Apple could have launched a foldable iPhone a decade ago, but decided to wait for a better time

The iPhone family will turn 20 next year, but two equally important events are happening this week. A model with a folding display will appear on the market for the first time, which will also mark a breakthrough to the $2,000 price level. Former Apple engineer in the comments financial times explained that the company could have launched a foldable smartphone ten years ago but decided to delay it for a number of reasons.

Sources say Apple experts have been working on a foldable iPhone for at least the past eight years. Their campaign is led by John Ternus, who took over as chief executive earlier this month. It is for this reason that he will be largely responsible for the launch of the first foldable iPhone.

Foldable models with flexible displays have been available in the smartphone market for about seven years, but have yet to become widespread. This is largely due to imperfections in their manufacturing technology, but the most common culprit is high cost. Radu Reit, who previously led Apple’s display development, cited several reasons why the company is in no rush to enter this segment.

In theory, Apple could have released a foldable iPhone more than a decade ago, but equipping it with a flexible display would have cost thousands of dollars. Second, the market segment for such a device is too small to justify the costs of developing and manufacturing the device. IDC data shows that since Huawei and Samsung launched folding smartphones in 2019, the market capacity of such devices has increased by nearly 800% at the end of 2020, but the expansion rate has dropped to 300% in 2021 and only a few dozen percent in 2022. Even now, such smartphones account for less than 2% of the global market. Experts believe the fierce battle between Apple and rivals in the field of foldable smartphones will be in China, where this form of device is quite popular but where Huawei also has a strong position.

Display quality issues with Samsung’s first foldable smartphone led to a high rate of warranty claims, and Huawei even delayed the launch of its model. Apple began its own experiments with flexible displays as early as 2018 and applied for a patent for a hinge design for foldable devices in 2011. Jefferies analysts said Apple needs to adopt new form factors in the smartphone space to attract consumers’ attention to its products. According to IDC forecasts, the release of foldable iPhones on the market this year will help sales of similar devices of all brands grow by 12% by the end of this year, and Apple itself will occupy up to 40% of this market segment next year. UBS analysts say the foldable iPhone will find at least 10 million buyers in its first year on the market. That’s about the same as Samsung’s sales in the past 12 months. That’s not a huge number considering that 250 million iPhone models are sold annually, but the device will still help revitalize the market. In addition, more expensive iPhones will allow Apple to increase its average selling price and profits, which is important in an environment of high memory prices.