Is Apple getting ready to release a foldable iPhone?

Samsung and other manufacturers have stubbornly persisted with the foldable smartphone concept, and now there are indications that Apple could join them too in 2025.

A new report in The Information ($) suggests that Apple may have finally moved its internal project to develop a folding iPhone onto the fast track with a rumored 2025 release date.

Tentatively given the internal codename V68, the project has now moved beyond the conceptual stage and is now ”in development with suppliers.”

The Information is not the only outlet to be reporting on the new device either, giving credence to the rumours. Digitimesis also saying that the concept is moving into high gear internally.

“In recent years, Apple has been securing patents related to foldable products,” the authors of the story write. “Rumors suggest that in 2024, Apple formally began R&D and signed a panel supply contract with Samsung Display (SDC). Given Apple’s typical two-year development cycle for new products, a 2026 launch is thus predicted.”

(Digitimes is more pessimistic than most regarding the development cycle.)

The presence of Samsung in the story is an interesting one, and only serves to give it another positive reality check boost. The Korean manufacturer is now on its sixth generation of folding device, both the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 debuting this month alongside the Galaxy Ring.

It would be a win-win for both companies. Apple doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel and go through the pain of developing its own screen technologies (not that it ever really does; Samsung already makes the majority of screens for the current iPhone line, alongside fellow countrymen LG and China’s BOE). And it gives Samsung a boost in a market that all of a sudden it finds itself struggling in.

A new report from Counterpoint Research points to the fact that former market leader  Samsung now has just 23% of the global foldable market. Huawei is the new foldable kingpin, boasting 35% of total shipments. This is against a backdrop of the foldable market as a whole growing by 49% from the start of 2023 to the start of 2024.

China is the epicentre for foldables, and given Apple’s oft-reported sudden underperformance in that market the presence of a foldable iPhone would certainly give it a boost. There’s a caveat here, however. Most of the rumours flying about regarding a foldable iPhone suggest that Apple is looking at the top-down, clamshell type of phone, which will then expand to roughly the size of the current iPhone form factor. 

Anyone who had a cellphone in the noughties is permitted a wave of nostalgia here.

Sweet and divine, RAZR of mine. The Motorola RAZR 2004 is now two decades old. Bloody hell...

A slim and metallic body spoke of the future of minimalistic smartphone design and saw this device being marketed as an exclusive fashion phone. The RAZR proved wildly successful and Motorola sold over 50 million units by 2006.]

However, it’s the book-type of foldable that seems to be the most popular in China at the moment despite being more expensive than the clamshell (think of an iPhone doubling in size along its longer edge). Indeed, so popular is this in China that the sales figures from there alone are tilting global figures to favour the book-style 55:45 over the clam.

Of course, all this is only rumor at the current stage. But it’s coming from enough different sources to make us think there is no smoke without fire. Apple is now reportedly iterating at speed to try and a) flatten the crease that appears across the central line when the phone is unfolded and b) making the whole thing thinner (thinness being one of the major marketing points it wanted to emphasize with this year’s iPad Pro).

It is perhaps unusual that it’s not trying out the folding concept elsewhere in the range. But if you want rumors of folding iPads and MacBooks, there are plenty of them swirling about the internet; take your pick. And even as we wait for an official launch date for the iPhone 16, usually September somewhen, there are a growing number of stories about the likely technological direction the iPhone 17 could go in next year.

Just when you thought that the next generation of smart devices was all going to be about the AI features, the hardware looks to be getting interesting again.

tl;dr

• Apple may release a foldable iPhone in 2025
• Reports suggest that Apple has ramped up development with suppliers for the project, with Samsung potentially supplying the display
• The foldable smartphone market is growing, with Huawei now leading global shipments
• Apple's entry into the foldable market could provide a boost to iPhone sales, especially in China where it needs one
• Any foldable iPhone may adopt a clamshell design
• Apple is working to address challenges such as the crease in the foldable screen and overall device thinness