I was dying to see the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 in person now that they’re official, to check whether they have a crease in the middle of their foldable displays. As a reminder, last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 phones (above) still had significant creases. Recent leaks suggested the 2025 models wouldn’t just be thinner than their predecessors, the Fold 7 and Flip 7 would also pack crease-free foldable panels.
Now that I’ve seen the two devices, I can tell you they both have visible creases at the hinges. Like the thickness issue, the crease remains a design compromise that Samsung still needs to fix to offer better-looking Fold and Flip phones.
But if one leaker’s new report is accurate, the key technology that prevents creasing already exists, and it’s coming from Samsung Display. Ming-Chi Kuo said in a new post on Medium that Apple has chosen Samsung’s solution for eliminating the crease from the iPhone Fold, and Apple will be paying a premium to use that hinge component in its foldable phones.
How Apple wants to eliminate the iPhone Fold’s crease
Kuo, known for his predictions about unreleased Apple hardware, said that Apple picked Samsung Display’s crease-free screen design over its own in-house concept. Apple chose Samsung’s solution to support volume production of a foldable iPhone in the second half of 2026.
Kuo explains that the display’s metal plate is the key element that can prevent creasing in a foldable panel. Previous reports said Apple would spare no expense to eliminate the crease in the iPhone Fold.
Achieving this would be a major selling point for the iPhone Fold. It would also align with Apple’s approach of “getting it right.” Apple could say it waited to deliver the perfect foldable iPhone design instead of rushing to match what competitors were doing.
Kuo notes in his blog that the metal plate disperses and controls bending stress, helping reduce crease formation. “Because the plate must be closely tailored to the display design, the specification of SDC’s crease-free solution for Apple also includes the metal plate designed and manufactured by Fine M-Tec,” a translation of Kuo’s post reads.
Fine M-Tec will begin shipping display metal plates for the iPhone Fold in the first quarter of 2026. Each plate costs $30 to $35, with Apple planning to order 13 to 15 million units next year.
A recent report from Korea said that Samsung would mass-produce the foldable display for the iPhone Fold, though it didn’t detail the hinge and crease designs. Samsung will reportedly be the sole supplier for the iPhone Fold panels, which it will manufacture at a facility built specifically for Apple.
Kuo also explained how the metal plate inside the iPhone Fold differs from those in Samsung’s own foldables:
The foldable iPhone’s metal-plate specifications exceed those of existing competitors, so unit prices are higher, benefiting Fine M-Tec.
[Samsung Display’s] current metal-plate process is chemical etching; to meet Apple’s stricter crease-free demands, laser drilling will be adopted to create micro-structures that guide stress and further improve crease control. Introducing laser drilling raises the plate price (USD 30–35 versus about USD 20 for etched plates), and the high technical barrier also supports Fine M-Tec’s market share.
The quote above might also explain why Samsung’s Fold 7 and Flip 7 still have creases. Samsung relies on similar tech to reduce creasing but uses a cheaper process to drill the micro holes in the metal plate that manages bending stress.
If Kuo’s report is accurate, the crease-free display tech Samsung is developing for the iPhone Fold might also show up in future Fold and Flip models from Samsung. That’s just speculation for now.
A Samsung Display patent awarded by the USPTO in early 2023 covers technology that helps prevent creasing in a foldable phone.
The following image shows the metal plate (ST), which includes two parallel structures (OP) featuring multiple micro holes to aid bending.
The close-up of the AA-marked section above follows below, showing the hole pattern in more detail.
The metal plate sits between the sheet part (SH) and the hinge (HG). The sheet part rests beneath the display. When the phone bends, the micropunctures allow flexibility while reducing stress on the OLED panel. Once unfolded, the screen should show a minimal crease.
That’s not to say the iPhone Fold will feature a metal plate identical to the one in these drawings, or that Samsung’s foldables use this exact design. Samsung holds similar patents in other jurisdictions with different designs for the punctured plates.
Still, these patents show the underlying ideas behind the tech Kuo references, which Apple reportedly selected for the iPhone Fold. We’ll have to wait for iPhone Fold teardowns, and maybe a few destructive tests, to get a look at the metal plate that’s expected to eliminate creasing.
