IDC’s Francisco Jeromino weighed in on Apple’s new foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, as well as multiple product updates at its annual fall event in Cupertino, Calif.
“Each new product adds meaningful improvements, but the iPhone Duo is the event’s strategic flagship and a direct test of whether Apple can use design, ecosystem integration, and premium positioning to reshape a segment that has so far remained selective.
The most consequential signal, though, was pricing. Apple has widened access to its ecosystem at the bottom of the range and opened a new super-premium tier at the top, a two-directional move that few competitors could attempt in a single keynote.
The iPhone Duo is displayed during an announcement of new products on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, on the Apple campus in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) ยท AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
This was supposed to be the cycle where prices ran away from buyers. Memory costs have spiked, and the new Apple products were expected to reflect that component price increase.
Apple did close to the opposite of what the cost curve implied. The iPhone 18 Pro arrives at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299, each $100 above the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. The new AirPods 5 bring active noise cancellation down to a $129 entry point, below the $179 that the noise-canceling AirPods 4 carried in 2024. And the foldable, comfortably Apple’s most expensive iPhone ever, starts near $1,999, level with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $1,899, under the Z Fold 8 Ultra at around $2,099.”