Apple’s new foldable iPhone presents a fascinating positioning challenge. Competitors have offered foldable phones for years, yet the category remains relatively small. So how does Apple convince customers that its version is worth wanting—and potentially paying a significant premium to own?

In this episode, Mary and Tom use the new phone as a real-time positioning exercise. Rather than trying to predict Apple’s advertising copy, they apply the same strategic principles they use with B2B companies to identify three plausible positioning directions—and show how marketers can generate and evaluate stronger positioning ideas.

Key Takeaways

• Translate technical complexity into one important customer benefit.
• Look beyond functional attributes to emotional value or an “opposite-good” position.
• Test every positioning idea against three criteria: Unique, Important and Believable.

Quotes

• “Your biggest iPhone screen. In your pocket.”
• “The foldable you’ve been waiting for—because now it’s an iPhone.”
• “Not the first foldable. The first one you’ll actually want.”

Apple may ultimately choose completely different words. But if its positioning lands in one of these strategic territories, it demonstrates something important: good positioning principles can sometimes narrow the possibilities before the market reveals the answer.