Popular smartphone companies like Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi have already forayed into the foldable smartphone segment; Apple is yet to announce a foldable iPhone. Here’s why!
Apple shipped 240 million iPhones in 2021. So, if Apple decides to launch a foldable iPhone, it must ensure that phones are manufactured at the same quality and high quantity to meet the demand.
Making a foldable phone requires complex hardware changes like reducing mechanical parts. It's a time-taking process, and Apple is known to launch perfect first-gen products that work flawlessly.
For foldable iPhones, Apple lacks software that can offer features to utilize the foldable aspect of the phone. iOS and iPadOS could be merged to develop new software.
Apple is waiting for market dynamics to shift to foldable smartphones. The company has historically kept high product margins, and less traction on foldable iPhones would not fetch high margins.
According to Ross Young, CEO of DSCC, Apple has not launched a foldable iPhone yet due to the lack of a mature supply chain that can deliver reliable foldable panels at a large scale.
Apple’s non-foldable Pro iPhone models already cost around $1,500, and a foldable iPhone would cost even more. Apple is waiting to develop the perfect foldable iPhone worth the premium price.