I still haven’t figured out why people want a folding phone. It may be half as big in two dimensions, but it’s twice or more as big in the third. And the screen will ALWAYS have a defect / bump / ripple at the fold which will only get worse from day one. I’m not saying they shouldn’t exist. If people do want them, cool. But why??? Note: this is referencing a phone of the type pictured. A phone that folds out into a tablet is a different thing.
The foldable smartphone market has stalled with customer interest in foldables waning, but that could change when Apple debuts a foldable iPhone, according to display analyst Ross Young.
In a report on the current foldable smartphone market, Young says that Apple is expected to "enter the foldable market" in the second half of 2026. Apple's "dominant position in flagship smartphones" could potentially lead to significant growth for the foldable market in 2026, ultimately leading to a record year for foldables.
Young expects more than 30 percent growth in the foldable market in 2026, followed by continued 20 percent growth in 2027 and 2028.
There have long been rumors suggesting that Apple is developing a foldable iPhone, and some analysts believe that Apple will finally debut a foldable iPhone around September of 2026.
The first foldable iPhone could be between 7.9 and 8.3 inches in size, and it may have a "clamshell" design like Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip. A clamshell iPhone would fold in half vertically rather than horizontally, allowing for a full-size iPhone when unfolded, and a smaller, pocketable device when folded.
Article Link: Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Could Reinvigorate Stalling Market
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Could Reinvigorate Stalling Market
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Planes don't come in one shape, they come in quite a few radically different designs. There has been 3 wheel cars, but they were short-lived and not great.
Current slab designs are limited in how big they can get, the best thing about a folding phone is that eventually you could have something as thin as a current 16 PM or if the tech allows it one day even thinner, but unfolds once or more into something close in size to an 12.9 iPad Pro or one day even bigger. It's not just a novelty, if it's done properly and done extremely well with little to no comprises one day, it could start eating into the iPad sales. Apple has no problems sacrificing products lines, the iPhone killed the iPod so who to say a folding iPhone wouldn't do the same to the iPad.
I, for one, would ditch my iPad immediately if I could unfold my iPhone into an iPad size because then I always have a large iPad with me in my pocket if I needed something that large.
Starting from eng. Reading article I got idea that iPhone Air is in fact base for future fold. Apple can not fold current iPhone. It would be small brick.
It can be one of two or more reason Air is on its way. One is for sure differentiate and ne cool, not monotone and boring.
If there is at least a bit of true on my vision, that is why it wont be 2025. In 2026 we may see iPhone Air Max(Fold) or Pro/Ultra....
If people on this forum designed the iPhone, it would be five inches thick, have an ADB port, and would be shaped like a triangle to avoid looking like every other phone on the market.
I just had my hands on a modern flip phone the other day - the Samsung Flip6. I was really interested to see how well it flipped open compared to an older flip phone. You can not open it with the same thumb of the hand you're holding it with. I'm sure there's technical reasons for it being so stiff but I'm not a fan of needing two hands to initially interact with something designed to be used with one hand. I'd put money on Apple perfecting this experience though.
I just bought an iPhone 16 and my only complaints are that (1) the camera bump is gigantic, (2) it's top heavy, and (3) the back is too slippery. All these issues make the phone impossible to use with one hand or to use laying on a flat surface. If fixes for these issues are somehow found in an Apple Flip phone, I would be first in line. However, physics seem to suggest these issues would only be exaggerated.
Does anyone at all make a phone that's ergonomic and pleasing to hold?
I just bought an iPhone 16 and my only complaints are that (1) the camera bump is gigantic, (2) it's top heavy, and (3) the back is too slippery. All these issues make the phone impossible to use with one hand or to use laying on a flat surface. If fixes for these issues are somehow found in an Apple Flip phone, I would be first in line. However, physics seem to suggest these issues would only be exaggerated.
Does anyone at all make a phone that's ergonomic and pleasing to hold?
You fail to understand. There is no 'foldable' market—there's a smartphone market. And it has saturated. Yes, if they start making foldable iphones, it will capture the market...of the people who would have just gotten a smartphone before, but now are getting a foldable smartphone. It won't make the market any larger.
It's a real challenge for Apple, because they already dominate. But this isn't a growth move—it's a maintenance move, done in case foldables are the future, so they don't get caught out. But it doesn't change who gets smartphones, which is practically everyone.
