Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone Has FEWER Features?!
Apple’s $2,000 foldable iPhone may lose Face ID and telephoto. Here’s what Apple could be trading away—and why.
Apple’s first foldable iPhone could cost more than $2,000, making it the most expensive iPhone the company has ever sold.
And somehow, it may actually have fewer features than the iPhone Pro Max.
No Face ID.
No dedicated telephoto camera.
And until fairly recently, there were even questions about whether MagSafe would survive the transition to a folding design.
That creates a pretty strange situation.
If Apple is asking somewhere around $2,000 — or potentially even more — for its first foldable iPhone, what exactly are we paying for?
The Foldable iPhone May Lose Face ID
One of the biggest rumored compromises involves Face ID.
Rather than using Apple's familiar facial authentication system, the foldable iPhone is expected to use Touch ID built into the power button, similar to what Apple already does on some iPads.
There are definitely people who will be perfectly happy with that.
Some people still prefer Touch ID.
But after years of using Face ID, it has become one of those features that almost disappears into the way you use an iPhone.
You pick up the phone.
You look at it.
It unlocks.
Passwords authenticate. Apple Pay works. Apps unlock without you really having to think about it.
Spending more than $2,000 on a brand-new iPhone and actually losing Face ID feels like a pretty unusual tradeoff.
Why Would Apple Remove Face ID?
There does appear to be a reason.
Apple is reportedly trying to make the Fold incredibly thin.
When opened, reports have suggested each half of the device could measure somewhere around 4.5 millimeters thick.
That doesn't leave much room.
Apple still has to fit batteries, cameras, speakers, the logic board, two displays, and an entire folding mechanism inside the phone.
The collection of sensors required for Face ID takes up physical space, and apparently that space is becoming difficult to justify in a device this thin.
That explanation makes sense.
It just doesn't necessarily make losing Face ID any easier to accept.
What About MagSafe?
MagSafe was another feature that looked questionable for a while.
Some foldable iPhone dummy units didn't appear to show Apple's normal MagSafe hardware, which raised concerns that Apple could remove the feature completely.
That would've been a much bigger issue for me.
I use MagSafe constantly for charging stands, portable batteries, mounts, and other accessories.
It's one of those technologies that doesn't sound particularly exciting until you've built it into the way you use your phone every day.
Thankfully, more recent reporting suggests MagSafe should still be included.
So for now, I wouldn't put MagSafe on the list of features we're definitely losing.
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The Telephoto Camera May Be Gone Too
The Fold is also expected to make a compromise with its camera system.
Current rumors point toward a main camera and an ultra-wide camera, but no dedicated telephoto lens.
For some people, that could be an immediate dealbreaker.
If you regularly use the telephoto camera on an iPhone Pro or Pro Max, buying a substantially more expensive Fold and losing that capability is going to feel strange.
Personally, though, this is the compromise I'd probably accept first.
If I had to choose between losing Face ID, MagSafe, or the telephoto camera, I'd give up telephoto.
And that's where the Fold starts becoming much more interesting, because everybody is going to have a different answer.
The Foldable iPhone Is Going to Be About Tradeoffs
Simply making a list of missing features doesn't really tell us whether Apple's foldable iPhone will be worth buying.
The more important question is whether Apple removes something that actually matters to you — and whether what you get in return is good enough to make you stop caring.
For a long time, it was easy to imagine Apple's Fold as the company's ultimate iPhone.
Take everything from the Pro Max.
Add a folding display.
Charge an absurd amount of money.
Done.
But that's increasingly looking like the wrong way to think about this product.
The Fold may not be Apple's best iPhone at everything.
And if that's true, buyers are going to have to decide which features matter most to them.
Apple's Most Expensive iPhone Could Have Fewer Features
This is where the price makes everything more complicated.
If Apple were building a $700 folding phone, missing features would be relatively easy to explain.
Something has to be removed to hit the price.
But we're potentially talking about a device costing somewhere around $2,000 or more.
At that price, people are naturally going to expect Apple's best technology.
Instead, the Fold could end up without Face ID and without the Pro Max's full camera system.
That sounds pretty bad until you look at the other side of the equation.
What Are We Getting in Return?
When the Fold is closed, it needs to work like an iPhone.
Open it, and suddenly Apple is trying to give you something much closer to a small iPad.
And Apple has to accomplish that without creating a phone that feels like two normal iPhones stacked on top of each other in your pocket.
That's where the physical compromises start making more sense.
There is only so much room inside an incredibly thin folding device.
Something has to give.
Apparently Face ID and the third camera may be two of the things Apple decided it could live without.
The real question is whether we can live without them too.
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Does the Fold Actually Let You Do Something New?
This is the same question I've been coming back to with a lot of recent iPhone upgrades.
What does the new phone actually let you do that the phone you already own cannot?
If the Fold gives you an iPhone when you want an iPhone and something closer to an iPad when you need a larger display, that's a real difference.
That's not a slightly faster processor.
It's not another incremental camera improvement.
It's a completely different physical experience.
And maybe that difference is worth giving something else up for.
We won't really know until Apple shows the finished hardware, software experience, camera system, Touch ID implementation, and — most importantly — the actual price.
This Isn't Just an iPhone Pro Max That Folds
I don't think we should go into Apple's foldable iPhone expecting a $2,000 iPhone Pro Max with a hinge attached to it.
Everything we're hearing makes this look increasingly like its own separate category.
That could make all of these compromises understandable.
Or it could make Apple's most expensive iPhone an incredibly difficult sell.
A $2,000 Fold doesn't necessarily need to be better than the Pro Max at everything. But it absolutely needs to give us something the Pro Max cannot.
🍎 Quick Take
Apple's foldable iPhone may not be the "ultimate iPhone" many people expected. If the rumors are accurate, Apple is trading features like Face ID and a telephoto camera for an incredibly thin device that can transform from an iPhone into something closer to a small iPad.
Whether that's worth $2,000 depends entirely on whether the folding experience is useful enough to make those compromises disappear.
Watch the Full Video
If you want the full breakdown, including why Apple may be willing to make these compromises in the first place, you can watch the video here:
Watch: Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone Is Missing WHAT?!
More on Apple's Foldable iPhone
If you want more background on Apple's first Fold, I've been exploring the product from several different angles:
Watch: This Is Why Apple Is Making a Foldable iPhone
Watch: So This Is Apple's $2,000 Foldable iPhone
Watch: Why Would Anyone Want a Foldable iPhone?
Watch: Is It ACTUALLY Worth Upgrading Your iPhone This Year?
What Would You Refuse to Give Up?
If Apple really does charge somewhere around $2,000 for the Fold, which feature would you absolutely refuse to lose?
Face ID?
The telephoto camera?
MagSafe?
Or is there another feature you'd consider non-negotiable?
For me, Face ID would be a much bigger adjustment than losing the telephoto camera.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
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