A folding iPhone has been the dream of Apple fanatics for ages. However, after six years of resistance, it appears to be like just like the wait will quickly be over.
In keeping with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a persistently dependable supply of Apple information, the primary foldable iPhone shall be unveiled “on the finish of subsequent 12 months”. It’s anticipated to take the type of an iPhone-sized cowl show, which opens out to disclose a pill display screen harking back to a small iPad.
Sound acquainted? Samsung provides a really comparable proposition on its newest Galaxy Z Fold 7, whereas the likes of the Honor Magic V5 and Oppo Discover N5 supply compelling options that rival and even surpass it within the thinness stakes.
In 2025, the folding cellphone market has begun to mature, with units that push the boundaries of engineering and design. Not like with the unique iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods, Apple isn’t simply fashionably late, it’s manner behind the curve.
However certainly Apple will provide you with one thing completely different to assist it surpass the competitors? Sadly, it doesn’t appear like it.
A Galaxy Z Fold 7 working iOS?
Till now, particulars of Apple’s foldable iPhone had been restricted to a variety of patents and obscure rumours.
However Gurman has now provided the primary concrete details about the machine, and it doesn’t make for thrilling studying. Not like Apple’s different first-gen merchandise, the foldable iPhone supposedly received’t embody a “radically new interface or transformative {hardware}”.
In reality, it may very well be very much like the present Galaxy Z Fold 7, with a “comparable design” and “most of the identical core parts” anticipated. Its versatile OLED show will supposedly even be made by Samsung Show, a sub-brand of the primary firm.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
To this point, so boring. The foldable iPhone is unlikely to supply something we haven’t seen earlier than, other than an Apple emblem slapped on the again. Nevertheless, I nonetheless assume it may have the higher hand in an more and more aggressive market.
Why I’m nonetheless excited for the foldable iPhone
If Apple is copying Samsung in the case of the foldable iPhone’s {hardware}, it’s onto a very good factor. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a formidable feat of engineering, seamlessly fusing two shows into one machine with out sacrificing thinness or weight.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
As our full evaluation exhibits, Samsung has virtually mastered book-style foldable design, so there’s no cause for Apple to do something radically completely different. Gurman suggests the foldable iPhone may make the crease much less seen and enhance the hinge mechanism, however these enhancements are more likely to be minor.
Nevertheless, there’s one space that Samsung and all its Android foldable rivals can’t match: iPadOS. The software program expertise on the iPad is one thing no different pill can match, with an enviable vary of apps which might be particularly designed for the bigger show.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
This bodes very effectively for the interior expertise on the foldable iPhone. It’s more likely to be an identical dimension to the iPad Mini, so it wouldn’t require a lot additional work from third-party builders to get their apps optimised.
Given how comparable iOS (which runs on the iPhone) and iPadOS are, the transition between the duvet and inside shows on a foldable iPhone needs to be seamless. Gurman says that Apple will “prioritize software program options tailor-made particularly to this new kind issue” in iOS 27, the subsequent main model.
May that make the foldable iPhone the preferred folding cellphone up to now? As Gurman suggests, there are many die-hard Apple followers who’re eager to purchase a foldable however unwilling to modify to Android to take action.
Even when the first-gen foldable iPhone isn’t good, it may tempt lots of people to make the swap and out-sell Samsung at its personal sport proper off the bat.
A sting within the story
Guide-style foldables are complicated, superior units, and so they’re priced to mirror that.
Sadly, it doesn’t appear like that’ll change on the foldable iPhone, which Gurman says that it’s “anticipated to value no less than $2,000”. If true, that’d be proper in keeping with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (from £1,799/$1,999), however considerably dearer than the Pixel 9 Professional Fold (from £1,749/$1,799).
I’m excited to see what Apple brings to the folding cellphone market, however at that value, I can’t see the way it’ll turn into a mainstream product.
