Apple Wednesday unveiled its first foldable iPhone as part of a broader product launch, drawing largely positive reactions from Wall Street analysts. The device, priced at $1,999, undercut investor expectations of $2,300 to $2,500 and came in $1 below Samsung’s Galaxy Fold7, a move praised for prioritizing adoption over near-term margins. Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring noted the pricing makes the Duo “attractively priced” and opens opportunities for switchers, while JPMorgan’s Samik Chatterjee highlighted its appeal to users migrating from other foldables. Ben Reitzes at Melius likened the thin, sturdy design to a “hit,” though analysts including Laura Martin at Needham cautioned that foldable smartphones represent only about 5% of the total market, suggesting limited consumer demand.
Bank of America maintained a buy rating with a $370 price target, noting the Duo expands Apple’s total addressable market by enabling iPad-like productivity. UBS’s Wamsi Mohan took a neutral stance at $296, and Jefferies’ David Vogt downgraded to underperform at $264, citing volume protection and memory cost concerns. Evercore ISI’s Edison Lee kept an outperform rating at $365, emphasizing Apple’s focus on volume over margin to bolster supply chain bargaining power and iOS installed base growth for high-margin services. Baird’s Amit Daryanani maintained outperform at $330, highlighting updates to Apple Intelligence and Siri, as well as major Camera app upgrades.
Evercore ISI’s William Power pointed to signs of re-accelerating iPhone upgrade rates, with growth exceeding 20% in recent quarters, suggesting the upcoming iPhone 18 cycle could build on recent momentum. Throughout the coverage, analysts converged on Apple’s strategic balance between pricing, volume and long-term services expansion amid a evolving foldable landscape.
