Apple's Foldable iPhone Is Coming — And It Changes Everything
Apple's imminent foldable iPhone reveal isn't just another product launch. It's a seismic shift for Samsung's foldable dominance, the premium smartphone market, and the entire supply chain that's spent years building for this moment.
The Apple Effect Is About to Hit the Foldable Market Hard
Apple’s September 10 event — coming at 2am Japan time — is shaping up to be one of the most consequential product launches in smartphone history. Not because foldable phones are already dominant. They’re not. But because Apple’s arrival will change everything.
Current data from CNET shows 64% of consumers say they don’t want a foldable phone. Yet IDC predicts that if Apple ships a foldable iPhone in 2026, the global foldable market will grow 19% and Apple will capture roughly 24% of that segment. That’s not a niche play. That’s a market reshaping.
The device — rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra — will reportedly start at $2,000 and climb toward $3,000 for high-storage configurations. It’s a book-style design, wider than it is tall, closer to Google’s Pixel Fold than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. The inner display is expected to be 7.8 inches, nearly tablet-sized, though iPadOS-level multitasking appears to be off the table for launch.
This is Apple’s first new product category under John Ternus, who has formally taken over from Tim Cook as CEO. The timing is deliberate. “Surprise and shine,” reads the invitation.
Samsung’s Foldable Monopoly Is Over
Samsung spent years building a moat around foldable displays. The Galaxy Z Fold series defined the category. Galaxy Z TriFold added a second hinge. But Apple’s entry isn’t a threat in the way previous competitors have been. This isn’t Xiaomi or Huawei trying to undercut on price. This is the most valuable brand on earth entering a segment with deep pockets and a track record of making premium products seem inevitable.
The damage to Samsung won’t happen overnight. Foldable phones remain a small slice of global smartphone shipments. But Apple’s “Ultra” naming — positioning above the Pro tier — signals a strategy Samsung hasn’t seen before. Apple isn’t chasing the foldable market. It’s defining a new tier within it.
Pricing is where things get interesting. Motorola’s Razr still sells for around $800. Samsung’s Z Fold 8 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold sit at roughly double the price of flagship phones. Apple’s starting price lands squarely in that premium bracket. If the iPhone Ultra delivers even marginally on build quality and software integration, the value proposition argument against foldables starts to evaporate for Apple’s existing customer base.
The Supply Chain Is Already Preparing
Apple has been researching foldable displays since at least 2021. Bloomberg reported then that prototypes existed. Since then, the company has filed patents covering origami-style folds, flip designs, and wrapping mechanisms. The current rumors point to a book-style hinge using liquid metal — a material Apple has held exclusive rights to through Liquidmetal Technologies since 2010. Despite decades of speculation, liquid metal has only appeared in iPhone SIM ejection tools. If it makes it into the hinge of the iPhone Ultra, it would mark Apple’s first major product application of the alloy.
Production is expected to start at roughly 10 million units, with a ramp-up period of three to five months. For comparison, the iPhone 17 shipped at about 5 million units per month. Apple is moving slower here, which makes sense for a first generation. But it also means shortages will be real and prolonged.
One detail that matters less publicly but matters enormously for suppliers: memory. Both the foldable iPhone and the standard iPhone 18 lineup are rumored to ship with 12GB of RAM. That’s up from 8GB in the base iPhone 17 and matches the Galaxy Z Fold 7. A global memory shortage is expected to drive smartphone prices higher across the board in 2026. Apple’s decision to equip even its standard models with 12GB could be a signal that the company expects foldable-tier hardware to become the new baseline.
The Crease Question and Why It Matters
Screen creases have been the foldable phone’s Achilles’ heel since the original Galaxy Fold. Samsung’s latest TriFold still carries two visible creases across its dual-hinge design. Reports from Taiwan’s UDN suggest Apple has found a way to eliminate or nearly eliminate the crease on the iPhone Ultra. Whether that holds up in real-world use remains to be seen, but if Apple pulls it off, it removes one of the last tangible objections to foldable adoption.
The display specs are equally notable. A 7.8-inch inner screen paired with a 5.5-inch outer display, a body that’s 9 to 9.5mm thick when folded and just 4.5 to 4.8mm when open — these numbers suggest Apple prioritized a usable form factor over radical thinness. The iPhone Air, by contrast, used the same high-density battery cells and sacrificed Face ID for Touch ID. It’s unclear whether the foldable model follows that path, but the physical constraints of a book-style fold make face sensors significantly harder to integrate.
What Happens Next
The September 10 event will likely announce the iPhone Ultra without shipping it immediately. Apple has done this before — the iPhone X launched the same way in 2017. Rumors suggest a fall release for the foldable model, while the standard iPhone 18 may slip to spring 2027 to make room. Samsung does the same choreography with its Galaxy Unpacked events, spacing standard and foldable launches months apart.
But the announcement itself is the real story. Apple doesn’t need to move volume on day one. It needs to change the conversation. Once the iPhone Ultra exists, every foldable phone on the market gets measured against it — not just on specs, but on brand prestige, ecosystem lock-in, and resale value. That’s the competitive advantage no amount of display engineering can replicate.
The Japanese market, where this news broke first, has its own quirks. Foldable adoption has been slower there than in South Korea or China. Apple’s entry could accelerate that shift, but the domestic dynamics matter less than the global signal. This isn’t a Japan story. It’s a story about what happens when the world’s most valuable company decides a category isn’t big enough yet — and then makes it big.
The countdown has begun. Whatever happens on September 10, the foldable phone era just got a new definition.