Apple’s new chief executive John Ternus will unveil the biggest shake-up to the iPhone in its 20-year history on Wednesday, with the introduction of a long-awaited folding screen and a record new price tag. The Cupertino-based company’s foldable device has been in development for almost a decade and is expected to set a new high-water mark for iPhone prices, costing upwards of $2,000. The debut of a foldable iPhone comes several years after Apple’s biggest mobile rivals including Samsung and Huawei began selling their own versions of a smartphone that can open up to show a bigger screen.

Wednesday’s annual launch at Apple Park in Cupertino will also be the first major public event for Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook as head of the world’s second-most-valuable company last week. The iPhone announcement is being closely watched by investors looking for signs of how the tech group plans to navigate an ongoing supply-chain crisis. The boom in data centre building has caused acute component shortages, notably for memory chips.

This leaves Apple with the choice to take a hit to its margins or pass the cost on to consumers, potentially affecting demand for the wider iPhone family. A $200 iPhone price increase is potentially going to hit volume very hard, while a $100 rise might calm anxious investors. A key thing everyone is watching for is: can the iPhone revenue continue to grow at this double-digit year-on-year growth rate? While a high-priced foldable iPhone could still be popular among Apple’s most loyal fans, the product will be in short supply at launch due to the complexity of manufacturing its display and hinge.

UBS analysts expect it to sell about 10mn units in its first year, based on supply chain checks — a small fraction of the roughly 250mn iPhones sold every year. While a high-priced foldable iPhone could still be popular among Apple’s most loyal fans, the product will be in short supply at launch due to the complexity of manufacturing its display and hinge. UBS analysts expect it to sell about 10mn units in its first year, based on supply chain checks — a small fraction of the roughly 250mn iPhones sold every year.