Apple’s first foldable iPhone could cost more than the priciest iPad Pro

The Apple rumorsphere is suddenly full of foldables. Yesterday we covered the theory that the iPhone 17 Air, if successful, will be followed by folding (and portless) iPhones starting next year. And on the same day, analysts claimed a foldable MacBook-iPad hybrid is in the works on a similar timeframe. After years of standing on the sidelines, Apple seems finally to be ready to join this much-hyped market.

But the first folding Apple products, when they arrive, will do so at a cost. In a third foldable-related bombshell dropped Monday, the Barclays analyst Tim Long (via MacRumors) predicted, based on discussions with Asian manufacturers, that the first “iPhone Fold” will start at an eye-watering $2,300 in the U.S.

That might sound implausible, but it’s very much within the current analyst consensus. Earlier this month Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that the price would fall between $2,000 and $2,500, and $2,300 fits neatly inside that ballpark. It’s all too plausible, I’m afraid.

Needless to say, this would make it by far the most expensive iPhone in Apple’s history, almost doubling the $1,199 starting price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the company’s current top-of-the-line flagship model. It would exceed the price of a 13-inch iPad Pro with the maximum 2TB allocation of storage (although not if you sprung for cellular and nano-texture glass), or an M4 Max Mac Studio with Final Cut Pro thrown in for good measure. You could buy at least one and possibly two used VW Beetles. Perhaps most pertinently, it would be considerably more expensive than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which retails for $1,600.

In future Apple’s defense, the device should boast a set of specs and features that will go some way to justifying that price tag: in particular a titanium alloy hinge that opens to a creaseless 7.8-inch display, far larger than that of any previous iPhone. However, reports also say it will only have two cameras and use Touch ID instead of Face ID.

Long also said the foldable iPhone is likely to launch in late 2026 or early 2027 (while Kuo says mass production in late 2026, which also signifies a launch sometime in 2027), so there’s still plenty of time to save up. For all the latest news and rumors on this topic, bookmark our regularly updated folding iPhone superguide.