Rumors about next year’s ‘iPhone Fold’ have been growing, including sky-high expectations for the new device’s price. Those rumors may provide Apple yet another good reason to test the waters of premium pricing this year by launching an iPhone 17 Ultra. Here’s why.
iPhone Fold’s rumored price would be huge leap from current top-tier
After years of iterative, non-flashy updates, the iPhone sounds like it’s about to enter an exciting new era.
This year there’s an ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air coming, plus big design changes for the Pro models. We might even get the first iPhone Ultra.
Then next year, Apple’s first foldable model is coming. This ‘iPhone Fold’ could be an especially compelling 2-in-1 device, functioning like an iPhone when folded and an iPad mini when unfolded.
But this new functionality will come at an ultra-premium cost.
Two Apple leakers with lengthy track records, Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, have both agreed on pricing expectations for the new foldable iPhone.
They think it will start around $2,000 and go up from there.
If you follow foldables closely, you’ll know that’s not far off from the market standard. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold, for example, starts at $1,899.
But compared to the current iPhone lineup? $2,000 is a huge leap.
Currently, the most expensive iPhone model is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199.
So if rumors prove true, Apple would be jumping from $1,200 for the most expensive model’s starting price, all the way up to $2,000 (or higher).
Pricing is notoriously hard for Apple leakers to predict, but the $2,000 number sounds about right considering what other foldables cost.
This rumored pricing also, perhaps, gives Apple another good reason to launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year.
iPhone 17 Ultra may be the perfect test of premium market demand
I’ve written previously about how rumors for the iPhone 17 Pro Max hint at the possibility of an Ultra rebrand.
Current 17 Pro Max rumors include:
While Apple typically keeps its Pro and Pro Max models largely the same, it sounds like this year could be different.
If that proves true, rebranding the Pro Max as an iPhone 17 Ultra makes a lot of sense.
Launching an iPhone Ultra and iPhone Air in the iPhone 17 family would easily give Apple its most exciting lineup in years.
But importantly, an Ultra model could also test the market’s reception of higher pricing than ever.
Imagine Apple launches the iPhone 17 Ultra at $1,499, or somewhere in that ballpark.
If it proves a hit, Apple will know that launching a $1,999 iPhone Fold won’t be too much of a stretch.
But if sales of the Ultra take a hit compared to standard Pro Max numbers, Apple will be able to find out why.
The gains from Apple’s market research would equip it well for managing iPhone pricing next year, when the iPhone Fold (and possibly another new model) arrives.
Apple shaking up its iPhone lineup so much in the next 18 months means pricing schemes have to change too.
iPhone 17 Ultra, besides I suspect being a big hit with users, could help give Apple the data it needs when pricing out its very first foldable model—and navigating this exciting new iPhone era.
What kind of pricing would you expect from an iPhone 17 Ultra, and how much would you be willing to pay? Let us know in the comments.
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