We’re half a decade into foldable telephones, with loads of gadgets from Samsung, Google and Motorola (in addition to others from Oppo, Huawei and extra) for customers to decide on between. But amongst large telephone makers, solely Apple nonetheless lacks one in its lineup. The newest flexible-screen gadgets, just like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Motorola Razr Plus reboot and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold present mature designs and sturdy bending shows, leaving the foldables area of interest handily dominated by Android devices. Recurring leaks and rumors recommend Apple remains to be creating its personal folding machine, which we’ll seek advice from it because the iPhone Flip till a correct title is revealed.
The iPhone 16 collection launched in September 2024 with an AI digicam button and AI options in iOS 18 which might be still rolling out, and the extra inexpensive iPhone 16E launched with Apple’s first in-house modem. Nonetheless, we have but to see any official phrase on a foldable iPhone. Apple’s latest focus has been on Apple Intelligence, a collection of generative AI instruments now within the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max, which can be coming to updates for Apple gadgets in different product households. Apple could be slowly tinkering away at a folding iPhone whereas software program and AI have taken heart stage throughout its product showcases.
Some rumors have even recommended that Apple is engaged on foldable shows for its different moveable gadgets, the iPad and MacBook, although the corporate might have encountered obstacles. In a post on X again in September, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated challenges with folding shows have pushed again mass manufacturing of both mannequin to 2027 and even 2028. Since different rumors have recommended the iPhone Flip may come out as early as 2026, we may see an iPhone that folds earlier than an iPad or a MacBook with a versatile show.
It is unclear if or when Apple will swap focus from AI to carry an iPhone Flip to market, although the newest rumors recommend progress continues. A report again in July, as coated by The Verge and first reported by The Information, suggests Apple has gone all-in on a clamshell-style foldable iPhone and moved it past the idea stage to offer it a code title, supposedly internally referring to the machine as “the V68.” If all goes properly, the iPhone Flip may get a launch date as early as 2026, the report stated.
The most recent rumor reaffirms the attainable 2026 launch window for the iPhone Flip, with famous Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posting on X manufacturing might kick off subsequent yr. Market rumors recommend Apple has positioned orders for 15-20 million iPhones to be bought in 2026 and the next years, Kuo continued, although with many elements just like the hinge not but being finalized and meeting provider Foxconn not formally beginning the undertaking but (they’re anticipated to start within the third or fourth quarter of this yr), this timeline may shift.
This follows Kuo’s report in early March that Apple’s machine may launch on the finish of subsequent yr and could have a 7.8-inch crease-free interior show and 5.5-inch outer show — which might make it a book-style foldable like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 somewhat than a clamshell foldable, as different rumors have recommended Apple was specializing in.
Accordingly, Kuo believes the worth would match different comparable folding gadgets at $2,000 to $2,500. Regardless of that top price ticket, he says projected shipments are 3 to five million gadgets initially, which is a assured estimate given solely 19.3 foldables had been bought in 2024, market analysis agency IDC reported.
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This reaffirms earlier rumors and information. A brand new patent granted to Apple final July, which was utilized for years in the past, exhibits how lengthy the corporate has been engaged on a folding iPhone, though many studies have targeted on the corporate’s struggles to get rid of the crease inside the inside folding show. Creases have haunted foldable telephones since they began popping out in 2020, and though the newest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 have decreased the crease, you possibly can nonetheless see and really feel it.
Earlier rumors recommended Apple had been engaged on iPhone Flip fashions in two totally different sizes, although there have been difficulties in making the gadgets to Apple’s demanding requirements. The corporate may be engaged on a folding pill with a display screen across the dimension of an iPad Mini.
Then once more, we might not see an iPhone Flip for years. By mid-2024, market analysts at TrendForce estimated that points with the show crease may push again an Apple foldable till 2027, in response to 9to5Mac. Prior rumors stated Apple might not launch its personal versatile display screen machine till 2025, and Samsung hasn’t let telephone followers neglect it by releasing an app that may let Apple telephone homeowners expertise a Z Fold-esque expertise by placing two iPhones side-by-side. On the very least, an investor be aware seen in August suggests Apple’s foldable might not attain its 2025 schedule for mass manufacturing on account of show points, in response to MacRumors.
Years in the past in 2017, people predicted {that a} foldable iPhone may launch within the then-near way forward for 2020 — which did not occur. Analysts and leakers have been kicking the discharge date down the street ever since, and rumors and want lists have hung round as telephone followers maintain their hopes up. Absent any confirmed particulars from Apple, here is all the things we all know to date concerning the firm’s future foray into foldables.
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Two cross-sectional illustrations of potential shows that fold round a recess the place a hinge would go, in Apple’s patent (No. 12,041,738).
