Apple's new foldable iPhone exceeds expectations with superior hardware/software integration and durability, positioning it well for market adoption.

Apple introduced updates and some new its long anticipated foldable iPhone yesterday at its first event hosted by new CEO John Turnis.

All right, so the foldable phone is here from Apple. What' you think? I think it is far more than I was expecting. I had a little bit of a chance to use it yesterday and it is uh probably one of the best uh foldables on the market and it just it feels like Apple's bringing back this innovative spirit of just new products, new experiences, new devices.

Okay, so new devices, new and it does seem listen by even investor reaction uh more than anticipated here. Um, I think the experience of actually using it is a little bit different.

When you feel the hardware, it feels different. Uh, Apple did a lot of unique little things with the display to make it feel a little bit closer to glass. They have, while the form factor is similar, the way they handle the software experience is far different and it feels more uh put together.

A little bit more of taking the experience from the iPad to bring it into the iPhone. And you can really tell even in the, you know, brief about 10 or so minutes I had to play with it.

It is just a far better software experience. Uh the display more or less gets rid of the visible crease which is nice. They have new custom display layers to actually make that foldable display not feel like plastic.

Um it it is hard to explain without holding it cuz it looks very similar but it is a far more premium experience. So, okay. So, premium experience. You mentioned the glass. That makes me worry about breaking it.

And I know they say with these new devices because like I've got one of those latest iPhones, you don't need a case, but you know, it's you're like, I got to get a case. I got to get a screen protector.

Um, but obviously you couldn't really do a screen protector because it's got to be able to fold. How, you know, what do you think about that? um and any testing they did to, you know, test for its ability to survive drops.

Uh for Apple, they did two layers of ultra thin glass around the display panel itself, so you don't really crack it. There's a layer of a polymer on top that they custom design that they said is 40% um stiffer.

So, it is plastic that you're going to touch, but you don't feel it because of the nanoexture coating on it. You don't really have to worry as much about breaking that inner display.

Um they give it IP68 water and dust resistance, so you don't really have to worry about dust in the hinge either. Uh the real issue is going to be dropping something extremely heavy onto the display, which doesn't really happen.

Um, and then on the outside, you can still put a case on it, but uh, the newest iPhones, I have the 17 Pro and iPhone Air as well, and those things seem extremely durable. I, shockingly enough, have dropped this thing many times, and it's just been completely fine.

Not even a scratch on it. No, no case on yours, your newest iPhone.

Absolutely none. Yeah. I I' I've never really used a case. Don't know what they did with this new glass, but I think it's a ceramic coating on top has been extremely scratch and uh shatter resistant.

But let's get back to the foldable phone. The price tag, it's starting essentially at $2,000. Who's this for? I think it's for uh the fans, the power users, the early adopters that really want a foldable.

Now the other part of it is foldables are extremely big and popular in Asia, parts of China. I they do extremely well there. In the US, not as much. That's actually more of a flip phone style.

So those are the Moto Razor and the Samsung Z Flip. But they do extremely well in China and Asia. And I think the US has been looking for something a little bit more interesting.

And this foldable at least from the feedback I've seen on uh basically every social platform talking to a couple my friends that don't really follow tech and the other creators and celebrities journalists here at Apple Park or yesterday at Apple Park uh everyone seemed a little bit more interested in this than the standard iPhone.

So I I think it's targeting a large market in Asia but also there's interest in, you know, the domestic market here in the US.

Um, I I'm glad you mentioned the celebrity effect there because I saw a clip of I show speed there and it's so interesting. It was just a different day and age where it's um you have a mega online influencer as part of the celebrity factor uh for Apple now.

Uh is the idea that that's going to help push sales or you know get the information out to the ecosystem more?

I think it's a little bit of that and also trying to push uh cultural awareness. Um, but Apple's always been one of them. I think Tim Cook has said many times, uh, the fine line between like art, uh, culture and technology.

Um, and I'm assuming John Turner is here obviously is pushing that forward and continuing it. But I think Apple's just been the device of choice for a lot of these celebrities.

I mean, we see them using it in any photos in public. Beats was always a big brand for uh, athletes as well, which is under Apple's uh, portfolio. they've always been there. And I, you know, even outside of the stream for I show Speed, I was seeing him posting uh videos and just genuinely interested in using and checking them out and going to meet Marquez Brownley who was in the same room.

Um, just they're I think a lot of these celebrities are just fans of Apple and the technology and when Apple offers like, "Hey, you we can bring you out. We can show you this. You get to play with it and see it that it's kind of hard for a lot of them to say no. I saw Kid Cuddy was here as well.

Um, they have a lot of a lot of them. So, a lot of it is absolutely Apple wants to, you know, piggyback on uh their platforms to help drive awareness for it. But I also think just they're genuinely interested and when the offer comes, it's hard to say no.

And then Max, so if you were to give a grade, let's say it's like a report card, this is back to school season, what grade would you give new CEO John Turnis for this event?

I would give him an easy A. This was a great start. Uh I I the feeling I got was this was no different than any other Apple event. It you swap uh Turnis in for Tim Cook, but it still felt like an Apple event.

There wasn't a big difference. And I think that's what they need, what they did extremely well. And even in the AI era, John Turns was starting out by trying to explain what the perfect AI device would be.

And it's an iPhone. And he's right. I you need connectivity screen, battery life, cameras, sensors. it has all of them. So, I think he did a great job. I think he explained it well.

The products were really wellreceived. Uh they work well. I I've enjoyed using the demos. Um and a week for we can see going forward how the actual uh sales do, but the five products, six products that they launched, I think are going to do well. And it's a good first start, good first event.

And Max, real quick, are those the new AirPods you're wearing right now? No, but I do actually have them and I was using them a little bit last night. Those were interesting because they actually lowered the price on all of them.

Uh, effectively they brought down previously they had two pairs of AirPods. AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 ANC at 129 and 180 79. Now they brought down the ANC to the base pair and basically lowered the price by $30 and $50, which is kind of weird given expectations where everything gets more expensive.