iPhone Fold has so many rumors, I’m convinced it’s coming this year

By Jesse Hollington and John McCann Updated January 22, 2026 2:01 PM

In the six years since Samsung unveiled its first folding phone, there’s been not a peep from Apple about its response. However I’m feeling optimistic that 2026 bring the iPhone Fold, simply by how insistent rumors are about it.

The iPhone Fold, as fans have dubbed in in lieu of a real name, has seen plenty of leaks and rumors over the years. It’s never shown up, even as more and more companies get in on the best foldable phones race. The  Google’s Pixel Fold and the OnePlus Open are just two competitors that Apple’s folding iPhone would go up against.

Apple’s penchant for secrecy means we won’t hear anything official from the company until it has a product ready to announce, but rumors have been heating up significantly over the past year, and you can read all about the serious ones right here.

The most recent iPhone Fold release date and price rumors point toward a September 2026 launch alongside the iPhone 18, with a lofty potential price tag of $1,999. You might not be able to buy it straight away, though, as some reports suggest that there will only be a limited supply. Bear in mind that we’ve heard “maybe next year?” reports, for many years now. A few years ago, analysts and leakers predicted a foldable iPhone would arrive by 2021, which eventually became 2022, and then 2023. However supply chain insiders have joined the chorus to say it’ll come soon.

In 2023, display analyst Ross Young, who has a pretty solid track record when it comes to anything concerning screen technology, shared that he’d been told by sources in the supply chain that a foldable iPhone won’t be appearing before 2025, and that’s a very preliminary estimate. “The company does not appear to be in a hurry to enter the foldable smartphone market, and it may even take longer than that,” Young noted in his February 2022 foldable/rollable display shipment and technology report. Kuo corroborated this timeline a few months later.

Reports since have gained enough steam for us to actually believe that the iPhone Fold could arrive in late 2026 or early 2027. It’s no longer one or two random analysts saying this, but even Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and the Wall Street Journal’s Aaron Tilley. While there are minor variations in this timeline, it’s the most well-corroborated estimate we’ve ever seen. Further fuel has been added to a 2026 iPhone Fold release date, with a JP Morgan analyst noting they expect a foldable iPhone to arrive in September 2026.

Sadly, don’t expect this one to come cheap. There’s remarkable consensus among analysts that the iPhone Fold price will be somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500, making it the most expensive iPhone ever. The same JP Morgan analyst said they expect the iPhone Fold price to be around $1,999. However a few reports suggest that Apple has designed a cheaper hinge than expected, so perhaps the price won’t be as high as some think.

Will it fold, or will it flip? The former is looking like the most likely, with a major analyst pointing to a folding phone coming in 2026. But fans of the clamshell don’t have to wave goodbye to their iPhone dreams, as another analyst suggests that Apple has multiple phones in the works. An iPhone Flip could be on the way… just later.

Like Samsung, Apple might be exploring both of the traditional possibilities. According to a February 2024 report from The Information, Apple has been researching and building prototype folding devices for at least five years or more; not just iPhones, but also possible iPads and even a MacBook-like device. This corroborates previous reports that Apple has been developing and testing foldable OLED screens and hinges since at least 2016.

That early 2024 report was when Apple’s plans began coming into focus. Citing individuals with “direct knowledge” of the project, it revealed that two iPhone prototypes are currently in development, but suggested both would fold widthwise in a clamshell form factor. 

Apple also reportedly approached at least one supplier in Asia for the components required for these two foldable iPhone models, which would come in different sizes. But if the components do not meet Apple’s high standards, the foldable iPhone in development could also be canceled.

A foldable iPhone has always been a wild card for Apple, as its interest in such a product has fluctuated several times over the years. CEO Tim Cook supposedly asked designers and engineers about creating a foldable iPhone as early as 2018. Though he responded positively to a foldable iPhone demo with a 7-inch display, there are still concerns about the technical difficulties and durability issues.

