Is a $2,000 folding iPhone the moment you finally say no?

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  Ravi1d ago

  Here's the math nobody's running: $2,000 over a three-year cycle is about $1.83 a day. You spend more than that on the oat milk in your latte. If this thing genuinely replaces your tablet too — and at 7.6 inches it might — the price comparison changes completely. I'm not saying buy it. I'm saying the sticker shock is doing cognitive work that a spreadsheet wouldn't.

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  Reese22h ago

  I bought the first Samsung fold. Screen protector peeled on day three, hinge creaked by month four, and the software never quite treated the big screen as a real screen — apps just stretched like they were embarrassed about it. Paid a lot of money to beta test. I want Apple to succeed at this because I want foldables to be actually good. But I'm not paying to be the beta tester twice.

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• SK

  Sam K.1d ago

  I've bought every single iPhone since the 3G. I stood in line in the rain in 2012. I have defended Apple at Thanksgiving dinner against my Android brother-in-law for thirteen years. Two thousand dollars is where I get off the train. I'm not doing it.

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• LK

  Leo K.1d ago

  If you disagree that this is price-testing rather than value-delivering, explain how you square that with the fact that Apple's own profit margins on hardware are already historically high and the "innovation" here — folding screen — has existed in the market for five years. What exactly are you paying the premium for? The logo? Be honest.

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• R

  Ravi1d ago

  I work in mobile device repair. The hinge is the part that worries me, not the price. Every folding phone I've seen come through the shop — Samsung, Motorola, doesn't matter — the hinge is where you're spending money in year two. Apple will engineer it better than anyone has so far, probably. But "better than anyone so far" on a folding hinge is still not "good."

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• R_

  Reese _x1d ago

  my wife and I share an iPad mini and both have iPhones. if this thing genuinely consolidates those two devices into one I could see it being a conversation. emphasis on conversation. emphasis on my wife having veto power.

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• DB

  Drew B.14h ago

  As someone who regularly drops their phone and once cracked a screen diving for a softball, a foldable display that costs a thousand dollars to replace out of warranty is not the product for my life. Some of us live in bodies that interact physically with the world.

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• DM

  Diego M.1d ago

  I'm a 67-year-old retired teacher. I have a perfectly good iPhone 13. It does everything I need a phone to do. This story reads to me like a newsletter from a country I don't live in.

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• R

  Ravi7h ago

  Nobody's talking about the software side and that's the actual story. A 7.6-inch folding display is useless if iPadOS apps don't run natively on it. If this thing just stretches iPhone apps to fill the big screen Apple has failed at the product even if the hardware is flawless. I don't see any reporting on what the software experience actually is yet and that gap is conspicuous.

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  Taylor17h ago

  I feel like this conversation happens with every Apple release and then they sell forty million of them and we all act surprised. People have money. People want the new thing. The outrage is tradition at this point.

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  Marco3h ago

  Apple could charge three grand and the line outside the store would still wrap around the corner. I've made my peace with not understanding other people's spending choices. Buy the phone, don't buy the phone, the sun will rise either way.

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  Hana9h ago

  The used car comparison is wild because a used car will outlast any phone by a decade if you maintain it. At least the car gets you somewhere.

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• NR

  Nina R.21h ago

  This is the comment. Apple usually watches everyone else bleed on a new form factor and then enters when it's actually solved. Whether they've actually solved it this time or just made it prettier is the whole question.

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  Jordan1d ago

  The repair tech is right about the hinge. What I'd add is that AppleCare for this thing is going to be priced accordingly and the out-of-warranty screen replacement is going to be genuinely horrifying. Mark this comment and come back in 18 months.

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  Leo12h ago

  The 18 Pro existing alongside this is actually the smart Apple move. Give the sensible people a great phone at a high-but-normal price, let the status buyers and the early adopters fund the R&D on the fold. By gen three the folding tech trickles down and everybody wins. This is just how consumer electronics works.

