Apple Inc. has spent years watching Samsung, Google, and Huawei iterate on foldable smartphones while it sat on the sidelines. Now, as the company prepares to finally enter the foldable market, the timeline is already slipping — and the stakes couldn’t be higher for a device category that still hasn’t proven it can go mainstream.
The foldable iPhone, widely expected to launch alongside the iPhone 17 lineup in September, may not actually go on sale until December 2025, according to a report from CNET, citing supply chain intelligence from Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC). That’s a meaningful delay for a product Apple has reportedly been developing for years, and it raises questions about whether the company’s perfectionist tendencies are clashing with the realities of manufacturing a device unlike anything it has shipped before.
Ross Young, CEO of DSCC and one of the most reliable display industry analysts, told CNET that foldable iPhone display panel shipments aren’t expected to begin until the third quarter of 2025. That cadence would make a September retail launch extremely tight — if not impossible. A more realistic window, Young suggested, is October to December.
Apple hasn’t confirmed any of this. The company doesn’t comment on unreleased products, and no official announcement has been made. But the volume of leaks, supply chain reports, and analyst commentary has reached a density that makes the device’s existence essentially an open secret.
A Book-Style Fold With an Eye-Watering Price
What’s taking shape, based on months of reporting, is a device that opens like a book — similar in concept to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series rather than the clamshell-style Galaxy Z Flip. The internal display is expected to measure approximately 7.9 inches when unfolded, with a cover screen around 5.5 inches. That would make it competitive with, or slightly larger than, Samsung’s current flagship foldable.
But here’s where it gets interesting — and potentially problematic. Multiple reports suggest Apple is targeting an extraordinarily thin profile. When closed, the device could measure as little as 6.6 millimeters on each half, according to details shared by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and corroborated by several supply chain analysts. That’s thinner than the current iPhone 16 Pro, which sits at 8.25mm. Achieving that kind of thinness in a foldable form factor, with all the mechanical complexity of a hinge, represents a serious engineering challenge.
Apple reportedly considered both book-style and clamshell designs before settling on the larger format. The decision signals confidence that consumers will pay a premium for what is essentially a pocket-sized tablet. And premium is the operative word. Pricing estimates have ranged widely, but most credible analysts are clustering around $1,800 to $2,000 or more. Some reports have suggested it could exceed $2,500.
For context, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 starts at $1,899. The foldable market has, so far, been a niche within a niche — expensive devices bought by enthusiasts and early adopters, not the mass market. Apple entering at a similar or higher price point would do little to change that dynamic, at least initially.
The display technology itself is expected to come from Samsung Display, Apple’s longtime OLED supplier. Young’s DSCC has tracked the panel orders, and the specifications point to an ultra-thin glass cover with advanced crease-reduction technology. The crease — that visible fold line running down the center of every foldable phone — has been one of the category’s most persistent consumer complaints. Apple is reportedly obsessed with minimizing it, which may partly explain the extended development timeline.
There’s also the matter of the hinge. Apple has filed numerous patents related to foldable device hinges over the past several years, many describing mechanisms designed to reduce stress on the display while maintaining structural rigidity. The company’s industrial design team, now led by Richard Howarth following Jony Ive’s departure, has a well-documented fixation on material quality and mechanical precision. A hinge that feels cheap or develops looseness over time would be antithetical to Apple’s brand.
Why December Matters More Than You Think
A December launch might sound like a minor scheduling detail. It’s not.
Apple’s iPhone launches are meticulously choreographed commercial events. The September window isn’t arbitrary — it’s timed to capture the holiday buying season with maximum momentum, giving carriers and retailers weeks to build promotional campaigns. A December release compresses that window dramatically. It also means the foldable iPhone would arrive after Black Friday, missing one of the year’s biggest retail moments.
There are precedents for staggered launches within the iPhone lineup. The iPhone X shipped in November 2017, weeks after the iPhone 8. The iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max arrived in November 2020, a month after the other two models. In each case, the delayed models faced constrained supply and shorter initial sales windows. Analysts had to adjust their quarterly estimates accordingly.
