Here’s the number that should keep Apple’s marketing team up at night: the average American is willing to spend $781 on a foldable iPhone. Analysts think the thing will cost up to $2,500. That’s not a gap, that’s a canyon. And according to a survey from CNET that polled 2,605 US adults, three out of four people aren’t even interested in buying one in the first place.
Apple is widely expected to show off its first foldable phone at its annual September event, possibly as early as September 9. The device has been floating around under different nicknames, including iPhone Fold and iPhone Flip, but the current rumor points to “iPhone Ultra” as the final name. Think of it as a mini iPad that folds in half to become a regular-sized iPhone. It’s expected to follow the book-style fold format used by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the original Google Pixel Fold, with a widescreen display that matches an iPad’s aspect ratio.
What we think we know about the iPhone Ultra
Spec-wise, the iPhone Ultra is shaping up to be a serious piece of hardware. Two rear cameras and one front-facing camera that works whether the phone is open or closed. All the usual Apple software and services built in. And a price tag analysts are projecting somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500, which puts it on par with, or slightly above, what Samsung and Google charge for their foldables.
That price is a problem. The base iPhone 17 starts at $799 after a $30 carrier discount. The average American surveyed said they’d spend $781 on a foldable, which is actually $48 less than that. So people aren’t just resistant to foldable pricing, they’re not even willing to spend what a normal iPhone costs today.
The generation gap is smaller than you’d expect
You might assume younger people are more hyped about foldables. And they are, slightly, but not by much. Here’s how the interest (or lack of it) breaks down by generation:
- Boomers: 83% not interested in a foldable iPhone
- Gen X: 77% not interested
- Gen Z: 69% not interested
- Millennials: 68% not interested
Even among the most enthusiastic group, more than two-thirds are passing. And when it comes to how much each generation would actually pay, Gen Z leads with an average of $919, followed by Millennials at $859, Gen X at $690, and Boomers at $572. None of those numbers come close to the rumored retail price.
Patrick Holland, CNET’s director of content, made an interesting point though. He thinks the 25% who are interested is actually impressive for a niche product category. “That would be a killer product debut if Apple could get that many people to buy one,” he said. Fair enough. Apple has a way of creating demand that didn’t exist before. But wanting one and buying one at $2,000-plus are two very different things.
The foldable isn’t meant to replace your regular iPhone
It’s worth being clear about what Apple is trying to do here. The iPhone Ultra isn’t supposed to kill off the standard iPhone lineup. It’s an expansion. Apple could soon have an iPhone at practically every $100 price point between $600 and $2,000, from the budget-friendly iPhone E series all the way up to this foldable beast. That’s a wide net.
So the real question isn’t whether everyone will buy a foldable. Of course they won’t. It’s whether enough people at the high end of the market will bite. And that group does exist, it’s just smaller and more price-sensitive than Apple might hope.
RAMageddon is making everything worse
There’s a bigger issue sitting behind all of this: the RAM shortage. The explosion in AI development and data center buildouts has created a memory chip crunch that’s hitting consumer devices hard. Apple already raised prices on several products back in June because of it. The rumored $2,000-plus price for the iPhone Ultra is partly a product of that reality, a few hundred dollars higher than foldables were selling for just two years ago.
This is affecting upgrade plans across the board. CNET’s survey found that 41% of US adults are rethinking whether to upgrade their phones at all, foldable or otherwise. Ten percent are planning to delay. Nine percent are holding onto their current phone longer than they originally planned. And 22% have no upgrade plans whatsoever, regardless of what Apple announces.
Holland put it bluntly: “The very companies investing in AI and building data centers to support new features and tools on phones are the ones passing the higher cost of RAM and chips on to consumers.” He called it a corporate Gift of the Magi situation, and honestly, that’s exactly what it is. Consumers are footing the bill while companies post record profits.
Smart moves if you’re thinking about upgrading
If your current phone still works but the battery is shot, replace the battery before you do anything else. Holland says that buys you another two to three years and costs a fraction of a new device. If you do want to upgrade, the best pricing typically shows up when new models launch or during holiday sales. And don’t just take the carrier’s trade-in offer, check third-party reseller sites too, because you might get significantly more for your old phone.
Also, be skeptical of any “free” flagship phone a carrier is dangling in front of you. Those deals are almost always tied to multi-year commitments and come as account credits, not actual cash. Read the fine print before you sign anything.
The bottom line is that Apple is about to do something genuinely interesting with a foldable phone. But interesting and affordable are not the same thing, and right now, most Americans are firmly in the “I’ll watch from the sidelines” camp.