Apple is preparing the debut of its first foldable iPhone: production in May, launch expected in September and a design that aims for the invisible fold
The foldable device market, so far dominated by Samsung, could experience its definitive revolution as early as September. According to rumors coming from authoritative industry sources and confirmed by the exclusive of Korea JoongAng DailyApple would be ready to present its first foldable smartphone in the autumn, with the production of the panels intended for the device expected to start in May. A move that would drastically change the global balance of the sector and which marks Cupertino’s entry into the form factor that more than any other represents the future of digital mobility.
The timeline filtered from Korea is unequivocal: Samsung Display, the sole supplier of the folding panels intended for Apple, would have planned to start production for the end of spring, with a first batch of around nine million units. A volume that, in supply chain parlance, clearly indicates that Apple is no longer experimenting: it is entering the market with a complete, defined project intended for mass use.
“Two Airs combined” format: the new iPhone Fold aims to look like an iPad
Meanwhile, Western rumors describe a device radically different from any other foldable on the market today. The form factor of the iPhone Fold should be larger than its competitors once opened, so much so as to recall the visual and tactile experience of an ultra-thin iPad mini, almost as if it were two iPad Airs joined by an invisible hinge. This architecture would allow Apple to install iPadOS, thus creating a unique hybrid in its category: a smartphone that, when deployed, becomes a micro-tablet perfectly integrated into the ecosystem. Even the external display, according to the reconstructions of the 3D artists, should be smaller than the sector average, a counter-current choice that confirms Cupertino’s desire to push users towards open use as the primary mode of interaction.
The invisible fold: the obsession that can decide the launch date
However, the most delicate and symbolic issue of the entire project remains: the fold. Apple would have imposed on suppliers the goal of making it practically invisible, and the images circulated in the last few hours actually show a panel almost without discontinuities. However, industry experts speak of a challenge that is still open, so much so that Samsung Display itself, during an event in Las Vegas on the eve of CES 2026, presented a new generation of OLED panels with a significantly lighter fold. The reduction in visual “scar” comes from an internal structure based on a laser micro-perforated metal plate, designed to distribute stress along the flexion axis, flanked by ultra-fine glass layers that help reduce reflections, shadows and irregularities.
Apple’s weight on the global foldable market
If the fold is the true internal obsession, the market instead represents the context in which Apple’s move promises to have the most significant impact. According to IDC, the company’s entry into the foldable sector could capture over 22 percent of units sold in the first year and generate 34 percent of the total economic value of the market, with an average price of around $2,400. An earthquake for a segment which today sees Samsung hold 64 percent of global shares, followed at a distance by Huawei.
The new race for the smartphone of the future
The debut of the iPhone Fold would thus reopen a technological arms race at a time already characterized by massive investments in artificial intelligence, new generation displays and ever thinner and more powerful hybrid devices. Motorola, Huawei and Google are picking up the pace; Samsung prepares a new Z Fold 8 with panels that could be related to those intended for Apple; and the Asian supply chain already seems to be reorganizing itself around higher production volumes and stricter quality standards.
If the roadmap is respected, September 2026 will not just be the month of the new iPhone. It will be the moment in which the very idea of a smartphone will be rewritten, and the foldable category will enter Cupertino’s orbit, transforming itself from an advanced niche into the central terrain of mobile evolution. A paradigm shift that could mark the birth of the post-smartphone era, in which the line between telephone, tablet and personal computer becomes increasingly thin.
