New iPhone Fold rumors claim more affordable price, ultra-thin hardware

15 hours ago 5

This fall will be all about the iPhone 17 lineup, but rumors for next year’s iPhone Fold are already ramping up. A pair of new rumors indicate Apple’s foldable iPhone could have a more affordable price than expected, and be thinner—when unfolded—than Apple’s current thinnest product.

Price of new iPhone Fold could hit $1,800 rather than the $2,000+ expected

Today at Fortune, Nick Lichtenberg summarized the findings of a recent UBS report that analyzes Apple’s upcoming iPhone Fold.

One of the most interesting tidbits involves pricing:

UBS’ teardown analysis of Samsung’s Z Fold SE (BOM cost: $790) suggests Apple’s iPhone Fold could achieve a BOM cost of $759—about 4% lower—thanks to cost savings on memory, application processors, and camera modules, even as premium materials drive up casing and hinge costs. […]

Early reports suggest the iPhone Fold could be priced between $2,000 and $2,400, making it Apple’s most expensive phone to date and positioning it as a premium, aspirational product. However, UBS says Apple’s cost discipline may allow it to price the device at the lower end of the anticipated range ($1,800–$2,000), with contribution margins of 53%–58%, in line with Samsung’s foldables and well above the iPhone 16 series.

Analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who has sourced some of the biggest iPhone Fold rumors to this point, predicted the device would cost “above $2,000 and $2,500.”

While it’s still far too early to put much stock in pricing estimates, it’s encouraging to see the possibility of a much lower iPhone Fold price from an informed analyst.

Now that Apple has moved the iPhone Fold into new production stages, analysts do have more data guiding their pricing estimates than ever. So perhaps this lower pricing estimate has some weight to it.

iPhone Fold again rumored to be thinnest Apple product ever

Back in March, Ming Chi-Kuo claimed that the iPhone Fold will measure “9–9.5mm thick when folded and 4.5–4.8mm when unfolded.”

Today, Weibo leaker Instant Digital shared a corroborating iPhone Fold update.

He claims the iPhone Fold will measure 4.8mm thin.

This is on the thicker end of Kuo’s initial estimate, but it would still make the device Apple’s new thinnest product ever when unfolded. That title currently belongs to the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro, which is just 5.1mm thick.

If this proves true, Apple’s foldable will end up thicker than Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold7, which measures just 8.9mm when folded, versus the expected ~9.5mm of the iPhone Fold.

How much do you expect the iPhone Fold to cost? Let us know in the comments.