This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of VTMX, BYG, HASI either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

In the rugged, salt-sprayed hills of Malibu and the sun-drenched valleys of Moorpark, the Golden State is losing its luster.

For nearly 80 years, Larry Thorne’s family has watched the Pacific fog roll over fields that feed the community, but today the view is clouded by a different kind of threat — a triple hit of $7-a-gallon diesel, soaring electricity rates and a regulatory environment so suffocating that local farmers are calling it a “master plan” to run the working class out of the state.

As the last farm in a town of million-dollar estates, Thorne faces a breaking point where the region’s Mediterranean climate can no longer offset the reality of Sacramento’s energy agenda.

“The California government has its head in the sand when it comes to energy,” Thorne told Fox News Digital at his farm on a bright, crisp April morning. “Every force in agriculture for the last 40 years, it’s been, ‘Get big or get out.’ And so the people who took on the challenge of just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, a lot of those people are surviving, but the smaller farmer is not.”

OIL PRODUCER ORG SHREDS CALIFORNIA DEM FOR BLAMING IRAN WAR FOR HIS DISTRICT’S GAS PRICES

About a 40-minute drive north of Thorne’s farm lies the 3,000-acre Underwood Family Farms, owned and operated by 83-year-old Navy veteran Craig Underwood. He has spent over half a century coaxing life out of the Ventura County soil, and has seen market crashes and droughts, but he’s never seen a $70 flat of strawberries or a $1,600-per-acre regulatory cost tied to a head of lettuce.

California farmers Larry Thorne (right) and Craig Underwood (left) are seeing margins significantly dip due to high diesel prices. (Fox News Digital / FOXBusiness)

“It seems like every year we cut costs, and we try and get a little bit more money, but every year the costs increase more than we’ve been able to cut them, and the money that we receive is less,” Underwood also told Fox News Digital under the shaded cover of his farm’s educational center. “This is a really tough economic time, very comparable to the 80s when a lot of farmers went out of business and I think a lot of farmers are feeling that pressure right now.”

The men represent a vanishing breed of California farmers. They are the calloused hands behind your grocery cart, now being forced to pay nearly $7 per gallon of diesel fuel and told by a state government to trade their tractors for an electric transition the grid may not support.

“As a younger boy… diesel was five cents a gallon,” Thorne recalled. “In a three-year time frame, between [the] cost of seed, fertilizer, fuel, labor, everything’s gone up at least 25%… Just hauling vegetables to market, it used to cost me about 60 bucks to fill up my pickup truck. Now it’s almost $200 to fill my pickup trucks… What’s really killing the consumer is the cost of fuel to deliver the food to town. It’s adding a huge amount.”

Thorne also told Digital that his nearby neighbors let him use their land to farm, too. (Fox News Digital / FOXBusiness)

“California is, unquestionably, almost uncompetitive in the way we have to comply with so many different regulations that come down from Sacramento. Our labor costs are high, our fuel costs are higher, there’s a lot of regulation,” Underwood said.

While the two farms are starkly different in the sizes of their operations, the labor of love poured into the land is clear. Thorne spent some time surveying ripe, red strawberries fresh with morning dew before picking a few off their stems — the taste was an explosion of deep, jammy crimson that stained the tongue and filled the senses. Underwood went on a tractor tour showcasing the spring festival events like a giant cornhole, followed by endless fields of you-pick produce options such as cabbage, raspberries, turnips, various types of lettuce, beets, lemons, blackberries and even fresh flowers.

Their passion for their work is unmistakable, but the people who feed America are warning that the grid, the costs and the regulations are designed for “the very richest people,” leaving the average family and small business owners behind.

Every weekend, Thorne Family Farms welcomes customers to pick from their pantry and produce offerings. (Fox News Digital / FOXBusiness)

“We don’t have the grid, and we don’t have the power sources to make it happen, and they’re running the oil refineries out of the state at the same time. So, I mean, it sounds like a master plan to reduce the population in California. From 40 million down to 20 million of just the very richest people who can afford the gas prices and the real estate taxes and everything else,” Thorne said. “It sounds like a master plan to run people out of the state to me.”

“Farmers in Ventura County, throughout California, are really suffering from low prices, low demand, our whole export program has been interrupted,” Underwood noted. “There’s a lot of news about the high cost of food, but most of that cost is in transportation because food is moving all over the country. And into that equation there’s cooling, there’s warehousing, there is transportation, and to every head of lettuce that you buy, it’s not just the cost of growing that head of lettuce — it is getting it from the field, harvested and onto the shelf.”

