Our positioning framework points to three likely answers—and offers a useful test for B2B marketers.

Apple has told us all quite a bit about its new foldable iPhone: a larger display, foldable design, multitasking capabilities and other technological advances. What isn’t nearly as clear is the single idea Apple ultimately wants the product to own in customers’ minds.

That creates an interesting experiment. We spend much of our time helping B2B companies position complex products using principles built around customers, competitors and how the human mind works. Could those principles help us anticipate Apple’s positioning before Apple fully reveals it?

We think there are three likely directions.

Option #1: Turn the Technology Into One Powerful Benefit

Apple has already tipped its hand somewhat in this direction, emphasizing its largest iPhone display in a thin, foldable design. But that’s still a long way from the simplicity Apple has achieved at its best.  Consider the iPod. Apple could have emphasized storage capacity and digital-file technology. Instead, it translated those attributes into something customers immediately understood: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

The same approach might produce something like “Your biggest iPhone screen. In your pocket.” The words aren’t important. The strategy is: distill a collection of technical advances into the one functional benefit a particular customer segment values most.

That’s especially relevant for B2B technology companies, where marketers routinely receive a list of 15 product advantages from engineering and attempt to communicate 12 of them. Positioning requires choosing.

Option #2: Make Apple Itself Part of the Benefit

A second route moves beyond functional benefits to customer values and emotions.  Apple possesses something competitors can’t easily reproduce: the meaning associated with owning an Apple product. For some customers, design, status, familiarity and ecosystem are part of the value proposition.

That could produce an idea like “The foldable you’ve been waiting for—because now it’s an iPhone.” We’re not proposing Apple’s advertising copy. We’re describing a possible position: other companies made foldables; Apple makes a foldable desirable to people who weren’t previously interested in one.

B2B companies sometimes overlook this possibility because “emotional” sounds suspiciously consumer-oriented. Yet B2B buyers have values too. Confidence, professional credibility, risk avoidance and peace of mind can be powerful positioning territory.

Option #3: Turn Being Late Into an Advantage

Samsung, Motorola and others have years of experience in foldables. Apple can’t credibly claim to have invented the category. But positioning doesn’t always require overcoming a competitor’s strength. Sometimes you can reposition that strength.

One technique we use is called “opposite-good.” The classic example is Avis. Hertz owned the leadership position, so Avis didn’t try to convince customers it was number one. Instead, it turned being number two into an advantage: “We try harder.”

Apple could make a similar move. Instead of defending its late arrival, it could implicitly characterize earlier foldables as experiments and its own entry as the moment the category finally becomes compelling.

The positioning idea might be: “Not the first foldable. The first one you’ll actually want.” Imagine what that does competitively. Years of competitor experience suddenly become evidence that the category has been waiting for someone to get it right.

Put the Three Options Through the Positioning Test

Generating possibilities is only the beginning. We evaluate positioning candidates using three principles—in this order.

First, is it unique? What positions do competitors already occupy? Cross out your company’s name and insert your strongest competitor’s. If the promise works equally well, you probably haven’t found your position.

Second, is it important? A unique position nobody cares about has little value. Which customer segment cares about your promise, and why? Apple’s large-screen benefit, for example, might be extremely important to some segments and irrelevant to others.

Third, is it believable? What evidence gives customers permission to believe your claim? Product performance, customer results, demonstrations and distinctive capabilities can all provide proof.

Try This With Your Next B2B Product

Before anyone starts writing headlines, list the positions your competitors already own. Then identify an important benefit or value where you could create a different position.

Next, try the three approaches we’ve used with Apple: translate your technology into one powerful functional benefit; elevate the positioning to an emotional value; or find an opposite-good that turns a competitor’s apparent strength into an opportunity. Put each candidate through the Unique → Important → Believable test.

Positioning isn’t primarily about finding clever words. It’s about deciding what you want customers to remember when you’re no longer there to explain yourself.

We don’t know which direction Apple will ultimately choose. But we’ll be watching.

And if its eventual positioning lands in one of these three territories, it won’t be because we knew Apple’s advertising plan. It will be because powerful strategic principles can often narrow the possibilities before the answer becomes obvious.