This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Foldable phones have now been around for more than five years. Back in 2019, when Royole showed the FlexPai (technically, the first foldable smartphone), we kind of thought the revolution would happen overnight. But it's been a long and thorny road, from the first Galaxy Fold to the latest super-thin foldables from the Far East.
One thing doesn't add up, though. Where's the foldable iPhone? Apple, a company that people associate with innovation and setting trends, seems to be holding back when it comes to foldable phones. The company is biding its time, but I can tell you this. The iPhone Fold is coming, and it will most likely be the first foldable I would consider buying. Let me explain.
The iPhone Fold will be crease-free
The first creaseless foldable on the market?
The latest reports on the iPhone Fold say that Apple is working on a revolutionary crease-free design, which will incorporate liquid metal with special properties in order to do so. The company is keen to provide the best experience and launch its first foldable with no compromises.
"Apple has decided to eliminate the crease at all costs, regardless of price, to differentiate its foldable phone from existing models," an industry insider told our colleagues at ETNews. "It is believed that a new material property has been developed to make the crease disappear."
When the first generation of foldables hit the market, the crease was pretty substantial, both visually and to the touch. Little has changed since, to be honest. Samsung tried to minimize the crease and make it less visible in the Fold series, but even in the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it's still there.
We have kind of gotten used to it and forgotten how this imperfection in the screen annoyed us in the beginning. When the iPhone Fold launches, and if Apple does manage to remove the crease altogether, it will very quickly give an upper edge to the phone. Especially when put side-by-side with other crease-ridden foldables.
This might seem like a small thing, but I've tried several folding phones and never got over the crease. Even if I manage to trick my eyes to not pay attention to it, my fingers feel it, and I can't trick them.
A creaseless foldable is absolutely a selling point for me, and I think that many people would feel the same way.
The iPhone Fold will be extremely durable
The iPhone Fold will use a special hinge made of titanium, stainless steel, and liquid metal
The number one concern with foldables is durability. When you pay around $2000 for a phone, you don't want the added anxiety of the thing breaking at any moment. Other manufacturers have made big steps forward in that department, but still, the horror stories with screens failing and hinges getting loose and breaking still linger on many people's minds.
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The iPhone Fold will allegedly use a titanium design, both for the frame and the hinge. The latter will use other high-quality and durable materials such as stainless steel and liquid metal.
I won't throw names here, but several flip and fold phones I've tried over the years started to feel squeaky and loose after a couple of months. It's not a nice feeling when you start to feel the two wings of a foldable moving around and the hinge making strange noises.
So, if Apple manages to make the iPhone Fold airtight in terms of durability, this could be another very strong selling point and advantage compared to the competition. Especially if Apple does its marketing magic, which we all know it will.
Welcome to the foldable ecosystem
Get ready for some cool software tricks and seamless connectivity
Say what you want about Apple, but the way the company has built its ecosystem is quite impressive. Android devices are still struggling to emulate this seamless connectivity between different devices, and foldables are a prime example.
The iPhone Fold will make use of that smooth ecosystem experience in ways that many competitors can't, even today. Features such as Handoff and Universal Clipboard will be perfect on a foldable.
I expect multi-window and multitasking to be polished and useful on the iPhone Fold, and I bet the interface will look pretty as well.
The most powerful foldable on the market
Sporting the 2nm A20 chip inside, the iPhone Fold will be the most powerful foldable
It should come as no surprise that the iPhone Fold will fight for (and most likely win) the "most powerful foldable" title. Rumor has it that the device will use Apple's A20 chipset, manufactured on a 2 nm node and said to be 15% faster and up to 30% more power efficient than the A19 chips we're getting in the iPhone 17 later this year.
That 30% boost in efficiency is another key spec, as most modern foldables have battery life woes, mainly due to their huge main screens and thermal issues tied to the thin design.
Speaking of battery life, another piece of exciting info about the iPhone Fold concerns its battery. Industry insiders expect Apple to use new, high-density batteries in all of the iPhone 18 range, including the iPhone Fold.
It's not clear whether these batteries will employ silicon-carbon, which is the latest trend in battery technology, but the rumored battery capacity for the iPhone Fold ranges between 5,000 and 5,500 mAh. That's pretty solid for an iPhone, as we know OS optimization and app management work in favor of battery life in the iOS ecosystem.
Under-screen camera for a seamless display experience
Samsung abandoned the UDC concept but Apple could make it work
Under-display cameras aren't new; ZTE pioneered the tech a couple of years ago, and Samsung used it in the Z Fold 4 and Fold 5. However, Samsung ditched the UDC in the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and opted for a regular 10-megapixel selfie camera on the inner display.
The iPhone Fold will reportedly use an under-display camera, and this might seem like a long shot and speculation, but I believe the technology is already mature enough to get the job done without compromises (meaning crappy selfie photos and blurry videos).
According to the latest rumors, the iPhone Fold will use a side-mounted Touch ID system, which will be the first appearance of the biometric feature since 2022 and the iPhone SE (2022). It will be interesting to see the implementation, and for me personally, the physical fingerprint scanner has always been the better way of authentication.
iPhone Fold pricing and market demand
Unlike Vision Pro, the iPhone Fold will be a much more affordable device that people actually want to buy
I think Apple has learned its lesson from the Vision Pro and won't make the same mistake with the iPhone Fold. In fact, there are speculations that the iPhone Fold launch has been postponed after the Vision Pro fiasco in order to offer a more competitively priced device.
Whether or not these rumors are true, the expected price for the iPhone Fold is believed to be around $1,999, which is not that bad, all things considered.
The price tag of the iPhone Fold mimics the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and given all the advantages mentioned above, it should be a straight win for the iPhone.
Granted, there will be another Z Fold iteration between now and the launch of the iPhone Fold, so Samsung could perfect and polish some things with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Still, if Apple really manages to keep the price under $2000, this will help sales.
Which brings us to the market demand. It's been huge ever since the first rumors about a folding iPhone. People are hyped, and I'm pretty sure it will sell well. Apple aficionados and die-hard fans are done with Samsung teasing them and making fun of the fact that there's no foldable iPhone in the lineup.
Conclusion. Will the iPhone Fold be that good?
The iPhone Fold won't be revolutionary but it will offer the perfect package of features that actually matter
It may look like I'm greasing up the iPhone Fold quite a bit with this article. The devil is in the details. I don't believe the iPhone Fold will be a revolutionary device in the sense the Vision Pro was.
But all those years of lagging behind in the foldable department have given Apple the chance to polish and perfect the idea of a foldable iPhone. It's the complete package that counts in the end, and I believe the iPhone Fold will be an integral part of the iPhone portfolio. It won't feel like an appendix or a novelty just for the sake of it.
What do you think about it? Are you excited about the iPhone Fold and would you buy it at $1,999?
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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