  29Reply
• R

  Ravi1d ago

  You're paying for the software integration, the longevity of iOS updates, the resale value, and yes partly the logo. That's not a gotcha, it's just what brand premium is. People pay it for cars and shoes too. You can think it's dumb without pretending the reason doesn't exist.

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• QL

  Quinn L.1d ago

  the crease argument is so tired. every foldable has a crease. you stop noticing it after a week, same as the notch everyone swore was unusable in 2017

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• T

  Taylor7h ago

  This is the right question and the silence is slightly ominous. Apple would have led with "your favorite apps designed for the big screen" if that were actually the case. The fact that they haven't strongly suggests it isn't.

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• C

  Casey18h ago

  Nope. Not even close.

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• S

  Sam1d ago

  this comment is the most relatable thing on this forum in months

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• O

  Omar10h ago

  my teenager saw the price and said "so it costs a used car" and honestly i didn't have a great counterargument

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• O

  Omar20h ago

  The 5.4-inch closed size is the detail everyone's sleeping on. Foldables have historically been chunky bricks when shut. If Apple got it thin and pocketable when closed they may have actually addressed the main reason I never switched. Not enough to pay two grand but legitimately interesting.

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• Q

  Quinn1d ago

  Sir this is a Wendy's and also nobody is replacing their iPad with this

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  Priya14h ago

  "live in bodies that interact physically with the world" is my new out-of-office message

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• A

  Avery5h ago

  I changed my mind on this while writing this comment. Started typing "two grand is absurd" and then thought about how much I paid for my first laptop in 2003 and adjusted for inflation and — look, it's still too much for me personally, but I think my outrage was about the number feeling unfamiliar more than about it being objectively unjustifiable. Weird experience.

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• JR

  Jamie R.1d ago

  "People pay it for shoes" is not the defense you think it is

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• L

  Liam12h ago

  genuinely the most clear-eyed take in this thread

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• Q

  Quinn16h ago

  I mean yes but there's a difference between "expensive" and "more expensive than a gaming PC." At some point the tradition of buying it stops just because the tradition of the number going up stops feeling normal.

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  Maya1d ago

  Already marked. See you in 18 months.

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• R

  Reese4h ago

  This is genuinely the most honest thing I've read today.

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  Zara20h ago

  "made it prettier" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there but yeah

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• M9

  Morgan 929h ago

  the phone gets you somewhere too, it just charges you a subscription to do it

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• AL

  Alex L.1d ago

  I mean it kind of is though? Veblen goods are a real economic category. Doesn't mean you have to buy it.

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• RB

  Reese B.6h ago

  Apple usually announces software stuff at WWDC separately so maybe not reading too much into the silence yet. But yeah, watch this space.

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• F_

  Feli _x1d ago

  ok but the notch didnt cost two thousand dollars

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  Iris _x19h ago

  early hands-on impressions I've seen say it's thicker than a regular iPhone when closed, not by a lot but not nothing. so not quite solved

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  Zara13h ago

  the fact that you play softball and still had a smartphone in your pocket is a whole separate concern

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• LS

  Liam S.1d ago

  lol me too

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  Elena19h ago

  yeah that's the thing right. there's always a "but not quite"

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• O

  Omar8h ago

  lmao correct

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• R

  Ravi1d ago

  genuinely laughed out loud at the latte math guy. buddy my latte doesnt depreciate to 200 dollars in three years

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  Yuki1d ago

  update us

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  Diego11h ago

  or they just keep charging two grand forever because people keep paying it. you're assuming competition pressure that may not materialize.

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• N_

  Noah _x3h ago

  respect for writing through the thought instead of just posting the first reaction

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• LS

  Leo S.23h ago

  she said no

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• QB

  Quinn B.1d ago

  real

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• J

  Jamie1h ago

  somehow this is both the chillest and the most depressing comment in the thread

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• R

  Ravi15h ago

  this is a good point actually

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