- Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone has been detailed in a new report
- It contains some surprises relating to the price and Touch ID
- It’s still probably a few years away from launching
The likes of Samsung and Google have produced some of the best foldable phones over the past few years, but Apple has remained conspicuously absent. That might not be the case for long, though, as a new report has laid out the company’s folding iPhone plans in enticing detail. Look closely and you’ll find a few surprises.
The testimony comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a strong track record for Apple leaks. In the report, Kuo outlined his expectations of the device’s starting price, its features, and how well it might sell. Here’s the lowdown.
1. An eye-watering price
Folding phones command a premium price tag, and it looks like Apple’s attempt will be no different. Kuo estimates that the foldable iPhone will sell for “above $2,000,” with the price potentially going as high as $2,500 (around £2,000 / AU$4,000).
Considering the most expensive current-gen iPhone – the iPhone 16 Pro Max – starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, that’s a massive increase on the price of a flagship iPhone. It’s also a decent chunk above what you’ll pay for the top-end foldables from Samsung and Google, both of which charge around $1,800 for their devices.
Yet that price might not matter. Given the iPhone’s top-tier reputation and Apple’s loyal fanbase, Kuo thinks the device will “generate strong replacement demand … provided quality meets expectations.”
Mass production will apparently begin in the fourth quarter of 2026 and Apple is expected to sell 3.5 million units, Kuo says. A second-generation model is tipped to enter mass production in the second half of 2027 and could sell 20 million units.
2. AI first
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage at the moment, and Apple is getting in on the act with its own (albeit flawed) Apple Intelligence system. This will be front and center in the foldable iPhone, Kuo says, with the device being positioned as a “true AI-driven phone.”
That means it’ll come with “Multimodal functionality and cross-app integration,” Kuo says. “Larger screens [will] enhance the AI experience,” he believes, “enabling scenarios like chatting with a chatbot about travel plans while viewing a full map app simultaneously.”
In other words, expect a truly next-gen iPhone that’s been sorely needed for several years now.
3. A book-style design
The foldable iPhone will apparently adopt a “book-style design,” according to Kuo, with a vertical fold rather than one that crosses the device horizontally. That means it’s likely to be a Galaxy Fold 7 rival (or perhaps a Galaxy Z Fold 8 alternative by that stage).
Crucially, it will be crease-free, and the hinge will reportedly “combine stainless steel and titanium alloy, while the casing opts for titanium alloy,” Kuo reports.
As for the size, the device will apparently come with a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch outer screen. It will be 9mm to 9.5mm thick when folded, the report claims, and 4.5mm to 4.8mm thick when unfolded.
That would make the iPhone Fold (or whatever it’s ultimately called) marginally thicker than the Oppo Find N5, which is 8.93mm thick when folded. But the camera bump will likely add a few millimeters to the total thickness anyway.
4. Touch ID returns
When the iPhone 16e replaced the iPhone SE, Apple phased out Touch ID in all of its iPhones. Or did it? As per Kuo, Touch ID will return in the foldable iPhone. It will seemingly find its way into a side button, which sounds reminiscent of the Touch ID button in the iPad Air.
Why might this old tech make a comeback when Face ID is more secure? Kuo states that “Face ID may be absent due to thickness and internal space constraints.”
5. A dual-camera setup
Fancy yourself as a photographer? The foldable iPhone might not be your first choice in that case, as Kuo thinks it’ll come with a dual-lens camera array.
This will presumably be a little less advanced than the triple-lens setup you get with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The dual-lens camera mirrors an earlier report on Apple’s foldable iPhone from leaker
There will also likely be a front-facing camera, and Kuo says you can expect “one front-facing camera [to be] available in both folded and unfolded states.”
6. An ultra-thin battery
Kuo quickly touched on the foldable iPhone’s battery life, which he argues will feature “the same high-density battery cells as the ultra-thin iPhone 17.” That’s likely a reference to the iPhone 17 Air (or whatever it ends up being called), a rumored super-slim iPhone that’s slated to launch in September of this year.
We don’t know what sort of battery life to expect from the foldable iPhone, though. But given Apple’s past marketing habits, it could well still be touted as “all-day battery life” despite its slim design.
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alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake)
