Peter Griffin: BusinessDesk tech columnist on Apple unveiling its first foldable iPhone

Apple revealed its first foldable iPhone today, alongside the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and some other new products.

The new 'Duo' product will be available by the end of next month - but Kiwis will have to pay at least $4199 for one on the low end.

BusinessDesk tech columnist Peter Griffin says we're all holding onto our phones for longer, and there's no need for most people to rush into upgrades. 

"You're talking about the wealthiest consumer tech company in the world, it's taken years to develop this - so you'd expect that the product is excellent, and we'd sort of expect that it would be expensive." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking of pricey things, Apple has unveiled the new iPhone.
It's called the Duo. It's Apple's first folding phone. Prices
start at $ 4, 200. Business Desk's journalist, Peter Griffin, is with
us now. Hello, Peter. Hey, Heather. That price is mental,
isn't it?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's sort of getting ridiculous. You know, this is a
phone for press conferences and influencers, really. I mean, it
looks beautiful. By all accounts, I haven't touched it yet,
but by all accounts, it's... incredibly well engineered, but you're
talking about the wealthiest consumer tech company in the world.

(00:36):
It's taken years to develop this, so you'd expect the
product excellence, and we sort of expected it would be expensive,
but really everything that was released today, the Duo, the foldable,
but also the iPhone Pro, we're looking at $ 2, 549. That's
$ 200 more than than last year. The max is $ 2, 749.

(00:58):
We're in tears of exclusivity here where Apple isn't really
a company for mainstream people anymore. They're quite happy to
go after these small groups of people who literally have
the money to fork out for these devices.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Is this a smart move from them, though, potentially, to
go for more exclusive stuff? Because everybody has basically got
a phone now, right? We hold on to them for
quite a long time. So if they're just pumping out
iterations of the same thing, we're probably not going to
upgrade that much, are we?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, look, it is actually working for them. As you say,
it's become a very mature market. And what they've done
is shifted everyone up. They didn't even release a base
model yet. this time. They'll probably do that next year,
but they just want everyone to go into the, quote,
pro category straight away. The saving grace is, as you said,

(01:55):
we're holding onto phones much longer now, so my advice
is don't go out and pre-order this. Actually hold onto
the phone that you do have, and when you do
need to upgrade... If you can get a deal with
one of your mobile phone operators, there are phone dollars,
there are things out there. Do everything you can to
reduce the overall cost of that. And by the middle

(02:15):
of next year, that duo will cost maybe $ 3, 500.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Now, what about the fact that it flips and you
get a bigger screen? Is that cool?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
It is cool. I've got one myself. I'm using Samsung's
version of it. It's passport-sized. And I think This is
a smart move because the first few generations of foldable
phones was basically just two phones squeezed together, and it's
still a little bit clunky, but the passport-sized one, which
the industry seems to be going towards... It's very much

(02:47):
like a little book that you flip out of your pocket.
It's easier to put in your pocket and that sort
of thing. So I think they're smart in going that direction.
And this green real estate, once you get used to
it and start multitasking on it, is actually a much
more productive way of doing things.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, interesting. Hey, Peter, thanks very much. Really appreciate your advice.
It's Peter Griffin, Business Desk tech journalist.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
For more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to Newstalk
ZB from 4 p.m.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.