Apple's first foldable iPhone may cost $2000

Get ready to pay up big-time for the ability to fold your new Apple ( AAPL ) iPhone.

Apple's first foldable iPhone (speculated to be dubbed the iPhone Ultra) is expected to sport a lofty $2000 plus starting price, Citi analysts said in a note on Friday.

Citi estimates Apple will sell about five million units of the new device in the second half of this year and another 2.3 million units in the first quarter of 2027.

Apple is gearing up for its September 9 "Surprise and Shine" keynote at the Steve Jobs Theater. It will mark a historic turning point for the tech giant as newly appointed CEO John Ternus takes the stage for his first product launch since succeeding Tim Cook this month.

In addition to the first foldable iPhone, Apple is expected to to unveil a full iPhone 18 Pro lineup, new Apple Watches and refreshed AI driven software features.

Along with the pricier foldable iPhone and expected price hikes on regular iPhone 18s, Apple is trying to overcome massive chip inflation weighing on margins.

The company issued cautious revenue guidance for the current quarter in late July, largely because the company can't source enough memory chips to meet demand.

It's a problem now former CEO Tim Cook expects to persist. Profit margins were also under a great deal of pressure in the most recent quarter compared to the preceding quarter due to higher memory chip prices.

"On the pricing front, we reluctantly raised prices, I would say," Cook said on his final earnings call as CEO. "We did it because we're in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing, with exponential increases in memory prices."

The memory chip market has tightened considerably as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) used in AI servers continues to outpace supply.

Companies such as SK Hynix ( SKHY ), Samsung Electronics ( 005930.KS ), and Micron ( MU ) have largely sold out their premium AI memory capacity through much of 2026 as customers, including Nvidia ( NVDA ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN ), and Meta ( META ), race to build AI infrastructure.

The shortage has pushed memory prices sharply higher and given suppliers greater pricing power after several years of weak industry conditions. Experts expect memory supply to remain constrained into 2027, creating a favorable backdrop for the industry's largest producers.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, host of the ' Power Players With Brian Sozzi' podcast and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi , Instagram , and LinkedIn . Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.