So This Is Apple's $2,000 Foldable iPhone
Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone is coming. Here’s what we know about the iPhone Fold’s design, display, features, price, cameras, and more.
After years of rumors, Apple’s first foldable iPhone is finally starting to come into focus.
And this is shaping up to be a very different kind of iPhone.
Apple is expected to introduce its first foldable model alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, potentially under the iPhone Fold or iPhone Ultra name.
But the name may end up being one of the least interesting things about it.
When you put everything we currently know together, Apple appears to be preparing an iPhone that changes its size, shape, hardware, and even its interface depending on how you use it.
It could also cost somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500.
So what exactly are you getting for that kind of money?
Apple’s Foldable iPhone Is Finally Taking Shape
The first thing most people will probably notice is the shape.
When closed, the outside display is expected to measure somewhere around 5.4 to 5.5 inches.
That is actually pretty small by modern iPhone standards.
Open the device, though, and the screen could expand to roughly 7.8 inches with an almost 4:3 aspect ratio.
The result should be shorter and wider than many of the foldables we have gotten used to seeing from companies like Samsung.
Think of it almost like a digital passport.
Closed, it could feel like a compact iPhone. Open it up and you suddenly have something much closer to a small tablet.
That may ultimately be one of the biggest reasons this form factor makes sense.
You could have a smaller device when you just want to check a message or pull something out of your pocket quickly, then unfold it when you want considerably more screen space.
Apple Is Trying to Make It Ridiculously Thin
The size of the screen is only part of the story.
Apple is also reportedly pushing extremely hard on thickness.
The number that continues to appear in reports is somewhere around 4.5 millimeters when the Fold is open.
For perspective, the iPhone Air is around 5.6 millimeters thick.
That would mean each half of Apple’s folding iPhone could actually be thinner than the iPhone Air.
Obviously, folding the device closed doubles much of that thickness.
But Apple may still end up with a folding phone under roughly a centimeter thick when closed.
Apple is reportedly using a combination of materials including titanium and aluminum to keep the device strong without turning it into a brick.
And on a phone that could cost more than $2,000, durability is going to matter a lot.
Nobody wants an incredibly thin $2,000 phone that bends, breaks, or becomes difficult to protect.
But nobody wants a $2,000 brick in their pocket either.
The Crease Is Still One of the Biggest Questions
If you have ever used a foldable phone, you probably know exactly what the crease is.
It is the visible line or indentation running through the middle of the flexible display where the device folds.
Some people stop noticing it after a while.
Other people never really get used to it.
Apple appears to be putting a huge amount of effort into making that crease considerably less noticeable.
The folding OLED panel is expected to come from Samsung, but reports have pointed toward Apple using a thinner display stack and a redesigned hinge system.
I would not expect magic — the screen still has to physically fold — but Apple may be able to make the crease much harder to see when you are looking directly at the display.
The hinge could be a major part of that.
Apple has reportedly experimented with unusual materials including liquid metal, which is especially good at resisting deformation.
The company has also reportedly put the hinge through extensive durability testing.
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Touch ID Could Be Coming Back
One of the strangest changes may have nothing to do with folding the phone.
Touch ID is expected to return.
Instead of Face ID, Apple is reportedly planning to put Touch ID into the side button, similar to what it has done on certain iPads.
And honestly, that is kind of funny.
You could have a completely new folding OLED display, a complicated new hinge, two screens, and a phone that costs more than some MacBooks...
...while Apple brings back an authentication system that many people associate with older iPhones.
The reason appears to come down to space.
Face ID requires a collection of TrueDepth components, and Apple is trying to make each half of this phone incredibly thin.
Moving Touch ID into the side button gives Apple more room to work with inside the device.
The Camera System Has Some Surprising Trade-Offs
The iPhone Fold is expected to have four cameras in total.
Two would be selfie cameras — one associated with each display — while the rear camera system is expected to use two 48-megapixel sensors.
Those rear cameras are expected to cover the main and ultrawide focal lengths.
And yep, that probably means no dedicated telephoto camera.
That would be a pretty surprising compromise on what could become the most expensive iPhone Apple has ever sold.
There has also been a lot of conflicting information about how Apple will handle the front-facing cameras.
At one point, rumors pointed toward an under-display camera.
More recent leaks have suggested some unusual camera placement, potentially including a camera positioned closer to the corner of the display.
That is still one of the areas where the final design remains unclear.
Performance Should Not Be the Problem
Whatever compromises Apple makes elsewhere, performance is not expected to be one of them.
