Foldable iPhone's Crease-Free Display Tech Spotted at CES 2026

[Kylo83]

This is why 7 fold releases was beta products, when its crease free that’s when foldables will be good

 

[Kylo83]

Still going to get the 18 pro max the issue with the fold there’s too many compromises like Camera, Face ID and also thermals

 

[SilmarilFinder]

I’m so excited for this foldable iPhone! Personally I have a lot of use cases, ie instead of carrying my iPad with me just for remote desktop I can finally carry a single device.

I hope it wont have some major limitations like iPhone Air, especially on camera side.

 

[Dr McKay]

This is why 7 fold releases was beta products, when its crease free that’s when foldables will be good

The crease you have to go out of your way to look/feel for. I liken it to the notch or dynamic island, I didn't notice them when using the device. Feels like calling every iphone from the iPhone X to whichever iPhone is the first to get an underscreen selfie camera "betas".

 

[The Game 161]

The last real hurdle now is to make the screen durable enough to withstand a fingernail

non issue now, only way it scratches is if you are trying hard to break it. no different to any other phone

 

[Jamie0003]

No crease is nice and all, but if the phone can still be peeled like an orange or scratched with your fingernail it’s a non starter lmao

 

[The Game 161]

No crease is nice and all, but if the phone can still be peeled like an orange or scratched with your fingernail it’s a non starter lmao

thats a bad myth about foldables. not been the case since like fold 1-3

you can scratch any normal phone if you are trying to do so

 

[WarmWinterHat]

thats a bad myth about foldables. not been the case since like fold 1-3

you can scratch any normal phone if you are trying to do so

That's why people use screen protectors. Do they work on foldables?

 

[goobot]

I’m so excited for this foldable iPhone! Personally I have a lot of use cases, ie instead of carrying my iPad with me just for remote desktop I can finally carry a single device.

I hope it wont have some major limitations like iPhone Air, especially on camera side.

I’m not a fan of all the rumors saying it will only have ultra wide and regular cameras. No one I know ever uses the ultra wide. Why in their most expensive phone wouldn’t they put the telephono is mind boggling to me.

non issue now, only way it scratches is if you are trying hard to break it. no different to any other phone

I just watched a video of the tri-fold and its screen got scratch by a finger nail

 

[The Game 161]

I’m not a fan of all the rumors saying it will only have ultra wide and regular cameras. No one I know ever uses the ultra wide. Why in their most expensive phone wouldn’t they put the telephono is mind boggling to me.

I just watched a video of the tri-fold and it’s screen got scratch by a finger nail

what video? did you see him scratch it with his finger?

i can do with that with my current iphone if i wanted to. not that i would. hell most who have screen protectors which is most people they scratch even easier

 

[Jamie0003]

This is why 7 fold releases was beta products, when its crease free that’s when foldables will be good

The crease is not the only problem with foldables, not by a long shot

 

[555gallardo]

For the life of me I will never understand the people that flood every single iPhone fold article to tell everyone how they hate it etc, or even claim that nobody else would want the fold because they don’t want it. They act like they’ll be forced to buy it or that Apple is going to kill the existing lineup.

Because it's their constitutional duty to buy that one particular product. If they won't, the People's Liberation Army will bring them over to China in pajamas so they'll be judged by some Taiwanese Supreme Court for treason.

Yeah, that's what people probably think.

 

[The Game 161]

I’m not a fan of all the rumors saying it will only have ultra wide and regular cameras. No one I know ever uses the ultra wide. Why in their most expensive phone wouldn’t they put the telephono is mind boggling to me.

because of space

it's going to be super thin and light and will have a big battery inside it. Until they start using silcon carbon batteries you won't have the space.

telephoto would be better i agree but people cope just fine with iphone 17 cameras. pro and pro max telephoto aren't very good so i wouldn't say i would miss the telephoto. Not when there are others out there who did telephoto lens far better.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

For the life of me I will never understand the people that flood every single iPhone fold article to tell everyone how they hate it etc, or even claim that nobody else would want the fold because they don’t want it. They act like they’ll be forced to buy it or that Apple is going to kill the existing lineup.

If it doesn’t appeal to you, fine, move on. Apple makes different products to suit different people’s wants. Do you go into iMac and Mac mini articles to announce that you don’t like them because a MacBook better suits your needs? Do you complain when the ice cream parlour also stocks flavours that aren’t your favourite?

I'm with you; I don't personally want one, but I know a lot of people do, and good for them soon having an Apple option! I have a coworker that has left Apple entirely for a Samsung Fold, and he told Apple not making one was (one of) the reason.

I do have some interest in a flip-style phone. I don't need or want a larger screen than my Pro, but I would like it be smaller in the pocket. I messed with the Motorola flip phones at a Spectrum store a year or so ago, and almost bought one.

