The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple is expected to unveil a foldable iPhone on 9 September after years of pretending hinges were vulgar.
According to Reuters, Job’s Mob has set its next launch event for 9 September. The company is expected to unveil its newest iPhone series and may finally show off its foldable phone.
That would be a fairly important moment for Job’s Mob, which has let Samsung Electronics own the bendy-phone niche while Cupertino polished coloured rectangles.
Analysts say the high-end foldable devices would drive higher selling prices and margin growth for Job’s Mob. In normal English, that means customers will be invited to pay even more for a phone that bends in the middle.
The launch would mark incoming Apple chief executive John Ternus’s first major event. Ternus, Apple’s longtime hardware chief, is set to take the wheel on 1 September as Tim Cook moves to executive chairman.
Ternus’s appointment was announced in April and was widely seen as a sign that Job’s Mob wants to lean harder into devices again.
According to Reuters, the post-Cook future depends on whether Ternus can ignite growth around AI and hardware. However, Samsung currently dominates the niche-but-growing foldable smartphone market.
The South Korean outfit is betting foldables will become mainstream, despite premium prices that make buyers check whether both kidneys are still required. Foldable phones are expected to be a bright spot for consumer electronics companies hit by shortages of memory and storage chips. Those shortages have pushed prices up and dented broader consumer demand.
Job’s Mob’s answer to this has been to raise prices across its Mac and iPad line-ups to offset soaring costs. The company said in July it was facing “very significant” supply chain shortages and warned that the snags would dampen sales in the current quarter. Analysts expect Job’s Mob to launch a foldable iPhone with a screen similar in size to an iPad mini.
Earlier this year, Samsung unveiled a new passport-sized foldable phone as it tried to defend its turf before Cupertino arrived late and claimed it invented everything
Research firm IDC expects Job’s Mob to ship more than 17 million foldable iPhones by 2027. IDC predicts a 12.6 per cent jump in foldable phone shipments this year, while global smartphone shipments are expected to decline by a record 16.7 per cent.