If the foldable iPhone lands in December, Wall Street will need to recalibrate expectations for Apple’s fiscal first quarter (which ends in late December) and shift meaningful revenue contribution into the March quarter. For a device that could carry an average selling price north of $2,000, even modest unit volumes would move the needle on revenue-per-device metrics.
Ming-Chi Kuo, the influential Apple supply chain analyst at TF International Securities, has previously estimated initial production volumes for the foldable iPhone at 15 to 20 million units in its first full year. That’s a fraction of total iPhone shipments — Apple sold roughly 235 million iPhones in 2024 — but at the expected price point, it would represent a disproportionate share of iPhone revenue growth.
And then there’s the competitive angle. Samsung is expected to unveil its next-generation foldables in the summer of 2025. Google’s Pixel Fold successor is also anticipated. If Apple’s foldable doesn’t arrive until December, it will enter a market where its direct competitors have had months to set the narrative, capture reviews, and lock in early adopters. Apple has overcome late arrivals before — it wasn’t first to market with smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, or wireless earbuds — but the foldable category is different. Consumer skepticism is higher. The value proposition is less obvious. And the price premium demands justification that “it’s Apple” alone may not provide.
Recent reporting from Bloomberg has indicated that Apple’s internal testing of foldable prototypes has been extensive, with multiple rounds of drop testing and hinge durability assessments exceeding what the company typically conducts for standard iPhone models. Durability concerns have dogged the foldable category since Samsung’s disastrous Galaxy Fold launch in 2019, when review units broke within days. Apple clearly wants to avoid a similar embarrassment.
So what features will differentiate Apple’s entry? Details remain sparse, but expectations include tight integration with iPadOS-style multitasking when the device is unfolded, Apple Pencil support (a first for iPhone), and camera specifications on par with the iPhone 17 Pro rather than the base model. The device is expected to run on Apple’s A19 Pro chip, the same silicon destined for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
Software could be the real differentiator. Apple’s control over both hardware and iOS gives it an advantage that Android foldable makers have struggled to replicate. App optimization for foldable displays on Android remains inconsistent — many apps simply stretch or letterbox when a device is unfolded, creating an experience that feels unfinished. Apple could mandate developer support for the new form factor through App Store requirements, ensuring a more polished software experience from day one. Whether developers will embrace that mandate enthusiastically or resentfully is another question.
The Bigger Bet Behind the Fold
Strip away the hinge mechanics and display specifications, and the foldable iPhone represents something more fundamental for Apple: a test of whether the company can still create desire for an entirely new product category within its most important franchise.
iPhone growth has been slowing. Not declining — slowing. Upgrade cycles have lengthened. Carriers have pulled back on aggressive subsidies. The smartphone market in developed economies is saturated. Apple has responded by pushing into services, by raising average selling prices through the Pro and Pro Max tiers, and by expanding in emerging markets. A foldable iPhone is another lever. Perhaps the most ambitious one.
But it’s a lever that comes with risk. If the device launches at $2,000 and sells modestly, it validates the skeptics who’ve argued foldables are a solution in search of a problem. If it launches and has quality issues — screen failures, hinge problems, crease complaints — it damages the iPhone brand in ways that a niche Android foldable never could. Apple’s reputation for hardware reliability is one of its most valuable assets. A foldable puts that reputation on the line in ways a standard slab phone never does.
The December timeline, if accurate, suggests Apple isn’t rushing. That’s consistent with the company’s historical approach: arrive late, but arrive polished. Whether the market will wait — and whether $2,000 is a price consumers will pay for polish — remains the central question heading into the second half of 2025.
For now, the foldable iPhone exists in a liminal space between certainty and speculation. The supply chain says it’s real. The analysts say it’s coming. Apple says nothing. December will tell us the rest.
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