Apple has a clear message for consumers: if you have $600, there is an entry point to the ecosystem. If you have $2,000 to spend on a smartphone, the company is ready for you as well.
This week, just days after launching the MacBook Neo at an aggressive $599 price point, Bloomberg reports that Apple is preparing at least three new products aimed at the luxury end of its lineup. The foldable iPhone is expected to carry a $2,000 price tag; next-generation AirPods will integrate computer-vision cameras to feed visual data to Siri; and a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen OLED display is scheduled for late 2026. These are not incremental updates. They represent Apple's most aggressive move toward a stratified product portfolio in years.
The strategy is economically sound. Margin compression is a real problem in consumer electronics. Apple's traditional response has been to push both up-market and down-market simultaneously, leaving the middle to itself. The MacBook Neo occupies the budget slot; the foldable iPhone and Ultra-tier AirPods occupy the premium tier. What's notable is the deliberate segmentation. Rather than treating these as separate strategies, Apple is using them in concert.
Consider the foldable iPhone first.The first foldable iPhone will have a ~$2,000 price tag, large inner display, and under-display sensors. This device will not compete with the iPhone 18 Pro. It will sit above the entire mainline range. For Apple, this is an important positioning: the company avoids cannibalising its existing premium models while maintaining a halo effect. A $2,000 foldable device makes an iPhone 18 Pro feel like a bargain.
The AirPods story is more interesting still.The new AirPods will feature computer-vision cameras to feed Visual Intelligence data to Siri. This is not a minor upgrade; it is a product category shift. Apple is asking: what would AirPods look like if they were designed not just to play audio, but to interpret the world around you? The answer is a device that commands a premium price and justifies sitting above the current AirPods Pro line.
The MacBook Pro with touchscreen OLED display presents more complex considerations. Apple has long resisted adding touch to laptops, and the company's caution has merit. Touchscreen laptops suffer from ergonomic limitations; users tire quickly of reaching toward a vertical display. ButApple's rumoured touchscreen MacBook Pro will be a "touch-friendly device, rather than one that's touch-first," with users able to easily move between touch-based and point-and-click inputs, thanks to changes coming in macOS 27. The key phrase is "touch-friendly." Apple is not designing a device that forces users toward touch. It is offering touch as an available option for specific tasks, while preserving the keyboard and trackpad as primary input methods.
The new MacBook Pro will likely sit above the current M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, rather than replace them, with a touch-enabled OLED display that will raise the overall price by up to 20%. This is textbook premium positioning. Rather than disrupting the existing line, Apple is adding a new tier above it. Customers who do not want touch will keep buying M5 models. Customers who want experimental features and highest performance will move to the Ultra tier.
There are legitimate criticisms of this approach. Premium devices funded by high margins can entrench inequality in access to technology. A $2,000 foldable iPhone is aspirational for most consumers; it exists partly as a status symbol, not purely as a functional product. Some might argue that the resources spent developing luxury items would be better invested in making mid-range devices more capable and affordable.
Yet the economic logic is undeniable. High-margin products generate the cash flow that funds both R&D and aggressive pricing at the low end. Without the profits from iPhone Pro models, iPad Pro, and now Ultra devices, Apple could not afford a $599 MacBook. The company is not choosing between serving rich customers and poor customers; it is using one segment to subsidise another.
The practical question for consumers is whether these products address real needs or manufacture demand. A foldable iPhone may genuinely appeal to people who want both the portability of a small device and the screen real estate of a tablet. AirPods with camera inputs could unlock genuinely novel interactions with Siri. A touchscreen MacBook Pro, if implemented carefully as a secondary input method, might enhance productivity for specific workflows without introducing the ergonomic pain points that plagued past touchscreen laptops.
What matters most is execution. Apple's track record is mixed. The company has a talent for creating premium products that command loyalty; it also has experience shipping controversial features that customers ignore or resent. The touchscreen MacBook Pro lives in that ambiguous space. If macOS truly adapts the interface intelligently based on input method, if touch does genuinely complement rather than complicate the experience, then the product could justify its premium price. If touch remains a gimmick that clutters the interface without solving problems, it will become another forgotten feature.
The broader story, though, is less about any single product and more about market strategy. Apple is not retreating to premium-only positioning. It is doubling down on segmentation. Budget products keep customers in the ecosystem. Mid-range products generate volume. Premium and Ultra products generate profit and prestige. That is a rational approach to managing a diverse customer base with vastly different needs and spending power. Whether consumers find the Ultra products compelling is, ultimately, a choice they will make with their wallets.