The $3,940 iPhone: Apple’s Most Expensive Handset Ever Unveiled

At 1 a.m. Beijing time on September 10, Apple kicked off its new product launch event themed Surprise and Shine.

The biggest reveal that stole the show and sparked heated discussion came last: the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable smartphone. It starts at $2,384**, with the top-tier 2TB variant hitting a record-high **$3,940.

But Apple’s stock price took a roller-coaster ride right after the event. Wind data shows the stock briefly surged before falling, dipping nearly 2% in the afternoon before rebounding into positive territory. It retreated again near the closing bell and ended the session down 0.28% at $315.34 per share.

After years of delay, Apple finally rolled out its foldable device. This long-anticipated yet eye-wateringly pricey iPhone Duo begs the question: what justifies its sky-high price tag? Will consumers be willing to pay for Apple’s most expensive iPhone ever?

A Mix of Breakthroughs and Controversies

Facing an overcrowded foldable market dominated by Android rivals, newly appointed CEO Ternus set an ambitious tone for the iPhone Duo: “We’re redefining the foldable smartphone experience.”

Beyond marketing rhetoric, the late-to-market foldable phone delivers Apple’s signature mechanical refinement, packed with tangible upgrades.

Its biggest hardware upgrade is an ultra-flat inner display. Apple adopted nano-texture coating, paired with a custom water-drop hinge and self-developed flexible cover material. The inner screen unfolds with near-perfect flatness, virtually eliminating the crease that has plagued large foldable devices for years. (Image: Apple Official Website)

On the software side, Apple rebuilt the entire ecosystem. Popular apps no longer simply stretch to fill the larger screen. The camera system also introduced dual-screen shooting and hover mode features.

Yet the device carries a major trade-off. To keep the unfolded body ultra-thin, Apple removed physical SIM card slots worldwide, switching entirely to eSIM. While this shift works well in many overseas markets, physical SIM cards remain mainstream in China, creating a major barrier for local early adopters.

And the most striking upgrade is the price. The 256GB model starts at $2,384, while the 2TB top configuration reaches $3,940, easily claiming the title of the most expensive iPhone in history.

Commenting on the divisive new product, Zhong Xiaolei, senior analyst at Omdia, told Yisi Report that the iPhone Duo boasts top-tier industrial craftsmanship across UI design, opening animations and hinge engineering. Even so, it will take two to three years to polish details before it truly lives up to the “redefinition” claim.

“Right now, the core value of foldable phones lies in deep integration between large screens and AI agents, which was barely demonstrated at the launch event. Apple’s vision of a ‘smart personal hub’ still needs time to mature before hardware and software work seamlessly together, especially in the Chinese market where full rollout will take even longer,” Zhong noted.

Compared with the bold new iPhone Duo, the regular iPhone 18 Pro series took center stage as Apple’s steady flagship workhorse.

Prices for the new Pro line all crossed the $1,500 threshold. The 256GB iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,493, while the Pro Max begins at $1,645.

While the exterior keeps Apple’s familiar design language, the internal hardware received major overhauls. It is the first iPhone powered by a 2nm chip. Long-criticized heat dissipation and battery life have been improved, and most notably, memory bandwidth has been doubled.

“This year’s Pro lineup resembles Apple’s traditional ‘S-generation’ incremental upgrade,” Zhong analyzed. “Cooling, battery life and camera performance all see meaningful improvements. The massive boost in memory bandwidth highlights Apple’s long-term focus on on-device AI computing power.”

Meanwhile, the mass-market standard iPhone was completely absent from the keynote; rumors suggest its launch will be pushed back to next spring.

The strategy behind the event is clear: Apple is shifting spotlight and limited production capacity entirely to ultra-premium products. Under CEO Ternus, Apple is prioritizing high-spending customers first.

Foldable: A Mandatory Move for Apple

Apple has long defined the high-end smartphone segment and enjoyed industry-leading profit margins. Even so, pushing the price ceiling all the way to $3,940 took many industry observers by surprise.

