While it seems like a foregone conclusion that there will be a foldable iPhone, possibly late next year, there hasn’t been much info about what it would look like. In the latest installment of his Power On newsletter Mark Gurman says he’s being told it will look more or less like two iPhone Airs stuck together.
That means it should be pretty thin, though potentially thicker than a Pixel 10 Pro Fold (10.8mm) and Galaxy Z Fold7 (8.9mm) since an iPhone Air comes in at 5.6mm thick. Though Ming-Chi Kuo’s sources suggest the foldable will be quite a bit thinner when unfolded, possibly as little as 4.5mm. Unfortunately, Gurman also expects the foldable iPhone to cost more than the Pixel Fold, starting at at least $2,000, possibly more.
One benefit of basing the foldable on the iPhone Air’s design is durability. While foldables have improved a lot over the years, there are still concerns about how they can stand up to abuse. But Gurman says the iPhone fold will be made of titanium, just like the Air, which both JerryRigsEverything and iFixIt have found to be pretty tough.
iFixIt also gave the iPhone Air a surprisingly decent repairability score of seven. If an iPhone fold could even get close to the same repairability score it would be a pretty big deal. Both the Pixel Fold and Z Fold7 earned repairability scores of three, meaning these phones that are far more fragile than your standard glass rectangle are also much harder to repair.