What Apple’s new patent says concerning the iPhone Flip
After years of rumors that Apple was engaged on foldable telephones, a patent was lastly granted to the corporate that confirmed it has been working towards a folding iPhone. The 22-page patent (PDF), merely titled “Digital Gadgets With Sturdy Folding Shows,” was filed in November 2021 and granted on July 16, 2024.
Sadly for folding iPhone hopefuls, the patent would not provide a lot illumination of what an iPhone Flip may appear to be. A lot of the pages present figures depicting cross-sections of potential shows that fold a few hinge, however not the machine they’re folding round.
There are some tidbits deeper into the textual content of the patent that trace at potential design decisions Apple may make, like a hinge that holds the show flat when unfolded however which might let the show “barely fold concerning the bend axis when the digital machine is jolted throughout the drop occasion” — in different phrases, if dropped, the machine would fold inward barely in order that it lands on its edges to guard the interior show.
It is necessary to notice that every one proof exhibits Apple engaged on a foldable iPhone, however the patent broadly applies to folding shows on the whole — to wit, some determine schematics describe a tool that “could also be a mobile phone, pill laptop, laptop computer laptop, wrist-watch machine or different wearable machine, a tv, a stand-alone laptop show or different monitor” or screens as far-ranging as on automobiles, in kiosks, in media gamers or different digital gear.
The remainder of the patent describes what an Apple machine with a folding show might have, and categorically lists issues like batteries and wi-fi charging, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, LED or LCD shows, microphones and capacitive sensors, haptics and so forth. There’s specific point out of a show folding 180 levels, or totally flat, which follows most different foldables — presumably, Apple is not going to leapfrog the competitors in following Samsung’s concept displays we saw at CES that unfold nearly 360 degrees.
Two foldable iPhone Flips?
Foldable iPhone hopefuls will not less than be inspired that Apple seemingly continues to tinker with an iPhone Flip design. The corporate is alleged to be engaged on two sizes of folding iPhones: a book-style and a clamshell-style, in response to an older report by The Information, though this can be countermanded by a more recent report by the same site suggesting Apple had settled on the latter for a smaller machine. This aligns with prior rumors hinting the iPhone Flip shall be within the clamshell format just like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip collection or Motorola Razr Plus.
It feels like Apple’s been struggling to satisfy its excessive expectations: The corporate’s design crew needs the iPhone Flip to be half as skinny as present iPhone fashions and to have shows on the skin which might be seen when the machine is folded shut, in response to the report.
Improvement on the iPhone Flip was halted round 2020, the older report famous, so as to concentrate on a brand new undertaking, a folding iPad. This machine would have an 8-inch show to be across the dimension of the iPad Mini. The foldable pill supposedly had much less strict sturdiness and thickness necessities, because it would not want to slot in pockets like an iPhone Flip. Apple was nonetheless engaged on methods to scale back the crease in the course of the folding show and get the iPad to lie totally flat.
Launch date: The iPhone Flip launch might be in 2025… or 2027
The newest indications of an iPhone Flip launch date got here in June, when analyst Kuo suggested manufacturing may kick off in 2026 with telephones popping out that yr. This follows Kuo’s earlier prediction in March that the corporate may launch a crease-free foldable by the tip of 2026. Moreover, this could probably be a book-style foldable with a 7.8-inch inside show and 5.5-inch exterior display screen, which is counter to different predictions anticipating a clamshell-style foldable.
It is attainable that these timeline predictions apply to 1 or the opposite, or as a result of obscure nature of rumors, even each — that’s, Apple might be engaged on each a book-style and clamshell model foldable, although it is much less clear if launch date expectations can be interchangeable or if Apple would stagger their launch.
It has been an open secret for years that Apple is working towards a foldable iPhone. The corporate has been registering patents for foldable applied sciences for nearly a decade, and whereas there is not any assure that one will come out even in any case that analysis (bear in mind AirPower?), there’s nonetheless been buzz and attainable launch dates floated for years — although nonetheless not one stable sufficient to get enthusiastic about.
Early rumors pointed way back to 2021 as a possible goal date, however the yr handed with no foldable iPhone in sight. A March 2021 report from longtime Kuo (via MacRumors) recommended 2023 could be extra reasonable (although that yr has come and gone). In response to Kuo, Apple nonetheless wants to determine expertise and mass manufacturing points earlier than bringing a tool like this to market, therefore the wait. Hypothesis later in 2021 from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman aligned with Kuo’s predictions: In his Power On Newsletter, Gurman stated that the foldable iPhone might not arrive for an additional two to a few years.
Since then, new rumors have pointed to an excellent later launch. Dependable show analyst Ross Younger stated in February 2024 that the foldable iPhone had been pushed again to 2025, and Kuo reaffirmed his predicted launch window in a tweet in April 2022.
