iPhone foldable: Did Samsung "prepare the market" for Apple?
Next year will see the first iPhone with a folding display. However, observers see little new in this. Nevertheless, it could catch on in the market.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 from Samsung: a role model for Apple?
(Image: Samsung)
How exciting and innovative will Apple's first iPhone foldable be? In a report, the financial news agency Bloomberg has now classified the possible hardware details that the device, which is expected in fall 2026, will feature. The old Apple assumption that the company is not the first to market with its products, but ultimately delivers the best product in a category, still applies. With the foldable iPhone, however, there is a risk that it will "not be the innovative breakthrough we are used to", according to the report.
Built close to Samsung?
The reason: Apple is very late to the market this time. Competitor Samsung started selling foldables seven years ago and has been steadily improving them. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 from this year has now become even thinner and lighter. Apple's most important innovation in the first iPhone foldable is said to be a wrinkle-free display when unfolded. The company wants to achieve this using special metal plates. However, there is already talk that Samsung could also adopt this approach next year. Observers also estimate that the first foldable Apple smartphone will not be the thinnest device on the market.
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Bloomberg also writes that Samsung has prepared the market for Apple. "Samsung has already done a lot of the heavy lifting." With the iPhone foldable, it is also not expected that the manufacturer is planning a "radically new interface" or "transformative hardware". Instead, the iPhone foldable will have "a similar design to the Galaxy Z Fold", "with many of the same core components". In fact, the flexible OLED display, for example, is said to come from Samsung's screen subsidiary Samsung Display.
The demand at Apple is real
However, Apple could still conquer an important niche with the first iPhone foldable: the reason: foldables as such are not yet a mass market. This is partly due to the price (Apple is reportedly planning to charge 2,000 euros or more), but also because not every smartphone buyer appreciates the form factor. However, there is a large group of iPhone fans at Apple who are keen to try something new. "This pent-up demand is real, and Apple knows it," writes Bloomberg.
Apple is also planning to address at least some of the technology's major shortcomings. These include the aforementioned "wrinkle-free" design as well as a significantly improved (and more durable) folding mechanism. There are also software functions that are specially adapted for the platform: Preparations already appear to be underway. Finally, an iPhone foldable could also score points in China, where the devices are already a relatively popular high-end category – with models that have not yet officially landed in the West.
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