00:00Well, let's get some more reaction. Will Guyatt is a technology journalist. Will, welcome to the program.
00:04What's your reaction to this new Apple phone?
00:08Well, it was definitely the worst kept secret because companies have been telling people about cases and accessories
00:14for this foldable phone for quite a while now.
00:17So unlike Apple, who typically get up on stage and you see something for the very first time,
00:22we were all very aware that this was coming.
00:25And we were also pretty confident it was going to look quite similar to a Samsung device,
00:29which is their fold Z8, which came out a month or so ago.
00:33And the reality is, like you said in your lead up,
00:36Apple do tend to follow the market and wait to see what everybody else has done.
00:41But at the moment, there's nothing in what I've seen in terms of reviews,
00:46and I will be getting my hands on one shortly.
00:48I don't think there's anything which really sets this out vastly in front of other devices.
00:53But intriguingly, Apple have a market already for the tablet through the iPad,
00:59and this seems to be some sort of midway device between a smartphone and an iPad.
01:04And they were even talking about the fact that you could use the Apple Pencil stylus on this device,
01:09which will be the first time on one of their phones.
01:11So there's quite a lot to look forward to from it.
01:15It's not cheap in any country.
01:17There's massive disparity in prices between the UK and US.
01:21I'm in the UK, and there's clearly a lot of interest in the fact that you could fly to the
01:25US
01:26and still fly to the US and fly back,
01:28and you'd still find the device cheaper, including a flight.
01:32So there's a disparity in price,
01:34and the most expensive one of these is going to be US$3,000.
01:38Apple's big rivals like Samsung, like Huawei,
01:41how do you think they'll respond to this?
01:42Will they rethink what they're going to launch next?
01:45I don't think they need to.
01:46That's the challenge at the moment.
01:48You know, you've got Huawei has already got a tri-fold phone.
01:54Samsung's devices now in 2026 are a million miles away from where they were
01:58when the first one came out in 2019.
02:00You know, much better.
02:02You're not having problems with screen cracks,
02:04and the crease is now far less noticeable in the screen.
02:07But these will always be a niche.
02:09I don't think this is going to completely replace the market.
02:13But all the tech companies are looking for new ways of selling more devices
02:18because the market is slow at the moment.
02:20That is the reality.
02:22Fewer iPhones sell each year,
02:23even though they're still really good when they launch new ones
02:26with new sort of hardware iterations and improvements on a year-on-year basis.
02:31But this is the biggest change for a bit.
02:32They tried last year with the iPhone Air,
02:35which was their thinnest and lightest ever iPhone.
02:38There hasn't been a renewed one of those this year,
02:41so I'm assuming they're now moving on to try and test the waters
02:44with the foldable device and see if that can become kind of a premium device
02:49and something that they can, you know, iterate on over the next few years.
02:53And, Will, just quickly, it was also a big night for Apple's new CEO.
02:58Do you think this is the beginning of a new era for Apple?
03:01Yeah, definitely.
03:02If you saw John Turner's take to the stage,
03:04you know, you could see a bit of more youth and energy in how he was delivering.
03:09It's clear that the company was very reverential to Tim Cook, though,
03:12the handover at the very start.
03:13So this is all a very well-planned follow-on,
03:17which they weren't able to get when Steve Jobs died.
03:19So, you know, this is very well-planned.
03:21And I think he will get a chance to show what he can do with the company.
03:25He's been a company man for years,
03:26and it's going to be exciting to see what John Turner's can do.
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