Why pay more for iPhone Fold? This reminds me of Apple's first iPhone

This is the phone I had when the iPhone was first announced

And I loved this flippin' thing because it flipped open with a keyboard. But it also just did everything that I needed

And it was fun to use. LG made this one. It's called the Envy. Now, when Steve Jobs revealed the first iPhone

I thought, hey, it looks kind of interesting, but only a fool would buy the iPhone

because the iPhone cost more than three times as much as my phone

And the camera was not better. It was two megapixels. It didn't even have a flash and mine did

So that made my phone better. And that iPhone screen just seems so big without a keyboard

So why would I spend so much money for something not as useful as my current device

I know it sounds funny, but here we are 19 years later and I'm in this situation again

Apple is said to come out with a folding iPhone this year that could cost twice as much as

my current model and the camera on it might not be as good as the camera I have now

I have folding phones on the mind because Samsung just came out with this new folding phones and one is squarely designed to take on the folding iPhone

It the Galaxy Z Fold 8 It has a short book style design and based on some leaks it is expected that Apple folding iPhone will look just like this And it expected to be expensive over and Samsung version doesn come cheap either The Fold 8 is So why spend more The big argument I keep hearing

is that it is better to have a larger screen for watching videos. And of course there's some cool

appeal I guess because celebrities are walking around filming themselves with these phones. I mean

You can do that with any phone, I guess. All right. Well, just think of the multitasking, right

Yeah, this is peak living. Maybe not. It is clear that cost will be Apple's biggest hurdle in getting

customers to want to experiment with a folding iPhone, just like cost was the issue when the

first iPhone came out. But recent headlines this week offer a hint that maybe Apple has a plan for

this problem. Bloomberg reports that Apple is going to launch a new version of its upgrade

device leasing program and that could happen on July 28th. You got to think of buying a new iPhone

similar to leasing a car. You make monthly payments and if you want, you can trade in your phone after

a year to upgrade to a new model. Apple already does offer this with iPhones, but the reported

change is that the concept is going to extend to other Apple devices like MacBooks and the prices on these offers may change That means Apple could be preparing for more expensive choices in its iPhone lineup

And it's hard to say if these offers would be better. Bloomberg's report says it will not

include AppleCare Plus to cover costs for repairs, theft and loss. But the new plan

might get your monthly fee lower to a point where it doesn't feel as painful in the store

when you're making that purchasing decision. So buying your next iPhone would feel more like buying a car

and just asking yourself, what monthly payments can I afford? It makes sense that this could make buying a $2,000 phone an easier sell

but those monthly payments would still be more with a folding phone than they would be with other new iPhones that are only maybe like $1,000

So what else does Apple have to do to make it look more valuable to buy a folding phone

Let's again look to Samsung's phone launch this week. If you have been wondering if you're going to buy Apple's folding iPhone

you're probably looking very closely right now at the full date. Samsung's pushing this messaging about how easy it is to hold this like a mini book in just one hand

And that exactly how the first iPhone was marketed Do you remember the first commercials It was something that could fit easily in one hand The ads were designed to also teach people

Here's all the simple things you can do on an iPhone. History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme

And I wouldn't be surprised if Apple goes back to this original concept to show how simple it is

to do everything you need all in one hand. But just like the iPhone when it first came out

It may involve teaching people a new way to use their phones

In this case, teaching us how apps might be better as they jump between screens

because we haven't seen that before in Apple products. I'm going to be looking closely at the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in the meantime

because until the iPhone event happens, probably in September, this is the time to test drive that new design

to kind of see if we want to go with something new. And Apple will need to show us how more screens are not just better

but perhaps worth that extra cost. Then again, more screens could just take me further away

from the simpler phone era that I sometimes envy. This is One More Thing, my weekly show on all things Apple

And if you're an iPhone user, I want to hear what you think of the new Galaxy Fold 8 models

And if you're considering upgrading to a folding iPhone, I'm Bridget Carey, and I'll catch you next time

there's one more thing to talk about in the world of Apple