2026 might finally be the year of the iPhone Fold. That’s if the words of Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via 9to5Mac) are true. He reckons that Apple only has three new iPhones on the horizon in 2026 — the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the highly anticipated foldable iPhone, which will utilise Apple’s Touch ID, rather than Face ID.
The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
You might’ve noticed the iPhone 18 (and the accompanying iPhone 18 Plus) are missing from the release lineup. That’s not a mistake. Apple’s shaking up its launch strategy this year by holding back its weakest devices until early 2027, intending to launch alongside the iPhone 18e to make room for the iPhone Fold, according to Forbes.
The phones that will launch this year — iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max — will be covered in a coating of aluminium and will look a whole lot like their iPhone 17 brethren. The phones feature 6.3in and 6.9in displays respectively, and house the next-gen A20 Pro chipset, which will serve as the primary upgrade this year. It’s joined by 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, an 18MP sensor on the front, and a 48MP shooter leading the line-up on the back.
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Even if Apple’s new iPhone Fold is technically the most innovative the company has gotten in recent years, it’ll share a lot of its DNA with the Pro series. Expect the same A20 Pro chip, 12GB of RAM, and C2 modem to feature here, though it’ll all be viewed through a 7.8in display (unfolded) that’ll shrink to 5.3in when folded.
It appears that Apple hasn’t strayed from its regular launch window, likely eyeing an early September 2026 reveal with a full release pencilled in for the end of the month. South Africans could see the devices — the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, at least — turn up as soon as October this year. It’s unclear whether the iPhone Fold will join its siblings in SA by the time it’s ready for an international launch, but we can’t see why it wouldn’t.