CHEVRON WARNS NEWSOM’S ‘ADVERSARIAL’ ENERGY AGENDA WILL CRIPPLE CALIFORNIA ECONOMY, SEND GAS PRICES SOARING

California gas prices are among the highest in the nation due to a combination of state and local taxes adding about $1 extra per gallon, a Low Carbon Fuel Standard requiring a “clean-burning” fuel blend and limited in-state refinery capacity.

Underwood Family Farms is a bit of a bigger operation than Thorne’s, offering dozens of you-pick produce year-round, seven days a week. (Fox News Digital / FOXBusiness)

The Golden State has also recently pushed legislation for a 100% electric future by 2035, but last year, the U.S. Senate and President Donald Trump blocked the mandate in a historic vote.

Regulations in California add an estimated $1,600 per acre to the cost of growing lettuce, while farmer margins often sit between $100 and $200, Underwood said. The average age of the American farmer is now between 60 and 67 years old; modern equipment costs range from $70,000 to $350,000 per tractor.

Both farmers said it would be more affordable to run their businesses out of state, but neither has considered leaving their generational history behind.

Farm visitors had rows and rows of strawberry fields to choose from. (Fox News Digital)

“[It’s] probably 30% cheaper [to operate outside California]… [But] I couldn’t grow what I grow outside of the state. I can’t do this in Nevada. I can’t grow strawberries in Nevada, can’t grow avocados, oranges… We have climate here that hardly anybody else in the world has,” Thorne explained.

“Farming is one of those businesses. It’s a lifestyle as well as a business, and you have to live it and you better like it because it’s tough,” Underwood concurred. “We’ve been through really tough times before so this isn’t something that’s brand new, and I’m guessing that we’ll probably survive this one.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office directed Fox News Digital to the California Energy Commission for comment. In response, a spokesperson said in part: “The price pressures Californians are experiencing at the pump right now are a direct result of global oil market disruption driven by the war in Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping waterway through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply flows. Today, the state’s investments in electric vehicle adoption, clean fuels, grid reliability and clean transportation are precisely the tools that insulate consumers from the kind of foreign policy-driven price shocks that Americans are experiencing in every state, regardless of whether they pump oil or have refineries.”

Visitors can take home as much or as little produce as they wish, with some customers carrying baskets and others with wheelbarrows. (Fox News Digital / FOXBusiness)

Thorne and Underwood called for a return to what they described as common-sense energy solutions like refineries and nuclear power rather than mandated electrification.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

“We need oil refineries, and we need the state of California to back off the energy producers,” Thorne emphasized. “Build refineries and build nuclear reactors, and [do] it as fast as humanly possible.”

“Change needs to come… I would like the state to represent us more than they do Edison and PG&E,” Underwood said, “and it seems like Edison and PG&E always have a seat at the table, and the average business or consumer doesn’t.”

This is Part 1 of Fox News Digital’s series, “Golden State strain: Inside California’s economic nightmare.” Join us for Part 2 where we go man-on-the-street at the most expensive gas pumps in America to hear the voices Sacramento is trying to tune out.

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in GM over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple is on track to release its first foldable iPhone in fall 2026, with trial production underway at Foxconn and multiple credible reports pointing to a September debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, according to the latest wave of supply chain leaks and analyst predictions circulating in April 2026.

The long-rumored device, internally referred to as a book-style foldable, could be branded as the iPhone Fold or, more intriguingly, the iPhone Ultra — a premium positioning that would place it above the current Pro Max as Apple’s most ambitious and expensive smartphone yet. While Apple has remained characteristically silent, the volume and consistency of recent leaks suggest the project has moved into advanced stages after years of speculation and reported delays.

Release Date Momentum

Most analysts now converge on a fall 2026 launch window. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who previously noted potential delays, reported in early April that the foldable remains on schedule for the company’s normal September iPhone event. Trial production has begun at Foxconn, with mass production potentially starting in July if testing goes smoothly. Some earlier concerns about hinge and display challenges appear to have eased, though limited initial supply is still expected.

