Apple’s first foldable and worst-kept secret in the industry may be more iPad than iPhone, despite the branding. It’ll do so by introducing custom iOS updates that deliver ‘iPad-like layouts’ for easier multitasking with side-by-side apps and a wide aspect ratio. Apple’s marketing strategy for the device hinges on this being the selling point.
Apple can’t afford to screw up its first foray into the foldable market, which Samsung penetrated seven years back. Since then, the market has been flooded with these things, with Huawei even developing the first ‘tri-fold’. We won’t have to wait long to see Apple’s attempt either, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who touts a fall release. That should place the new iPhone Fold (or whatever it’s called) alongside the iPhone 18 in September.
A bite of the foldable Apple
Exact specs are still a ways off, we’d imagine, but people familiar with the matter say the device’s interior screen will roughly match the size of an iPad Mini. The external screen is said to compare to that of a small iPhone. What type of small iPhone is still unclear — are we talking the iPhone 17e‘s 6.1in display, or something even smaller?
Apple’s taken great strides to work out the kink that has plagued foldables from the beginning: the crease. It’s partly why it’s entering the arena this late into the game, hoping to give itself an edge. It’ll do that with a “new display technology” that reduces the severity of the crease, though still unable to eradicate it. Moreover, Apple’s also focusing on durability — specifically looking to increase the hinge’s lifespan. Whether it can manage it…
Despite the clear indication, the device is still an iPhone at heart. It will run iOS, and not iPadOS. “This means it will retain a simpler multitasking system, rather than adopting the more desktop-like interface introduced in iPadOS 26. It also won’t run existing iPad apps out of the box,” Gurman said.
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Even so, Apple hopes to make watching videos more appealing on the larger screen, even if it is technically an iPhone. And with the iOS updates expected, it should be easier for app developers to help their apps conform to the iPad style. The company is developing new layouts for iOS, revamping its ‘core’ apps to add sidebars.
Technically, the foldable iPhone “won’t run several windows at once” as an iPad Mini would, but it will display apps alongside each other, à la Samsung’s efforts. Apple is also taking a more novel approach to how it handles the sensors. On the inside, it reportedly tested putting a camera under the screen, though it wasn’t happy with the quality it delivered. That leaves it one avenue. A small hole-punch cutout at the top of the screen.
Two cameras sit in the backseat, one fewer than most modern iPhones. That’s probably for the best. If Gurman’s right about the Fruit Company targeting a rough $2,000 price tag this fall (spring for us Saffas), cramming another sensor into the device can only make that price shoot up.
