The 1999 dollar iPhone is driving the expansion of the folding screen market! Counterpoint expects Apple (AAPL.US) iPhone Duo to sell 6 million units this year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the market research agency Counterpoint Research said that Apple (AAPL.US) is expected to sell about 6 million iPhone Duo units this year. This is also the industry's first sales forecast for this new folding phone.

Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam said that this figure is more in line with the characteristics of the niche folding screen market, rather than the shipping level of Apple's regular flagship models, and that the final sales volume depends on the company's climbing production capacity for new hardware. The iPhone Duo is priced at $1,999 and is scheduled to go on sale in October. It positions the top of the Apple product line and carries the expectations of the entire industry to stimulate greater interest and sales in folding screens.

Market research firm IDC estimates that, driven by Apple, folding screen phone shipments will increase 13% this year to 22.9 million units. IDC said that without the iPhone Duo, this segment would have experienced a decline.

Counterpoint also mentioned that the iPhone 18 Pro series, which was released at the same time as the iPhone Duo, was very popular in the Chinese market. This generation Pro model did not launch a standard iteration model for the first time, forcing switching users to switch to the higher-priced Pro version, which increased the first sales volume of the new model by 12% compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. In an environment where the domestic smartphone market fell 17% year over year and domestic manufacturers were under pressure, Apple bucked the trend and performed brilliantly.

With this achievement, Apple took 33% of the Chinese smartphone market. Affected by rising component costs, all mobile phone manufacturers are raising sales prices in an attempt to rely on stand-alone revenue to make up for the decline in shipments. This also weakens the cost advantage of domestic competitors and favors Apple's pricing strategy.

Lam said, “Many Chinese flagship models have increased in price by more than $200, raising the market price anchor and further highlighting the iPhone's price-performance advantage.”