Apple's new boss starts with big gamble on £1,999 first folding iPhone
Apple unveiled its first folding iPhone, priced at £1,999, marking the company’s biggest iPhone design change in almost 20 years. The launch gives Apple a major hardware catalyst but puts premium-demand execution and the new chief executive’s product strategy under scrutiny.
Apple presented a foldable iPhone at an event on 10 September, with a starting price of £1,999. The device represents the first major change to the iPhone's design in almost 20 years and is the first folding model in Apple's smartphone line.
The launch arrives as Apple begins a new leadership chapter, making the product an early test of its ability to create another major hardware category. The move is seen as a gamble for the company.
For Apple, the direct mechanism is hardware revenue from the iPhone line, with the price positioning it at the premium end of the market. The company reported FY2025 revenue of $416.2B, up 6.4% year over year, alongside a 46.9% gross margin and 26.9% net margin; those figures provide scale but do not establish how profitable the new model will be.
The main uncertainty is demand at £1,999 and the product's execution in a form factor where Apple is entering after rivals.
The next evidence will be Apple's sales commentary and quarterly results after launch. Unit demand, mix, supply constraints and margin commentary would clarify whether the foldable expands the iPhone franchise or mainly shifts existing premium customers into a more expensive model.
The £1,999 foldable creates a meaningful new iPhone revenue catalyst for AAPL, but the launch also puts premium demand and execution risk at the center of the setup.
The payoff depends on converting a headline hardware redesign into incremental iPhone demand rather than simply moving existing customers into a higher-priced model. Apple’s $416.2B FY2025 revenue base and 46.9% gross margin give it room to absorb a launch misstep, but the reporting supplies no sales or margin forecast for the foldable, so the evidence does not support a conviction trade yet.
Weak launch demand, production constraints or evidence that buyers are trading up from existing iPhones rather than expanding the installed base would undermine the catalyst.
CoverageSource: BBC Business · Published here THU, SEP 10 · 5:32 AM ET · the only report in this recordHow this is decided →
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Apple’s first major iPhone design change in almost 20 years could create a new premium hardware revenue stream on top of FY2025 revenue of $416.2B.
The £1,999 price and lack of reported sales forecasts leave a credible risk that the foldable is a costly niche product or merely shifts existing premium demand.
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