“Sounds Serious”: Buzz Grows Around Apple’s First Foldable iPhone

Apple is now 6.5 years behind the foldable smartphone trend, which first emerged in late 2018 with the Royole FlexPai, a folable handset from the Chinese phone company Royole. The first widely recognized foldable phone, Samsung Galaxy Fold, debuted in 2019 but required a redesign due to durability concerns.

Since then, the foldable market has expanded with major handset manufacturers—including Huawei, Motorola, Xiaomi, Google, OnePlus, Vivo, and Microsoft—releasing their own models. 

MacRumors senior analyst Joe Rossignol wrote in a note on Tuesday that several sources have informed him about a potential foldable iPhone in the works. 

Here’s more:

There are now several sources who agree that Apple’s first foldable iPhone will feature a 7.8-inch inner display when unfolded, along with a 5.5-inch outer display. Those sources include analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu, along with the Weibo account Digital Chat Station. The fact that these display sizes are now agreed upon and have been leaked indicates that Apple may have finalized at least some of the device’s specifications.

The foldable iPhone will open up like a book, according to Kuo, rather than have a clamshell design like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip.

Pu said the foldable iPhone recently entered the New Product Introduction (NPI) stage at manufacturer Foxconn, suggesting that Apple is moving forward with plans to release the device. Pu and Kuo both believe that the foldable iPhone will enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026, which means the device could launch as soon as next year in limited quantities, but a release at some point in 2027 seems more likely.

As funny as it might sound, the foldable iPhone seems to be two years away for real this time.

Barclays analyst Tim Long recently estimated that Apple’s first foldable iPhone could start at around $2,299 in the U.S., meaning it would cost nearly twice as much as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199 there.

In addition to the 7.8-inch inner display and 5.5-inch outer display, Kuo said the foldable iPhone will feature two rear cameras, one front camera, a Touch ID power button instead of Face ID, and a high-density battery. He expects the device to be as thin as 4.5mm when unfolded, and between 9mm and 9.5mm when folded. He also said the device will have a titanium exterior, but the hinge will use a mix of titanium and stainless steel.

In a separate note, Goldman analysts Allen Chang and others plotted price points of the various foldable handsets on the market. 

2024 to 2025 smartphone model launch pipeline

A detailed infographic illustrating Apple’s iPhone supply chain in China.

Apple might be late to the foldable handset market, but the real question is whether consumers actually want another unaffordable device from Tim Cook. Additionally, Cook’s AI-powered Siri iPhone was a flop, and the Vision Pro was an epic disaster. Apple needs to reinvent itself.