Apple has confirmed that the foldable phone "iPhone Duo" has a base configuration price of $1,999. Will this phone enter Iran at a price exceeding 1 billion Tomans?

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable iPhone, will undoubtedly set a new price record in the country's mobile market upon its arrival in Iran. The base price of the phone starts at $1,999, while more expensive versions can reach about $2,999. The base model will be offered with 256GB of storage.

To digest the price of the iPhone Duo, we can look at the price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The official price of the base 256GB version of this phone at launch in the US was $1,199, and the 2TB version reached $1,999. In the Iranian market, the registered 256GB version of the iPhone 17 Pro Max is currently sold for around 443 million Tomans, and depending on the seller, warranty, and market conditions, even higher prices have been observed.

With such a comparison, it is not surprising that the price of the iPhone Duo exceeds 1 billion Tomans in the early days of its arrival in Iran. The initial price of newly introduced phones in the Iranian market is usually not just a result of converting the dollar price to Tomans. Inventory limitations, import costs, registration, currency fluctuations, and especially high demand for new models lead to a significant price bubble forming in the first days and weeks. This bubble usually shrinks as supply increases and initial excitement decreases.

Another issue regarding the iPhone Duo that is important for the Iranian market is that Apple has completely removed the physical SIM card slot in this phone, and the device only uses eSIM. This decision is not a major problem in many countries, but the situation is different in Iran. eSIM is not yet as widely available as physical SIM cards in Iran.

Therefore, the Iranian buyer of the iPhone Duo will likely face two simultaneous obstacles in the early days: the very high price and limited access to eSIM. If the base price of $1,999 and the current market conditions for currency and imports are maintained, seeing a price tag exceeding 1 billion Tomans for the first samples of this phone in Iran will not be surprising; a figure that could make the Duo the most expensive iPhone in the history of the Iranian market.
Source: Digikala