Apple’s absence from the foldable phone market has been quite conspicuous, if not alarming. The likes of Samsung are into their seventh year of pushing foldable phones, while almost every major Chinese brand has done remarkable work, as well.
It seems the long wait for a foldable iPhone might be worth it, assuming you have the patience to stay put until 2027.
In an industry note, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has detailed some impressive bits about Apple’s foldable iPhone plans. The device, which is expected to enter mass production late in 2026, will be quite a stunner, it seems.
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Eyeing glory from the get-go?
Kuo says Apple will be using a premium titanium alloy material for its debut foldable smartphone. The thickness is claimed to be just 4.5-4.8mm in the unfolded state, while in the folded format, the side profile might be somewhere around 9-9.5mm.
Assuming that turns out to be true, the foldable iPhone might fall in the same league as the sleek Oppo Find N5, Honor Magic V3, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. The inner foldable panel will reportedly measure 7.8 inches, while the external cover screen will rely on a 5.5-inch display unit.
As per Kuo, the most arresting part of the device might actually be its crease-less foldable screen. So far, no smartphone brand has been able to get rid of the vertical ridge, even though recent phones such as Oppo Find N5 have done a remarkable job of minimizing it.
The book-style Apple foldable phone will reportedly use the same high-density battery unit as the rumored iPhone 17 Air, the highly-anticipated ultra-thin makeover for Apple’s mainline iPhone set to arrive later this year.
Temper your wild expectations
Notably, the imaging hardware aboard Apple’s foldable phone might be a meh affair, according to Kuo. There will only be two cameras at the back, probably owing to the space constraints and the challenges with fitting a large multi-lens camera module in a slim chassis.
That, however, hasn’t stopped the likes of Oppo, Vivo, and Honor from fitting triple-lens camera modules with massive sensors on their respective foldable phones. Apple is apparently playing it safe with its first foldable outing, which doesn’t come as a surprise given the company’s history.
For similar reasons, Apple is also said to ditch the Face ID hardware, and will reportedly fit a Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the power button. Almost every flagship phone out there has taken a similar approach where the fingerprint sensor has been integrated within the side button.
But do keep in mind that this is an early prediction. Kuo claims that the specs have not been internally finalized at Apple. The plans for making this phone will firmly kick into action in the third quarter of 2025, followed by mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The analyst is predicting a late 2027 launch for Apple’s first foldable smartphone. As far as the pricing goes, Kuo mentions a rough price bracket of $2,000-2,500 for the phone, noting that demand would still be high for the product.