A minority of reports still float a late 2026 or even early 2027 debut, citing manufacturing complexities common to first-generation foldables. However, the prevailing view favors a September announcement with shipments starting shortly after, potentially in October or November for the premium model.

Design and Display Details

Leaked specifications describe a book-style foldable with a large inner display measuring approximately 7.7 to 7.8 inches when unfolded — roughly iPad mini territory — and a 5.5-inch outer screen for quick tasks when closed. Apple is said to be obsessed with minimizing or eliminating the visible crease, a common complaint with current foldables from Samsung and others. Advanced hinge technology, possibly involving liquid metal or specially engineered components, is central to this goal.

The device is rumored to measure just 4.5mm thin when unfolded, making it one of the slimmest foldables on the market. A titanium-aluminum hybrid frame would provide durability at that thickness. Rumors also suggest the foldable may forgo Face ID in favor of a side-button Touch ID sensor, similar to recent iPad models, to save space in the slim design.

Pricing and Market Strategy

Pricing speculation centers on a starting point of $2,000 or higher, positioning the foldable as a true ultra-premium device rather than a mass-market option. This would make it significantly more expensive than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series and reflect Apple’s history of charging premiums for new form factors. Initial shipments could be limited to 3-5 million units in 2026, with expectations ramping up to 20 million or more in 2027 as production scales.

Apple appears to be taking a cautious approach, gauging market reaction before committing to higher volumes. The device is expected to target professionals, creatives and power users who value the larger canvas for multitasking, note-taking and media consumption.

Camera and Performance Specs

Recent leaks suggest a dual 48-megapixel rear camera system, potentially sacrificing a dedicated telephoto lens to accommodate the folding mechanism. An under-display or punch-hole front camera is anticipated for the inner screen. Power would come from an A20-series chip manufactured on a cutting-edge process node, paired with increased RAM — possibly 12GB or more — to handle demanding foldable-optimized iOS features.

Software remains a key unknown. Apple is reportedly developing enhanced multitasking and stage manager-style features tailored for the larger inner display, building on iPadOS capabilities while maintaining iPhone continuity.

Competitive Landscape

Samsung currently dominates the foldable market with its Galaxy Z Fold and Flip lines. Apple’s entry would bring significant credibility and mainstream attention to the category, potentially accelerating adoption. The company’s focus on crease reduction, build quality and software integration could set new standards, though at a substantially higher price point.

Challenges and Risks

Foldable technology remains complex. Hinge durability, screen longevity and overall thinness present engineering hurdles that have reportedly caused some production headaches. Apple’s reputation for perfection means the company is unlikely to launch until it meets strict internal standards, which explains the years of delays from initial rumors.

Supply chain reports also mention potential component shortages, particularly for advanced ultra-thin glass (UTG) displays supplied by Samsung Display under an exclusive arrangement.

What It Means for Consumers

For iPhone users, a successful foldable model could represent the biggest design shift since the original iPhone in 2007. Early adopters may pay a premium for the novelty and productivity gains, while mainstream buyers might wait for second- or third-generation versions expected in 2027 and beyond. A rumored clamshell-style iPhone Flip could follow in 2028, completing Apple’s foldable ambitions.

The foldable iPhone also fits into Apple’s broader strategy of premium differentiation as the smartphone market matures. With the standard iPhone lineup evolving more incrementally, the foldable represents a bold new category that could drive excitement and upgrade cycles.

As development continues behind closed doors, the rumor mill shows no signs of slowing. From dummy unit leaks to supply chain whispers, the foldable iPhone is shaping up to be one of Apple’s most significant product launches in over a decade. Whether it arrives in September 2026 or slips slightly, anticipation continues to build for the device many have waited years to see.

The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

0806 GMT – Lombard Odier says it no longer prefers Chinese tech companies over their U.S. peers, as their relative growth and valuation appeal has narrowed. China has emerged as the sole credible challenger to the U.S. in the race for artificial-intelligence leadership. However, fading tailwinds from China’s consumer goods trade-in subsidies, rising AI-related investment and higher memory prices have contributed to renewed earnings disappointments and downgrades for Chinese tech companies following fourth-quarter results, Lombard Odier’s equity strategists say in a report. This is damping the near-term cyclical backdrop for Chinese tech companies, they say. However, the structural earnings outlook for Chinese tech companies remains compelling, with attractive valuations providing a buffer against potential earnings disappointments, they add. (monica.gupta@wsj.com)