The Fold is expected to use an A20-series chip, around 12GB of RAM, and Apple’s newer C2 cellular modem.
That should give Apple plenty of performance for a device that may need to run much more complex layouts than a normal iPhone.
Battery life may be a more interesting question.
There have been several capacity numbers floating around, so it is probably too early to get attached to one specific figure.
But there are signs Apple may be trying to fit a substantial amount of battery into the Fold.
Clues inside Apple software have also pointed toward something particularly interesting:
Multiple batteries.
That makes sense when you think about the design.
The Fold has two physical halves, which means Apple can place battery cells on both sides and have them work together as one system.
It is one of those details that makes you realize how different the inside of this phone may be from a normal iPhone.
The Biggest Change May Actually Be the Software
Hardware is only half of the problem Apple has to solve.
Think about what happens when you are using the Fold while it is closed.
You open Safari and everything looks like a normal iPhone.
Then you unfold the device and suddenly the screen grows from roughly 5.5 inches to almost 8 inches.
What happens to Safari?
Does everything just become enormous?
That is where Apple’s adaptive software could become extremely important.
Apple has been pushing developers toward interfaces capable of dynamically adjusting to different screen sizes and aspect ratios.
Code inside iOS has also reportedly included references to things such as fold state, hinge angle, multiple built-in displays, and multiple batteries.
An app could look like a normal iPhone app while the Fold is closed, then gain sidebars, additional information, or more iPad-like layouts the moment you open it.
That is a huge change for an operating system that has spent nearly two decades designed around one primary screen shape.
🍎 Quick Take
The most interesting thing about Apple’s Fold may not be the hinge itself. Apple is potentially building an iPhone that can change its physical size and then change its software interface to match.
There Are Still Some Big Questions
For as much as we appear to know about Apple’s foldable iPhone, there are still several unanswered questions.
MagSafe is one of the biggest.
Some reports suggest Apple could keep it.
Other dummy units and leaks have raised questions about whether Apple has enough internal space for traditional MagSafe hardware.
That would be a pretty disappointing omission on such an expensive iPhone, but it remains uncertain.
The Fold is also expected to be eSIM-only, which is not particularly surprising at this point.
Storage rumors have pointed toward 256GB at the low end with configurations potentially reaching 1TB.
Color options may also be limited.
White or silver has appeared repeatedly, while more recent leaks have pointed toward a very dark blue or indigo option.
Then There Is the $2,000 Question
This is probably going to be the most expensive iPhone Apple has ever sold.
Most current estimates put the starting price somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $2,500 in the United States.
That is a lot of money for any phone.
It becomes even more interesting when you consider some of the compromises Apple may be making.
You could potentially get fewer rear cameras than an iPhone Pro Max.
Touch ID instead of Face ID.
And there is still uncertainty surrounding features such as MagSafe.
There are MacBooks you can buy for considerably less money.
But you are also potentially getting something Apple has never sold before: an iPhone that can completely change its size, shape, and interface depending on what you are doing.
And that is where the Fold starts becoming much more interesting than a simple spec sheet.
This Could Be the Biggest iPhone Reinvention in Years
For almost two decades, the basic idea of an iPhone has stayed surprisingly consistent.
One screen.
One shape.
One interface designed around that shape.
Apple’s first foldable could change all three at once.
A smaller phone when it is closed.
A tablet-sized display when it is open.
Multiple batteries.
A completely new hinge.
Touch ID returning.
A different camera system.
And software capable of responding to the physical state of the device.
That is a pretty major reinvention of something Apple has spent almost 20 years refining.
Now Apple just has to officially show us the final product.
Would You Spend $2,000 on a Foldable iPhone?
That may ultimately be the biggest question.
Apple appears to be putting a huge amount of engineering into making its first folding iPhone feel different from the foldables we have already seen.
But $2,000 or more puts this device into an entirely different category from the normal iPhone.
Some people may see a compact phone that turns into a small tablet and immediately understand the appeal.
Others may look at the price and compromises and decide a normal iPhone still makes considerably more sense.
Would you actually buy Apple’s Foldable iPhone at $2,000?
Or is this one Apple product you would skip?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
More on Apple’s Foldable iPhone
This is actually the third part of a bigger story I have been exploring around Apple’s first folding iPhone.
We now have a pretty good idea of what Apple may be building.
But there are still two other important questions:
Why is Apple making a foldable iPhone in the first place?
And why would anyone actually want one?
If you want to go deeper into both sides of the story, watch the videos below.
Watch: Why Would Anyone Want a Foldable iPhone?
Watch: This Is Why Apple Is Making a Foldable iPhone
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