Originally, the vision that Apple had for a foldable iPhone involved a display residing on the outside when the foldable is shut, but Apple engineers have expressed durability concerns with that particular design. Apple’s industrial design team also wanted to keep the thickness about the same as the current iPhones, even when closed, which would be impossible given what is currently offered for battery and display technology.

However, Apple is believed to have tested a few significantly different designs. In 2020, leaker Jon Prosser claimed to have seen a prototype device that used a two-screen design similar to Microsoft’s Surface Neo and Surface Duo rather than a single foldable display. 

However, by the following year, Prosser said his sources had informed him that after completing the first round of hinge testing, Apple would be putting all its efforts into a clamshell foldable iPhone with a design similar to the Galaxy Z Flip. Prosser also claimed this iPhone would come in more “joyful” colors to target “more mainstream customers.”

At some point around 2020, it appeared Apple had paused work on a foldable iPhone and pivoted to a foldable iPad instead, which would be about the size of an iPad mini with an 8-inch display. The reasoning for this was that it could be thicker than a foldable iPhone, and users wouldn’t have to carry this in their pocket, so it didn’t need to be as durable.

In early 2021, idustry analyst Ming Chi Kuo predicted an entirely new class of devices with a 7.5 to 8-inch display that would blur the line between the iPhone and the iPad. Unlike Prosser, Kuo didn’t claim to have seen any examples of this device.

However, a spate of rumors more recently have suggested the company is now putting all of its efforts into an book-like foldable – including a JP Morgan analyst who said they expected Apple to launch “a book-style fold similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series.”

The last we heard of the “iPhone Flip” clamshell design was in July 2024, when The Information reported that Apple moved it beyond the concept stage into a tangible project, codenamed V68. However, it appears that Apple put that on the back burner, as a significant shift had occurred by early 2025, with multiple reliable sources reporting that Apple was focusing on a book-style deisgn instead.

Those include Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, Jeff Pu of GF Securities, and display industry analyst Ross Young.

The consensus is that the “iPhone Fold” will follow in the footsteps of other foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold series and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, although we’ll undoubtedly see Apple put its own spin on it. Reports have suggested that it will measure between 9.0 and 9.5mm when folded and 4.5 to 4.8mm when open.

This aligns with Apple’s recent pursuit of making devices that are as thin as possible, as we saw with the “impossibly thin” M4 iPad Pro and are expecting from the rumored iPhone 17 Air.

According to Kuo, the hinge for Apple’s first foldable will combine stainless steel and a titanium alloy. Another leaker revealed it could also incorporate liquid metal, also known as amorphous metal or metallic glass, inside the hinge mechanism. This advanced material would mean greater durability and longevity as well as a smoother folding experience.

A 2023 patent pointed to touch-sensitive control areas, including solid-state buttons, on the surface of the current iPhone design, as well as a folding one in the future. With this patent, Apple could add touch sensitivity to every side and edge of the iPhone, foldable or not.

The name of this patent is “Electronic Devices With Display And Touch Sensor Structures,” which shows that it would be convenient to tap, swipe, or just touch an iPhone to control it. Apple has reportedly been working on solid-state buttons for its traditional iPhones, so this patent partly applies to those. However, it also makes a distinction between the edges that can be found on the current iPhone design and the curved edges on a potential folding device, which are referred to as “sidewalls.” It’s important to note that even though Apple has been granted these new patents, it doesn’t guarantee that anything will come of them.

In August 2025 we received another nugget of information, again from Gurman at Bloomberg, who claimed the iPhone Fold would ditch the physical SIM-tray in favor of only supporting eSIM – perhaps in an effort to keep the handset as slender as possible. We’ve begun to see manufacturers move towards an eSIM-only approach, most noticeably the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL in the US all lack a SIM card tray.

In the same report, Gurman also noted that he expects the iPhone Fold to come with a TouchID fingerprint scanner instead of FaceID. As we noted in our coverage “the decision to opt for a side-mounted fingerprint sensor actually makes practical sense. The pill-shaped Face ID module takes up precious screen real estate, but more importantly, Apple would have to implement it twice – once each for the cover screen and the inner foldable panel.”