 

[iMac The Knife]

Oh, cool. Another ‘revolutionary’ foldable Phone.

Because what I’ve always dreamed of is carrying a fragile, bendy, pocket-stabbing piece of origami that I have to treat like it’s made of glass fairy dust. Newsflash: I don’t want a foldable phone - I want a solid, unkillable slab of iPhone glory with a multiday battery and a screen that doesn’t even know what a bezel is.

Foldable? Cute.

You mean you wanted an iPad that you can accidentally snap in half? Apple, just make the iPhone Pro PRO. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel and just give me a phone that feels like it’s worth the $2k without praying to a tech god every time I pull it out of my pocket

So you've never actually owned a foldable phone...got it. 🙂

 

[wonderings]

Darngooddesign, bless your little foldable fantasies. It’s not about ‘taking care’ of nice things - it’s about not paying $2k to babysit a phone that bends like a plastic ruler.

I want a device that works like a phone, not like a stress ball. Keep your origami iPhone and your anxiety - some of us prefer actual engineering over cosplay gimmicks.

And who is forcing you to buy a foldable phone? You are the consumer, you have the power to NOT buy something if you don't like it. So guess what? You don't have to pay $2K to babysit a phone that bends like a plastic ruler. Amazing how that works!

For more great insights please follow me on my Yelp page.

 

[Arran]

The laser-drilled metal plate is responsible for dispersing the stress generated by bending, allowing for the "crease-free" screen.

Even if foldables go nowhere, a flexible screen will make other designs possible.

Thinking of today’s conventional iPhones, a lot of effort goes into making them rigid. But what if big phones and tablets were designed to flex like a notebook or a paper magazine? Instead of carrying around a big, flat, rigid plate, you’d have a device you wouldn’t have to worry about sitting on or stuffing into your backpack the wrong way.

 

[Jamie0003]

thats a bad myth about foldables. not been the case since like fold 1-3

you can scratch any normal phone if you are trying to do so

Not with your fingernail unless you’re Edward scissorhands 😂

Also evidently, you’ve never seen stress tests for the latest phones. It’s absolutely a thing

 

[dwsolberg]

I already have a hard time justifying $1000 for a new phone every 4-5 years. I can’t imagine what the Apple tax price will be for a foldable.

Double at least, but it will actually be something new, which is fun.

 

[The Game 161]

Not with your fingernail unless you’re Edward scissorhands

Also evidently, you’ve never seen stress tests for the latest phones. It’s absolutely a thing

I’ve used foldables for years and never had any time where the display was scratched. My normal phones on other hand have got scratches for no reason at all even when the are protected well

So to say they are easily scratched with a finger nail is just fake news

 

[Hajj.david]

if the foldable iphone will use only iOS....it will fail..
we need iOS+ipadOS along side the apps that take advantage of the bigger different aspect ratio

Why wouldn't it just be pure iPadOS, since iPadOS has a phone app etc now.

 

[Hajj.david]

I’ve used foldables for years and never had any time where the display was scratched. My normal phones on other hand have got scratches for no reason at all even when the are protected well

So to say they are easily scratched with a finger nail is just fake news

Its not fake news, all foldable phones use a plastic interior screen to keep it flexible at the cost of it being easily scratched with a finger nail. That said normal phone use wont cause you to dig your finger nail at a screen so there is that lol.

Also a foldable phone protects the inside screen by its very nature, whereas normal phones are constantly exposed to the outside world. So that explains why your internal screen is probably fine.

 

[iMac The Knife]

I’ve used foldables for years and never had any time where the display was scratched. My normal phones on other hand have got scratches for no reason at all even when the are protected well

So to say they are easily scratched with a finger nail is just fake news

Agreed. I've owned several foldables to date and a couple of flips, and I've never had as much as a hairline scratch on any of the inner displays. I even remove the screen protector from the inner display on day one, and still zero scratches.

 

[iMac The Knife]

Its not fake news, all foldable phones use a plastic interior screen to keep it flexible at the cost of it being easily scratched with a finger nail. That said normal phone use wont cause you to dig your finger nail at a screen so there is that lol.

Also a foldable phone protects the inside screen by its very nature, whereas normal phones are constantly exposed to the outside world. So that explains why your internal screen is probably fine.

The core of the inner display on foldable phones is made of ultra-thin glass, not plastic.

 

[The Game 161]

Its not fake news, all foldable phones use a plastic interior screen to keep it flexible at the cost of it being easily scratched with a finger nail. That said normal phone use wont cause you to dig your finger nail at a screen so there is that lol.

Also a foldable phone protects the inside screen by its very nature, whereas normal phones are constantly exposed to the outside world. So that explains why your internal screen is probably fine.

It’s fake news to say it’s easily scratched when it isn’t. Any device can be scratched that’s clear. Any intend to scratch something will be the same no matter if it’s a foldable or not