Foldable iPhone could cost over Rs 2.5 lakhs

The news that Apple is preparing a foldable iPhone is gaining traction online with several analysts claiming that Apple will also be on board with such a device. A recent research note by UBS that had been reported by CNBC claims that Apple fans do not mind paying a premium for a foldable iPhone and they are willing to pay up to USD 600 extra it. Before you assume that the future Apple flagship will sell for a mere USD 1,600 or Rs 1,13,500, then there are other factors that should be taken into consideration.

Traditionally, Apple has always charged a premium for its devices and with the foldable iPhone, this trend should not change. These premium-priced products predate the iPhone and it stretches all the way back to its early Mac computers. The Indian price of the 64GB iPhone XS is Rs 99,900 while the 256GB option costs Rs 1,14,900. The cost of a 128GB storage card is less than Rs 1,000 and Apple charges over and above that amount with the change in storage.

The respondents of the UBS survey claim that they will pay an additional USD 600 for a foldable smartphone; however, Apple will assume that they will pay way more than that. And Apple is probably right on this point. This is because what people say in surveys and what they will actually do is often quite different. And an Apple product that is a must-have, people are usually willing to pay a lot extra.

Those who are prepared to purchase a foldable iPhone will go a lot further than the Rs 99,900 they pay for an iPhone today. Apple is traditionally late to the scene with both 5G and foldable smartphones; which means that we have to wait until 2020 for the first iPhone and 2021 for the first foldable iPhone. Gauging at what Apple has done in the past with its prices, there was a minor uproar in 2017 when they announced the iPhone X at 89,000 and yet the company went full throttle in 2018 when they priced the iPhone XS at Rs 99,900. And gave no regard for its fans. If you analyze this trend, just by observing the most expensive iPhone at any one time, there is substantial growth. This makes the Rs 2.5 lakhs foldable iPhone a very reasonable possibility.