Apple folding telephone launch date, design, show & iPhone Fold rumors

Foldable iPhone identify: What is going to or not it’s known as?

Many followers and pundits have gotten into the behavior of referring to the rumored gadget because the iFold, which has not less than the benefit of brevity. However there doesn’t appear to be any cause to imagine this would be the official title. A extra believable concept, proposed by a UDN report in November 2025, is that it is going to be known as the iPhone Fold.

Anticipated iPhone Fold launch date

In keeping with a sequence of studies, the foremost design and specs of Apple’s first folding telephone had been attributable to be finalized in the course of 2025, with manufacturing focused for late 2026. That will imply a launch in late 2026 or early 2027.

Up to now, this timeline has been advised by a number of sources in 2024 and 2025, together with The Data, The Wall Road Journal, and analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Mark Gurman. A November 2025 report citing supply-chain sources additionally supported this timeline, claiming the iPhone Fold was about to enter mass manufacturing and was on observe for a launch in 2026.

The telephone is anticipated to be advanced and costly to fabricate, so manufacturing quantity will doubtless be very restricted at first. A second mannequin in late 2027 ought to see increased manufacturing numbers.

Gurman reported in July 2025 that Apple will concentrate on options for the folding iPhone in iOS 27, which might be launched within the fall of 2026.

In a report by ChosunBiz in South Korea, Samsung Show president Lee Cheong introduced that it’s making “preparations for mass manufacturing of OLED for foldable telephones to be provided to a North American consumer.” In a while within the article, the reporter states that “Samsung Show is understood to be the unique provider of OLED to be put in in Apple’s foldable telephone to be launched subsequent yr.”

In keeping with MacRumors, Barclays analyst Tim Lengthy stated in a analysis notice that the folding iPhone will doubtless ship in December, a pair months after the anticipated September launch of the iPhone 18 Professional and Professional Max.

Foldable iPhone design

In 2024, The Data reported that Apple had made a few prototype “clamshell” flip-phone designs, the place the highest and backside of the telephone fold to fulfill. Newer rumors in 2025 from Digital Chat Station on Weibo and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recommend a “e-book” fashion fold, with a vertical fold because the left and proper sides come collectively. It is a related fashion to the Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold.

The hinge is anticipated to be one in every of its most original options. Some studies have advised it is going to be manufactured from a titanium alloy, whereas analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in March 2025 that Apple is exploring using LiquidMetal for “sturdiness, enhancing display screen flatness, and minimizing crease marks” within the display screen. Apple has obtained a number of patents for hinge designs, and it’s unclear which the corporate will use within the remaining design.

On July 14, Kuo reported that Apple had found out find out how to eliminate the fold crease through the use of metallic plates to assist “distribute and management bending stress.”

A leak from Weibo account Immediate Digital at first of February says the quantity buttons might be on the highest edge, aligned proper. On the again might be two cameras on an extended skinny “plateau” just like the iPhone Air, solely black slightly than color-matched to the telephone physique.

Folding iPhone show particulars

Ming-Chi Kuo has additionally reported on the folding iPhone’s set of proposed design particulars. He says the book-style iPhone can have a 7.8-inch inside show when unfolded, and a 5.5-inch outer show. Kuo says Apple received’t be glad till the telephone’s show is totally crease-free when opened.

In July, TrendForce made the identical prediction, reporting that the folding iPhone would characteristic a 7.8-inch inner and 5.5-inch exterior show. A later report from The Data put the display screen sizes at 7.7 inches inside and 5.3 inches exterior.

The folding telephone is claimed to be at most 9.5mm thick when folded and 4.5mm when unfolded. For comparability, an iPhone 16 Professional Max is 8.5mm thick, and the thinnest iPhone of all time is the iPhone Air at 5.6mm.

Folding iPhone rumored specs: chip, cameras & options

We don’t know what processor the folding iPhone will comprise, but when it launches in 2026 as rumored, it is going to most likely characteristic an A20 or A20 Professional—some variant of the processor discovered within the iPhone 18.

We anticipate most iPhones to make use of Apple’s personal mobile modem and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chips by that point as effectively. They might even be built-in into the primary system-on-chip.

IDG

Because of the very skinny nature of the foldable iPhone, and the necessity for various front-facing cameras when folded up or unfolded, it is going to reportedly lack Face ID. As a substitute, Contact ID might be included into the aspect button a lot as it’s on the iPad Air’s energy button.

There’ll reportedly be two rear cameras (doubtless a typical large and ultrawide) and two front-facing cameras, one for when the iPhone is closed and one for when it’s open.

Folding iPhone: Value

Count on the folding iPhone to be a really high-end, ultra-premium mannequin. The very first launch is stated to value $2,000 or extra… perhaps at the same time as a lot as $2,399, greater than twice the highest-end iPhone Professional Max. That’s the prediction from analyst Arthur Liao, who bases his eye-watering estimate on materials prices (notably the panel and hinge) and Apple’s high-margin enterprise mannequin.