“Apple might launch its first foldable product in 2025 on the earliest, which can be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad and iPhone,” Kuo wrote within the tweet.
One other rumor, first observed by MacRumors in February of 2024 by Weibo-based blogger Fixed Focus Digital, recommended that the foldable iPhone undertaking is delayed for the foreseeable future. The issue? Apple, which is rumored to be utilizing Samsung folding panels for its iPhone Flip’s show, was dissatisfied with the screens’ efficiency after they broke down a couple of days into testing.
That is echoed by the newest estimate by TrendForce market analysts, reported in 9to5Mac, which predicted that an Apple foldable may not be launched till 2027 on the earliest. Why? Apple’s strict necessities for reliability and the telephone show’s crease. However Kuo’s more moderen March 2025 predictions explicitly famous a crease-free foldable show, suggesting Apple might need moved previous this roadblock — if all these rumors are to be believed, after all.
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Design: What’s going to the foldable iPhone appear to be?
A 2021 report from Bloomberg indicated Apple already had a working prototype of a foldable iPhone show. Whereas it wasn’t a working mannequin, it was a step up from a patent — which, till then, was all we had seen.
This illustration, in response to Apple’s patent submitting, exhibits a “machine that bends alongside a versatile portion comparable to a versatile seam related to a hinge.”
Apple appears to have taken out each patent below the solar in the case of foldable shows, together with an origami-style folding show, a flip-up show and even a wraparound show. We do not know which one will make the ultimate minimize, however each Kuo and Bloomberg appear to agree that the present prototype is extra of a standard fold-out design.
Not like Microsoft’s Floor Duo, which has hinges on the outside, Apple’s would have one steady show with a hidden hinge mechanism just like the Galaxy Fold.
Apple leaker Jon Prosser reported in early 2021 that the iPhone Flip will likely use a clamshell design and come in several “fun colors.” Between the bright pastels of the iPhone 15 and Plus and the sleeker deep blue of the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max, an array of enjoyable colours for Apple’s first foldable machine is certainly a risk.
YouTuber ConceptsiPhone additionally gave us a glimpse into what the iPhone Flip may look with idea artwork of the foldable iPhone within the colours blue, crimson, gold and inexperienced.
In March 2025, analyst Kuo had some very particular however non-clamshell predictions: that Apple would launch a book-style foldable with a 5.5-inch outer display screen that unfolded to have a 7.8-inch inside display screen, and be 4.5-4.8mm when unfolded however 9-9.5mm thick. It might have the identical high-density battery cells because the “ultra-thin iPhone 17” and a hinge with stainless-steel and titanium alloy (a favourite materials of Apple’s iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max in addition to the Apple Watch Extremely 2).
Per Kuo’s predictions, the foldable could have two rear cameras and a front-facing digicam on each the exterior and inside shows. Most curiously, Kuo additionally expects that Apple’s book-style foldable will see the return of Contact ID as a aspect button, as Face ID could be neglected on account of house constraints — presumably for the array of depth-of-field sensors and cameras wanted for the tech.
Roadblocks: What nonetheless stands in Apple’s means?
Samsung and others have been testing the waters, however Apple has been studying from the ache factors of their foldable gadgets and determining how they’d be used.
Considered one of these ache factors is the crease. Quite a lot of the present cowl supplies, together with the glass and plastic combine that Samsung makes use of for the Z Fold and Z Flip, present a visual crease when folded out to full display screen. To keep away from it, Apple would probably have to attend for Corning, Apple’s glass supplier, to create some sort of bendable model of its Ceramic Protect display screen. The corporate is already engaged on a bendable glass however hasn’t introduced a launch date for it.
Kuo tweeted in April 2022 that Apple was testing a foldable OLED display screen. Korean tech news site The Elec also reported that Apple was working with LG to develop a foldable OLED panel.
Price: Foldable telephones do not come low cost
Value is one other main drawback for most of these gadgets. Though Samsung nonetheless has probably the most inexpensive folding telephone with the clamshell Z Flip 5 at $999, most others within the class are book-style foldables just like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Pixel Fold, that are round twice the worth of most flagship telephones. We would not count on a foldable iPhone to be cheaper than its rivals. Apple’s foldable must be consistent with present foldable and nonfoldable fashions to have the ability to compete in opposition to different manufacturers and entice iPhone customers to ditch their single-screen gadgets and pay extra for a foldable.
A report final yr discovered that half of American customers are focused on shopping for a foldable telephone, although Apple clients are barely much less prepared to make the leap than Samsung or LG customers. Maybe the “Apple impact” will change these stats if and when a foldable iPhone ever turns into a actuality.
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