That’s why I said IF.Haha, you're joking right? Foldable sales have increased year over year since their inception.
One brand is selling 455% more foldables this year, and it isn't Samsung
A 48% YoY increase in global foldables smartphone shipments is largely being driven by Chinese smartphone brands.www.androidauthority.com
I could add more links, but you can Google it just as easily as I can.
I solidly dislike the whole folding phone thing. I hated flip phones back in the day when I had that Motorola that everyone loved. That said, I hope all the iPhone users hanging out desperately for a bendy iPhone can get something that makes them happy, just don’t expect me to get one.
And yes, my disliking folding phones comes from trying them. Given how bad they felt to use, I’m not sure I’d use one over my iPhone 14 if I were given one!
The bendy phone market is a niche. How big is that niche really? We’ll argue that for ages, but no one knows. Is it big enough for Apple to bother? That’s for them to decide.
Last edited:
Not for me. Been there done that. I don’t need to repeat. BUT
If this folding phone is like a flip phone
And each side is as thin as the new rumored iPhone 17 “Air”
And when closed this device has a usable phone screen on the outside
So would, all the people here who have been clamoring for a return of a “mini” iPhone, at any cost, be satisfied with this “flip” phone (And just keep it closed all the time)?
If this folding phone is like a flip phone
And each side is as thin as the new rumored iPhone 17 “Air”
And when closed this device has a usable phone screen on the outside
So would, all the people here who have been clamoring for a return of a “mini” iPhone, at any cost, be satisfied with this “flip” phone (And just keep it closed all the time)?
The market has stalled at around 22 million devices a year. New sales is expected to fall by 4% in 2025.
Samsung, being the leader in this market, will sell around 10 million devices this year, a pretty niche market.
I had Samsung Flip thingie. It's kinda nice, pocketable, with a big screen, very nice to fidget with.
Display started forming bubbles on the crease after 3 months of daily use.
All for the price of a recent iPhone basically.
Unless someone invents new magic material for displays, it's a novelty form-factor.
P.S. That's coming from someone who recently bought AVP, which is apparently dying/cancelled/flopped/failed/etc.
Display started forming bubbles on the crease after 3 months of daily use.
All for the price of a recent iPhone basically.
Unless someone invents new magic material for displays, it's a novelty form-factor.
P.S. That's coming from someone who recently bought AVP, which is apparently dying/cancelled/flopped/failed/etc.
Last edited:
Useful information so thanks for posting. Still searching Google and ChatCPT to figure out what AVP means. 🤷♂️I had Samsung Flip thingie. It's kinda nice, pocketable, with a big screen, very nice to fidget with.
Display started forming bubbles on the crease after 3 months of daily use.
All for the price of a recent iPhone basically.
Unless someone invents new magic material for displays, it's a novelty form-factor.
P.S. That's coming from someone who recently bought AVP, which is apparently dying/cancelled/flopped/failed/etc.
While I don’t really think the iPhone (17) Air is going to be a foldable device, I think you may be onto something there… what if the Air is the way for Apple to test a thinner form factor, a challenge they need to face if they want to create a foldable device that’s not humongously thick?
Again, no it's not, as evidenced by the market numbers and negative recent growth. Yes there are a relatively small number of people who are buying the foldable Android devices, but it's proven to be a non-appealing market given current and near term technology. Thats got nothing to do with Apple or its fans. Again, an Apple device would have the exact same problems unless Apple has made some miraculous breakthrough in technology.
40 million is a drop in the bucket and for the cost to produce and source them a not very profitable one either. Apple stopped selling the mini form factor after the iPhone 12/13 minis achieved only 5% market share, you think they are going to go for a device with less than half that much of a market?
As for techies, yeah, some do love them, and thats great for them, but it means nothing to Apple. They don't aim for the techie market just like they don't aim for the low end market. Especially not with established brands like iPhone.
Personal use is irrelevant when we are talking about the market. If you want to set up a straw man, go ahead, you won an argument no one but you was having. If you want to argue about that go find someone else, because I could not care less about your personal experience with foldables.
Meanwhile if you want to join the discussion this post is about and the rest of us are having, then thats about the market for foldable, and your personal experience is basically irrelevant for that. The data shows the foldables market is small and shrinking. Case lost. Case closed.
Last edited:
You can keep posting this same link and it will keep being meaningless.
