enthusiasts believe the iPhone Fold might be called the iPhone Ultra instead.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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