Apple unveils foldable iPhone and raises Pro prices as shares fall, then rebound

Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus, unveiled the company’s first foldable phone, iPhone Duo, in Cupertino on September 9, with a US starting price of $1,999. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max introduced at the same event start at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively, each $100 more than its predecessor.

Apple closed at $315.34 on September 9, down 0.28%. By 11:12 a.m. Eastern time on September 10, the stock was trading at $322.22, up 2.18% on the day and above its closing price on the day before the launch.

Unfolded, iPhone Duo has a 7.6-inch display that can show two apps side by side. It costs $700 more than the Pro Max at the same 256GB capacity. Even without higher unit sales, a shift by some buyers from Pro Max to Duo could lift Apple’s average selling price. If the device replaces an intended iPad purchase, however, it would take sales from Apple’s own tablet business.

The Pro models get the A20 Pro chip and a variable-aperture main camera, while entry-level storage remains at 256GB. Compared with their predecessors at the same capacity, launch prices have risen by about 9.1% and 8.3%, respectively.

Apple reported a company-wide gross margin of 50.1% in its previous quarter, including roughly two percentage points from tariff refunds. Without a comparable benefit in subsequent quarters, higher phone prices would also have to offset changes in component and manufacturing costs to help sustain that margin.

About 64.68 million Apple shares traded on September 9, up 85.2% from the previous session. The stock’s decline was smaller than those of the S&P 500, which fell 0.5%, and Nasdaq Composite, down 0.6%. From the September 3 close through launch day, Apple lost about 3.92%, with most of the decline occurring before the products were unveiled.

At the time of this article’s data check, the most recent short-interest figures listed by MarketBeat and Mboum were still for August 14: about 116.33 million shares, down 17.85% from the end of July. Valued at that day’s closing price, the positions were worth about $35.588 billion, with the shares sold short representing roughly 0.8% of the public float.

Those positions predate the launch by almost a month. Public data do not establish how much of launch-day trading represented new short positions. FINRA’s short-sale volume figures include trades opened and covered on the same day, so they cannot be treated as an equivalent increase in outstanding short positions.

FINRA schedules the release of September 15 short-interest figures for September 24. That snapshot will include positions held several trading days after the launch.