Foldable iPhone Production Stalls Amid Hinge Issues

[C7 POWER]

Last chance to cancel the iPhone Crease... If it was ever to ship. We have't seen any confirmation that it is coming. Not in leaked parts or leaked final technical details. I have hope that it will never happen.

There have been leaks for over a year of all you just mentioned, and why do you hope it never comes out? Make that make some sort of sense? If you do not want one, thats a easy solution. Do not buy it. Why would you hope no one else can have options? I suppose your one of the close minded idiots who feels anything that does not obey your thought process has no right to happen? Got it.

 

[Johnstrass2]

It’s very unlikely IMO, because that would either mean that you could simultaneously run the iOS version of the same app on the outer screen, the two versions (iPadOS and iOS) being separate instances with separate data and separate state and separate notifications; or else that you can’t also run the iOS version on the outer screen. Both would be an unacceptable user experience to Apple.

good answer. I believe you. So I'll keep upgrading my iPad Minis....

 

[Johnstrass2]

This is a massive misunderstanding of how iPhone and iPad apps work.
There really is no mystery, if you shrink a window of an iPad app small enough within iPadOS 26, it reverts to the layout that would be used on the iPhone.
and even within that, applications being designed for different screen layouts is something Apple has been pushing for for years at this point.
There is no separate iPhone and iPad application, it would just be told to “run in iPhone mode” when it’s closed and “run in tablet mode” when it’s opened.
We have basically seen a variant of this already, anyone remember when the iPhone 6+ first launched and apps could have iPad like side bars when in landscape?

So maybe my software (EMA by modernizing medicine) just choses not to make phone version available on the App Store..

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

So maybe my software (EMA by modernizing medicine) just choses not to make phone version available on the App Store..

Yes, you can choose to not make a Phone version available on the AppStore.
Just like developers can choose not to make an iPad app available for the Mac, even though the Mac can run iPad apps no problem.

 

[schuhlelewis]

The screen doesn't have to be foldable. There should be 2 independent screens that perfectly fit together, with no gap, after a fold.

I've seen this in objects 20+ years ago. It wasn't a screen, but some hardware like maybe a ruler that folded. 2 separate components that after a fold are apart by about 2mm, then click together. They are pulled back apart, then folded. If I can remember what objects these were, and can post pictures, I will.

Why can't a technique like this be used?

The first time a spec of dust gets on the edge of either screen you’d have a gap.

 

[dawindmg08]

If there's one thing a foldable phone has to get right it's this.

Why was this not a day 1 problem instead of day 100 problem? Was everything else going just great in the lab while the whole hinge team was on sabbatical?

 

[Jumpthesnark]

This just smells fake or false to me. Maybe it's Apple seeding false rumors to find a leaker in their midst, maybe it's just bad info. It sounds like this is too late in the production process to discover this now, as others have mentioned.

That said, if it is true, then good. Good on Apple for pausing and taking a breath to make sure they get a product right. Every eye in the tech world will be on this still-rumored and not announced phone if it is released, and you just know that if hinges start to fail or creases are bad, then that will be the only thing the YT tech influencer class (and the people in the forums who repost and parrot them) talk about for weeks.

If this rumored phone is released, Apple knows they need to get it right so if this story is legit, then a delay is better than a flop.

 

[Candlelight]

Meh, if it breaks I get two smaller phones.

 

[MNGR]

I mean it's great that they're working on getting it right, but I thought we solved hinge issues by now. Foldables are a fairly established market by now, right? I mean, Apple of all companies should have mitigated this before it happened.

You can fold, right. But can you make it invisible??

 

[dannys1]

Here's a solution to this engineering problem.

Don't bother.

 

[dannys1]

The screen doesn't have to be foldable. There should be 2 independent screens that perfectly fit together, with no gap, after a fold.

I've seen this in objects 20+ years ago. It wasn't a screen, but some hardware like maybe a ruler that folded. 2 separate components that after a fold are apart by about 2mm, then click together. They are pulled back apart, then folded. If I can remember what objects these were, and can post pictures, I will.

Why can't a technique like this be used?