We’re hearing a variation in the size of the iPhone Fold’s displays. Some say that the main one will measure 7.58 inches, and the cover one 5.38 inches. However contemporary reports point to the former being 7.76 inches and the latter being 5.49 inches. Still more point to the same broad range that those to do: between 7.6 and 7.8 inches for the primary display, and between 5.3 inches and 5.5 inches for the secondary one.

Those dimensions roughly correspond to other foldables; the Galaxy Z Fold 7 displays are 8 inches (interior) and 6.6 inches (exterior), the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is 8 and 6.3 inches, while the OnePlus Open comes in at 7.82 and 6.31 inches.

Some leakers have pointed to resolutions of 2713 x 1920 for the inner display and 2088 x 1422 for the cover display, but these would result in a somewhat unusual 7:5 aspect ratio; other reports have suggested the inner display will be 4:3.

Apple’s engineers are also trying to eliminate the possibility of a crease that forms in the middle of the display, which is a big problem for pretty much every foldable on the market right now. OnePlus has come the closest to eliminating it, but Apple wants it gone entirely. Multiple sources claim that Apple won’t be satisfied with anything less than a crease-free display. Over the years, this has often been cited as one of the reasons we don’t already have an iPhone Fold; the technology simply hasn’t been ready until now. Gutman reinforced this stance in August 2025, noting the iPhone Fold “screen’s crease is less visible than current foldables.”

In addition to advanced OLED and hinge technology, Apple has also filed an intriguing set of patents for self-healing screens that use elastomers or polymers that could repair minor scratches. However, like most patents we wouldn’t bet on this one turning into anything tangible right away.

One other thing we’ve heard about the display is what could be under it; a camera, to be precise. A report points to the iPhone Fold using an under-display camera, used under the primary display to hide a 24MP selfie camera.

While reports of the design and display have begun to gel into something that finally seems like a real product, they’re much vaguer on the internal specs.

Cameras in particular remain an open question. Kuo has predicted a dual-lens rear camera system, similar to what’s used on Apple’s standard iPhone models, rather than the triple-lens system of the iPhone Pro.

This suggests that Apple will adopt a similar strategy to most other foldable manufacturers, saving its best cameras for its non-foldable premium flagships. In the case of the iPhone Fold, Apple is likely looking to keep costs down and avoiding adding the extra bulk of a telephoto lens.

Gurman suggested this will be the case in his August 2025 info dump on the iPhone Fold, claiming the handset will “have four total cameras”.

Going by other foldables on the market, we’d expect two of the four to be on the rear, serving as the main photography sensors. We’d then expect to see two selfie cameras, one on the external display, and one on the foldable internal screen.

The front facing camera could adopt under-screen technology, but that’s far from a sure thing, as there have been conflicting reports that point to a hole-punch camera cutout instead.

In either case, it’s expected to forego Face ID — one of the things that’s arguably held back under-display cameras on Apple’s other iPhones — adopting a Touch ID sensor in the side button instead, similar to the iPad Air and iPad mini.

That’s not surprising, since a foldable iPhone would require two sets of Face ID sensors to make the feature work seamlessly whether open or closed. A single side Touch ID button can serve both purposes.

While there’s no word on what chip will power the iPhone Fold, it’s a safe bet that it will adopt the latest A-series chip of its era. With a predicted launch in late 2026 or early 2027, that’s likely to be the same A20 chip that will go into the iPhone 18 lineup.

It’s also expected that Apple will use its own modem, with Gurman suggesting the C2 modem will feature in the iPhone Fold.

While most of the leaks and reports have focused on the hardware and design of a folding iPhone, Apple is also likely hard at work on the software side of things. Neither iOS nor iPadOS, as they exist today, will easily translate to a foldable design.

Given Apple’s meticulous attention to user experiences, the company is likely already tossing around ideas for a foldable version of its mobile operating system. Depending on what direction the iPhone Fold goes, we might see an entirely new derivative of iOS appearing on it. 

The changes coming in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 will help pave the way for the iPhone Fold.