Apple owners would pay up to $600 more for a folding iPhone
In a recent survey of iPhone owners, interest is fairly high in a folding iPhone, and surveyed users will reportedly pay up to $600 more for it.
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, about 35% of consumers surveyed by UBS that already have an iPhone would be interested in purchasing a folding model. Price remains primary, though, with only about a $600 premium attached to the folding functionality by the polled users.
"Price remains the key hurdle in most consumers' minds, while the adequate average premium vs regular smartphones surveyed to be [about] US$400-500," Wrote UBS. "The survey indicates greater willingness to pay a premium (c. $600) and generally higher interest among Apple buyers for foldable products."
UBS predicted that a folding Apple device could arrive as soon as 2020 -- but it is not a new revelation. In March, Samsung was reportedly offering folding display samples to Apple.
Apple has been working on the intellectual property for a folding iPhone for some time, with efforts as early as 2015. Furthermore, in February, it patented a heating system to prevent cold weather damage from folding and unfolding a portable device.
The troubled, and soon to be re-released, Samsung Galaxy Fold retails for $1980. The phone it is most similar to, the Galaxy S10+, retails for $999, well more than the survey participants consider an acceptable price increase.
Samsung's seeded review units saw manifestations of creases hinge underneath the 7.3-inch OLED panel after repeated folding and unfolding. Some users noted corrupted graphics that in some cases rendered part, one half or the entire panel completely non-functional. And, a protective layer was misinterpreted as a temporary screen protector and was peeled off by several reviewers -- destroying the screen in the process.
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, about 35% of consumers surveyed by UBS that already have an iPhone would be interested in purchasing a folding model. Price remains primary, though, with only about a $600 premium attached to the folding functionality by the polled users.
"Price remains the key hurdle in most consumers' minds, while the adequate average premium vs regular smartphones surveyed to be [about] US$400-500," Wrote UBS. "The survey indicates greater willingness to pay a premium (c. $600) and generally higher interest among Apple buyers for foldable products."
UBS predicted that a folding Apple device could arrive as soon as 2020 -- but it is not a new revelation. In March, Samsung was reportedly offering folding display samples to Apple.
Apple has been working on the intellectual property for a folding iPhone for some time, with efforts as early as 2015. Furthermore, in February, it patented a heating system to prevent cold weather damage from folding and unfolding a portable device.
The troubled, and soon to be re-released, Samsung Galaxy Fold retails for $1980. The phone it is most similar to, the Galaxy S10+, retails for $999, well more than the survey participants consider an acceptable price increase.
Samsung's seeded review units saw manifestations of creases hinge underneath the 7.3-inch OLED panel after repeated folding and unfolding. Some users noted corrupted graphics that in some cases rendered part, one half or the entire panel completely non-functional. And, a protective layer was misinterpreted as a temporary screen protector and was peeled off by several reviewers -- destroying the screen in the process.
Comments
Tablets that can fill in for laptops whenever needed.
That would be horrible! Why would Apple do that to us? /s
Here’s an idea - a folding tablet that would let you prop up the top half and fold the bottom half on a table to serve as a keyboard. The tactile feel of keys wouldn’t be the same but if you added haptic feedback it probably wouldn’t be horrible to type on. The butterfly keyboards have no travel anyway, so it would essentially be the same!
I'd much rather see Apple spend more R&D money on battery technology that extends its use both in time between charging and charging cycles. Look at what's going on in car EV and solar battery storage. More powerful batteries of various chemical compositions that also can extend their usage cycles into the multiple thousands. Instead of a folding iPhone, I'd rather see an iPhone that runs for 2-3 days and has a life cycle of at least 1000. This combination would mean an iPhone could live with heavy use for more than six years without power issues.
11mm is not at all 'thick'. That's the starting point. They will get thinner.
When you have 85% of your phone charged in 30 minutes, slow wireless charging becomes largely irrelevant. Very few people would see plugging a reversible connector in as a handicap. And almost nobody is going to plug their phone in several times a day.
OTOH, I doubt Apples folding iDevice will be an additional $600.
The thing that's ridiculous about this new report is the inference/conclusion that the market is clamoring for a $1600 iPhone.
I have little doubt that folding devices have a future, but so do 100s of other things I can't even imagine. I expect Apple is doing R&D on this technology and when/if they can do it and meet their other requirements (for elegance, reliability, profitability, etc.) they will create such a product. On the other hand, I don't see folding phone by other vendors to be a threat to Apple this year or next year.
I don't buy the argument that "better phones have to cost more." For the first several years of iPhone, Apple replaced the existing flagship iPhone with a totally new model that was better in every way...and whatever cost or R&D was incurred on Apple's part to make it 100% better year over year was not passed on to the customer.
You can hardly blame them for trying, but there is no denying exactly what they've done which is test and push the boundaries of what people are willing to pay for the best. Well, they've found out.