Warren Buffett has long sung the praises of Apple from an investor’s perspective, but always stopped short of actually owning Apple’s most popular product, the iPhone. In fact, Buffett has famously steered clear of smartphones altogether — instead sticking with a $20 Samsung flip phone. Well, it seems as though the billionaire investor has finally changed his tune — he now finally owns the latest iPhone 11.
It’s not as if Buffett is skeptical of Apple’s business. In fact Buffett’s investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns around 5.5 percent of Apple, equating to more than 245 million shares in the company, or almost $72 billion. Instead, this simply seems to be the case of an old-timer sticking with what he knows.
Now that he does finally own a smartphone, he probably won’t be using it to its full potential either.
“I use it as a phone,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC.
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In the past, Buffett has said that he uses an iPad to check stock prices — so it’s likely he’ll at least know the basics of navigating through the new digital frontier that is the iPhone.
Even Apple CEO Tim Cook has attempted to get an iPhone into Buffett’s hands before. Cook said in 2018 that he’d be willing to personally help Buffett set up a new iPhone and teach him how to use it., and Buffett said that Cook has personally given him an iPhone in the past.
An iPhone is a pretty good choice for an investor like Buffett — and it’s a good thing he finally owns one. Why? Well, flip phones are back on the rise, thanks to new devices like the Motorola Razr and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. These devices have foldable displays — but they haven’t been as durable as some might have liked, and almost certainly won’t last as long as Buffett’s previous Samsung flip phone. Flexible phones are likely to continue to become more popular over the next few years — and rumors indicate that Apple may even attempt a flexible phone at some point.
Buffett continues to praise Apple from a business perspective too.
“It’s probably the best business I know in the world,” said Buffett. “I should have appreciated it earlier.”