*Image credit — ConceptsiPhone
The almost mythical foldable iPhone is finally seeming like a reality as more and more reports from inside the industry start making their way to us. And now a new source reveals that — just like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and its predecessors — the foldable iPhone will be a yearly release.Apple doesn’t want to differentiate its foldable phone as a separate niche product category. Instead insiders claim that the foldable iPhone will be marketed as the top of the line iPhone going forward: snatching the crown from the Pro Max models. With that in mind I think we can also expect Apple’s foldable to feature even better hardware than the Pro and Pro Max phones.
After such a long wait filled with rumors and speculation it should be reassuring for Apple fans that the foldable iPhone won’t be a one-and-done treat. Nor will it be a unique phone that only sees a successor every few years like some other Apple products. No, Apple is determined to make the foldable iPhone a new stream of revenue and what better way to do that than to make it a yearly spectacle.
Apple has taken ages to finalize its foray into the foldable smartphone market. This is because the company reportedly wanted its entrance to be perfect and wants the foldable iPhone to be the talk of the town. It primarily hopes to achieve this by making a foldable phone that has an almost completely invisible crease. Apple is also hoping that its phone will rejuvenate the decaying foldable industry.
There are still conflicting reports of when the foldable iPhone will launch. Some reports claim that the phone will debut alongside a new mostly glass-based Pro model in 2027 for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone. Others, like the report about the foldable iPhone being a yearly release, maintain that the phone is coming out in 2026 alongside the iPhone 18.
Major competitors that the foldable iPhone will have to take on include the aforementioned Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Oppo Find N5. The Galaxy Z and Pixel Fold phones provide a much more superior AI experience with Gemini compared to Apple Intelligence. Meanwhile the Oppo Find N5 is a super slim and very impressive device that will probably cost less than Apple’s offering.
The foldable iPhone is supposed to be another new option for Apple users just like the iPhone 17 Air which is slated to come out this year. Whether any of these two phones stick around or go the way of the mini and Plus models remains to be seen.
