Could an ‘iPhone Flip’ Arrive in 2026?
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Reports of Apple’s research into a foldable iPhone go back to at least 2016, years before its biggest Android rivals released their own versions. However, in all that time, we’ve never heard of any concrete plans by Apple to release a foldable iPhone at all, even as its competitors have zipped ahead with foldables and flippables of their own.
In fact, news on that front has been pretty quiet over the past few years. That doesn’t mean that Apple has given up on the idea entirely, although several reports over the years suggested some Apple executives saw the concept as a passing fad.
Still, some analysts were sure Apple was on the cusp of releasing its first foldable iPhone after it began testing foldable displays in late 2020. Many trumpeted 2021 as the year of the folding iPhone, and veteran Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple would sell 20 million foldables by 2023.
All those reports seem quaint in retrospect, and after reading Apple’s plans so badly, it’s probably not surprising that many analysts got pretty quiet.
However, the rumor mill heated up again earlier this year when The Information’s Wayne Ma reported that Apple was prototyping two “clamshell” iPhone models. The two were said to be in the very early stages of development, which meant it wasn’t even clear we’d see them materialize at all, much less anytime soon. After all the years of misfires, it seemed too early to get our hopes up yet again.
However, Ma has returned with more information to suggest that the early prototypes are not moving forward into a project with an actual codename: V68.
This has also been corroborated in a separate report from DigiTimes, which claims that “sources close to Apple indicate that the company has been conducting R&D on a top-down folding smartphone” that began earlier this year. Writing for DigiTimes, Daniel Chiang and Jack Wu predict that the folding smartphone will launch by 2026. However, this seems to be an educated guess based on “Apple’s typical two-year development cycle for new products” rather than any solid information.
To use Samsung’s nomenclature for comparison, the proposed V68 iPhone appears to be more of an “iPhone Flip” than an “iPhone Fold.” That is to say that it will feature a clamshell design where it folds along a horizontal crease, and DigiTimes’ sources say that it will be similar in dimensions to existing iPhone models when unfolded, although the authors don’t specify whether that would be the size of a 6.1-inch iPhone 15 or the rumored 6.9-inch iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Chiang and Wu add that Apple may have already signed a contract with Samsung Display to supply the panels for the new foldable iPhone. A fall 2020 report suggested Apple had ordered a “large number” of foldable displays for testing, but not much else was heard after that. Insiders believe Apple is struggling to produce a creaseless foldable. That’s a feat none of its Android rivals have managed to achieve — last year’s OnePlus Open came close, but Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 aren’t there yet. So, producing a folding iPhone without a perfectly smooth display would be a huge feather in Apple’s cap to set its design apart.
This is also something the design-obsessed company is likely unwilling to compromise on. It’s unclear if it’s cracked the creaseless design yet, but if it’s still working on it, there’s a possibility that the “iPhone Flip” may never see the light of day if it can’t work out those details.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
