Apple is widely expected to release its first foldable smartphone next year. The iPhone Fold‘s hinge is now rumored to be much cheaper than previously anticipated, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst who’s always been very well connected with Apple’s supply chain.
He says the hinge is now expected to be about $70 to $80 cheaper than “the market’s expectation”. 65% of the hinges Apple needs will be manufactured by a joint venture between Foxconn and Shin Zu Shing, the other 35% by Amphenol. Sometime “after 2027”, Luxshare-ICT could join Apple’s hinge supply chain.
The reduction in the hinge’s cost will let Apple make more money on each iPhone Fold it sells, since the other option is lowering its price which we all know won’t happen. The hinge price decline is “primarily driven by assembly design optimization by Foxconn”, Kuo says.
The possible addition of Luxshare-ICT as a hinge supplier is said to imply that costs have further room to decline, as well as the fact that the hinge is quickly becoming “a new battleground for system assemblers”.