I don't know if you've noticed but there's no such thing as a screen with zero bezels.

 

[Earwolf]

 

[BGrifter]

I’m starting to wonder if the cost to make a device like this to Apple quality levels might be higher than is viable as a sellable product.

 

[Contact_Feanor]

The screen doesn't have to be foldable. There should be 2 independent screens that perfectly fit together, with no gap, after a fold.

I've seen this in objects 20+ years ago. It wasn't a screen, but some hardware like maybe a ruler that folded. 2 separate components that after a fold are apart by about 2mm, then click together. They are pulled back apart, then folded. If I can remember what objects these were, and can post pictures, I will.

Why can't a technique like this be used?

I loved the idea of the surface duo:

 

[Contact_Feanor]

It’s very unlikely IMO, because that would either mean that you could simultaneously run the iOS version of the same app on the outer screen, the two versions (iPadOS and iOS) being separate instances with separate data and separate state and separate notifications; or else that you can’t also run the iOS version on the outer screen. Both would be an unacceptable user experience to Apple.

Why do they have to be separate instances? You're unlikely to use the outer and inner screen at the same time, and apps like iMessage or photos etc seem like perfectly capable of having an iOS and iPadOS app that just shares the same underlying database?

 

[Contact_Feanor]

Foldable phones exist for about a quarter of a century now. Foldable electronics since the early 80s if not earlier. I had/have foldable electronics from the early 80s which still work.
Why do they have hinges problems of all things, in 2026?

As for foldable phones with foldable screens, I still say that thing is stupid.

isn't any MacBook a foldable electronics?

 

[indychris]

Too late to the party. The good hinges designs have already been patented!

Somewhere out there is a company they can buy. Why think different when you can just spend different?

 

[klasma]

Why do they have to be separate instances? You're unlikely to use the outer and inner screen at the same time, and apps like iMessage or photos etc seem like perfectly capable of having an iOS and iPadOS app that just shares the same underlying database?

The apps would have to rewritten to take that into account. An iOS app and its sibling iPadOS app don't expect to be running on the same device with the same data. (When running on different devices, they use iCloud or other services to sync their local state at certain points, but they each have their own separate local state.) The iPadOS app would have to be able to restore its state from the saved state of the iOS version, and vice versa. In the general case, these are really like two distinct apps. You can't expect them to turn into each other just because the user unfolded or folded the phone. They also have to be separate instances because iOS and iPadOS do not provide identical APIs. The runtime environment under iOS and iPadOS behaves differently. While you can run an iOS-only app under iPadOS, that app thinks that it's runing under iOS (being iOS-only, there's nothing else that it would be capable of running under). An app instance is either iOS or iPadOS, it can't be both.

 

[frownface]

we've seen this before, even if it has stalled; they'll announce it in september like they usually would but say shipping *later, (christmas, new years, easter, 🤷‍♂️ )

 

[Johns12]

Here's a solution to this engineering problem.

Don't bother.

Sure, don't bother going to the moon or Mars. Don't bother trying to make batteries more efficient. Don't bother working on building homes with 3d printers. Don't bother making the phones we have faster while still controlling heat. We shouldn't bother doing any new tech. Got it.

 

[JohnC1959]

So the fate of the phone hinges on a hinge

 

[lockhartt]

Pricing is rumored to sit at around $2,000.

For a phone, that’s I number I’d need to sit down for too.

 

[Virinprew]

So much trouble just to have a bigger screen in your pocket. How about… enjoying a physical life instead? You have infinite screen… infinite resolution… all the dynamic range human eyes can handle… sound from every angle, continuously with no recharging.

 

[gigaguy]

Ultra is good for Apple PR I guess. But I don't need a bigger screen to increase my time on a phone. My iPhone Air ($600 used) is the opposite for me; it's simpler feature set and amazing minimal design are refreshing; it's easy to hold and use but not be as tied to. I do think it helped create the Ultra; but to me, Less is more. Not a popular idea I know. It's interesting how many early Air naysayers on youtube are coming back to it.
But Apple has trained buyers to want ever more; including $2000+ iPhones.

 

[OGdrknight]

Hinge-gate = do not buy