Foldable Phone Market Size, Demand & Growth Outlook 2025 to 2035
Learn how foldable phone technology is revolutionizing the mobile industry.www.futuremarketinsights.com
1. It's a projection based on who knows what data (I'm certainly not paying to buy their full "report"). It is, at BEST, an educated guess, at worst just made up. It doesn't prove anything about what's currently happening. Show us the data, show us the explosive year over year growth. You can't because the actual data doesn't show that. It showed the already small market slowed significantly from 2023 to 2024 (15.9 million worldwide to 17.8 million worldwide YoY) and with 2024 panel shipments declining its actually shrinking going forward. That 17.8 million shipped foldables in 2024 is out of 1.23 BILLION smartphones overall. It's less than 1.5%. Its the definition of niche market.
2. Why should anyone trust this link's source? What is their history? How accurate are their prior projections? Anyone can "project" what will happen. Anyone can put out a report. There are countless market analysis companies and you can find numerous projections if you search hard enough. Why is THIS report different? And why should we believe its guesses about the future rather than the actual data in front of our eyes?
If you can't answer those questions, then posting the same link over and over again is just spam.
People seem to be trying way too hard to conflate “I want Apple to release a folding phone” with “Apple is doomed if they don’t release one”. Just look at the iPhone mini. You wanting Apple to do something doesn’t mean it’s good business sense for them to do so.
And all those radically different designs are niche designs that serve very limited purposes at best or novelties at worst. Same with 3 wheel cars, which you admit were short lived and not great (turns out they are much more unstable of one thing). I never said these things don't exist, I said there is one design that is basically the defecto style and dominates the market.
Sure, if someday someone solves the incredibly difficult material science problems that exist which make current foldable fragile and expensive they might be great. But they aren't now anywhere near that. Unless Apple has made some miraculous breakthrough they will face those exact same physical limitations and compromises. You can't simply hand wave away the laws of physics or argue there is a market for these devices NOW based on some future that is who knows how far away (if it ever comes). The reality of now is that foldables are a niche market that is stalled and probably shrinking because the devices are seriously compromised compared to mainline smartphones and over little to no advantages.
Also, if your future foldable phone can be as thin as a current phone, that means that future non-foldable will be even thinner.
Sure, and if I won the PowerBall and became a multi-millionaire I'd ditch my job and stop flying coach. But (sadly for me) thats not the current reality, just like your hypothetical future unfordable tablet isn't the current reality. There is nothing wrong about dreaming about future teach and imagining what you might be able to do someday, we all enjoy that. But it doesn't have any application to what is happening in the market now or in the near future based on all available evidence.
But hey, if somehow Apple DOES manage to make that much of a breakthrough and is able to offer a foldable with little to no compromise, then I might give it a shot. Personally I can't think of many situations where I've wanted to use a device like that, but it's possible. But until they (or someone else) does, its just as much reality as my lottery dreams, except for those at least I buy tickets once or twice a year so there is SOME chance of it happening soon.
All these people arguing about foldables 'market share' keep forgetting it is not a new category—it's a kind of smartphone. And no one expects people to buy both a 'foldable' and a traditional smartphone.
So the market for this is the same size as the currently saturated smartphone market. It's not a growth market for Apple.
Now, could they disrupt things and get a lot more android people? Probably not, but anything could happen. What's more likely is that they research it because what if everyone goes for foldables, and they fall behind? That forces them to do this...but it's to preserve what they have, not actually grow.
The fact that there are hundreds of posts here but very few people grasping this is...not great. Think it through.
So the market for this is the same size as the currently saturated smartphone market. It's not a growth market for Apple.
Now, could they disrupt things and get a lot more android people? Probably not, but anything could happen. What's more likely is that they research it because what if everyone goes for foldables, and they fall behind? That forces them to do this...but it's to preserve what they have, not actually grow.
The fact that there are hundreds of posts here but very few people grasping this is...not great. Think it through.
I'm not obese with foldable phones. Foldable quesadilla maybe, but not phones.
Thank you for posting that. Well said, and I agree.
Just a slight semantic note, I do think a person can be flippant without being rude. Flippant in the sense of being not serious, or in the sense of being frivolous. I do enjoy when someone comes up with something funny, which is often a little snarky, but not a lot! The main thing is to avoid insulting people, and it's not hard at all to avoid that.