New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- Many of Apple's biggest rivals, such as Samsung, Motorola and Google, have already come out with foldable smartphones. But Apple is not one to rush on new technologies.

"The foldable launch is straight out of Apple's playbook: Wait for the product to work out its kinks and for the market to offer glimpses of viability, then enter and shape the category," said Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee. "The difference is that foldables still represent a minuscule share of the smartphone market. The test of Apple's ambition will be whether it can expand that niche into a meaningful new segment."

Compared with earlier generations, the iPhone 18 likely will cost more due partly to a global memory chip shortage. The iPhone ...