As global phone replacement cycles lengthen, the old cost-amortization business model is under severe strain. According to IDC, surging component costs and rising hardware requirements for on-device AI will push the global average selling price (ASP) of smartphones up 27.6% to $581 in 2026, hitting a historic peak of $622 in 2027.

Wang Jiping, vice president of IDC, pointed out: “The sharp ASP growth is not demand-driven; it is a passive price hike forced by rising costs.”

With squeezed profit margins on regular bar phones, tech giants must find a high-margin safe haven. Against this industry backdrop, foldable devices became a necessary play for Apple.

Internet industry analyst Zhang Shulei said foldable phones have been Apple’s biggest headache for years.

“Launching a foldable handset fills Apple’s gap in the ultra-premium device lineup—it was always a must. The sudden push to launch now, after years of delay, stems from the ongoing memory price hikes. Apple needs high-premium foldable products to sustain profit margins and prevent revenue growth from stalling as bar-phone profits shrink. For new CEO Ternus, this is the baton handed down by Tim Cook, and the best tool to deliver strong quarterly earnings.”

From Zhong Xiaolei’s perspective, given soaring upstream storage costs, a $100 price increase for the Pro series and a $2,000 price bracket for the foldable model are relatively restrained moves. “The foldable launch price stays consistent with Apple’s overall product pricing hierarchy.”

So who exactly will buy this $2,384–$3,940 flagship?

The answer lies at the very top of Apple’s huge existing user base. Omdia data cited by Zhong Xiaolei shows two-thirds of Apple’s China shipments in 2025 came from Pro models.

“The core high-end user base is solid. Longtime Pro Max users are naturally inclined to upgrade to the large-screen iPhone Duo.”

Zhang Shulei shared the same view. Core Apple fans have well-established high-end spending habits. For big-budget buyers, the price gap between a $1,500 bar flagship and a $3,940 foldable is not insurmountable. Years of market education by Android foldable brands have already paved the way for Apple to capture a large slice of the high-profit foldable market.

Still, Apple’s ambition to expand the foldable market faces broader industry headwinds.

IDC forecasts that amid sweeping industrial restructuring, global smartphone shipments will plunge 16.7% year-on-year in 2026 to just over 1 billion units, marking the steepest annual drop in industry history. China’s foldable market has contracted year-on-year for three straight quarters, with full-year shipments projected to tumble 26.7% to 7.33 million units. After the early wave of early adopters, mainstream consumer enthusiasm for regular foldable designs is fading.

What’s more, Chinese competitors are closing in fast.

Two days before Apple’s event, Richard Yu, rotating chairman of Huawei, showcased cross-device file sharing between the new Pura X View and iPhones. He openly invited Apple users to buy the Huawei handset as a backup device—“and many will end up switching it to their primary phone.” In recent months, Huawei Pura X Max, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Xiaomi and other brands have launched new “wide fold” models with near-tablet proportions, solidifying their positions in the $1,500+ price segment.

Zhang Shulei noted that Chinese brands have shifted from staggered launches to direct head-to-head competition. By unveiling new products ahead of Apple, they reduce Apple’s first-mover advantage. Faced with rising costs, these firms also need to protect profit margins with premium flagship products.

“Most Chinese foldable phones over the past few years only refined folding mechanics without answering the core question: why do users actually need a foldable screen? Android brands will struggle to poach loyal Apple fans, and Apple will find it hard to win over Android high-end users without revolutionary interactive software.”

Zhong Xiaolei added from a data perspective: global foldable shipments are highly concentrated in China, the U.S. and South Korea—Apple’s core markets. Apple’s entry will grow the overall market long-term. For now, however, the steep price tag, limited local on-device AI features in China, and the eSIM-only design will hold back real sales volume.

The iPhone Duo completes the final piece of Apple’s hardware product portfolio. Yet with multiple real-world barriers standing in the way, Ternus’ first major product launch will have its performance judged strictly when Apple releases its next quarterly earnings report—especially its results in Greater China.