La primera prueba de John Ternus en Apple: un iPhone plegable de 2.000 dólares

John Ternus, former CEO of Apple, unveiled the company's first series of new products on Wednesday, with the goal of convincing customers of two unprecedented innovations in the iPhone's two-decade history: a foldable smartphone and a price of over $2,000. The new design has been in development for at least eight years in the hardware division of the company, under the direction of Ternus since this week.

The outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, has entrusted his successor with the opportunity to lead this historic launch in his second week at the helm of the world's second most valuable company. However, the launch presents significant challenges, as Apple needs customers to accept price increases to offset pressure on costs in its supply chain, or risk negative impacts on its high margins.

While foldable smartphones have been eye-catching, they have had limited acceptance among consumers over the past seven years since other major manufacturers launched them in the market. Apple decided to wait before betting on this particular category of product, according to Radu Reit, a former Apple screen engineer. The latest advances have improved the durability of the foldable screen, minimizing the folding and reducing manufacturing costs.

The new CEO, John Ternus, made a presentation of Apple in New York, USA, in March of this year. The structure of the device that Apple is likely to launch has been evolving for over a decade. However, manufacturing that screen would have cost thousands of dollars a decade ago. The other commercial aspect is whether the market is large enough.

At that time, it was not, according to Reit. According to analysts, Apple's foldable device is expected to cost $2,000 or more. Price hikes are also expected throughout the iPhone lineup, a milestone that could test customers' patience. The company is expected to delay the launch of the iPhone 18 model until spring of the following year.

Foldable devices represent about 2% of global smartphone sales. The growth of this segment has slowed significantly since Huawei and Samsung launched their first products in 2019. Samsung, in particular, had technical problems at the beginning with the screens, resulting in a high return rate. Consequently, Huawei postponed its own launch in 2019.

Apple is betting that its device can rekindle interest in a relatively niche design and help the company gain market share. This demonstrates that the iPhone manufacturer is adopting a known strategy: observing how its competitors launch a new risky device and bear the initial consequences before releasing an improved version of the same idea.

Apple's work on foldable devices began before Cook became CEO. A 2011 patent shows that the company started developing a hinge mechanism, and engineering and screen teams were experimenting with foldable technology in 2018, according to sources close to the matter. Edison Lee, a Jefferies analyst, stated that Ternus's appearance on Wednesday marks the beginning of a cycle of new product launches of three to five years, planned long before he assumed the position, with the aim of capturing consumer interest.

As with other consumer electronics industries, Apple has been affected this year by component shortages, as data centers hoard parts, especially memory chips. Since then, Apple has raised prices for Macs and iPads. According to International Data Corporation (IDC) calculations, global smartphone sales are declining as prices rise.

Apple's entry into this market will make foldables the only segment expected to grow in 2026, according to IDC projections. David Vogt, a UBS analyst, expects Apple to sell at least 10 million foldables in the first year, a figure similar to what Samsung sold in the last 12 months. Vogt, like many analysts, expects Apple to announce a broad price increase for the iPhone this week. This increase is likely to draw as much attention as any other new product launch.