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The Latest Foldable iPhone Rumors: What's Changed and What We Know Now

numberfive said:
popularity implies growth, folds market has already plateaued.
there is no visible proof of the popularity that you alleged, let alone ‘massive’
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The iphone pro has also plateaued. High end phones are a niche and not a very big niche globally. When you consider the TAM for $2k non-Apple phones, folding ones do have a massive share.
Your bias is showing, and I’m betting when apple tell you your bias has changed you’ll be saying how great folding iphones are.
 
numberfive said:
popularity implies growth, folds market has already plateaued.
there is no visible proof of the popularity that you alleged, let alone ‘massive’
Click to expand...
About 20 million foldable phones were sold in 2025. And the market grew in 2026. Source: IDC.

Back in summer 2025, I played with the Galaxy Z Fold7 a bit while I was in China because so many people were carrying foldable phones over there, see my pic below at a Samsung store at COCO Park, Shenzhen.

Videos look great, my iPhone pic doesn't do it justice. In my hands, it felt incredibly thin. As the ads say, you have to feel it in the hand. So light for the size. Selling very well.

Many Chinese competitors as well. I don't like Android, but I knew the Apple one was coming, otherwise I was tempted to buy this one. Incredibly useful to have when you are walking around a massive city. You can see the price for 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. About $2,500. So, it's pretty affordable for Chinese tier-1 upwardly mobile people.
IMG_9796.jpeg
 
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lusty said:
The iphone pro has also plateaued. High end phones are a niche and not a very big niche globally. When you consider the TAM for $2k non-Apple phones, folding ones do have a massive share.
Your bias is showing, and I’m betting when apple tell you your bias has changed you’ll be saying how great folding iphones are.
Click to expand...
The thing I think is funny is that anyone thinks the folding market “plateaued” before Apple entered it.
I feel like it’s pretty safe to say that if Samsung can sell 5 million foldables annually every year with most of them starting at $1999, Apple certainly can also sell 5 million foldables annually at around $1999, at least for a while. That’s likely going to double the marketshare of foldable pretty much overnight.
Reports are that Apple are ordering enough screens for the first year to ship between nine and 15 million units which is already double how many Samsung themselves sell, I think they’ve likely got this covered.
Unlike headsets, this is a pretty well set market, it’s been around for almost a decade and pretty much every single mainstream Apple competitor has a folding phone, it makes sense they would join in.
 
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I don’t have any interest in a foldable, but they’re doing some important things well if these rumors are true. Many foldables open to create a square screen, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Opening to a 4:3 display is much better. MagSafe and a telephoto lens are non-negotiable for me so I’d be out even if I were interested in a foldable, but this will be a lot more useful than Android foldable phones. And for those bemoaning Touch ID, that actually makes sense, because you’d need two Face ID modules, one for the outside and another for the inside. That doesn’t make any sense.

Replace the wide angle lens with telephoto and add MagSafe and I wouldn’t hate it.
 
lusty said:
The iphone pro has also plateaued. High end phones are a niche and not a very big niche globally. When you consider the TAM for $2k non-Apple phones, folding ones do have a massive share.
Your bias is showing, and I’m betting when apple tell you your bias has changed you’ll be saying how great folding iphones are.
Click to expand...
ok, so not massively popular, and also not popular. ultra niche.
I’m writing this from iphone 11pro btw, apple is not doing a great job shifting my preferences.
 
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TracerAnalog said:
No? I heard differently. And I'm hoping it's wrong.
'Dummy units purportedly of the iPhone Fold have also recently been leaked. They appear to show that the device will not have MagSafe, which means a product named Ultra and costing more than any previous iPhone, may be lacking this key feature.'
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The dummy units do not show that, all they show is that there’s not a big Glass cut out window like on the 17 Pro. Likely because the back of the folding iPhone is not metal, but Glass. There is no need for the window.
There has not been one actual report of there being no MagSafe.
 
So when you unfold this device, the smaller screen (now facing away from the user) goes…blank? Turns off?

Whatever happens on the screen, your fingertips are now gripping the smaller screen, which in turn means multiple cleanings daily, especially for fast food eaters. Hmmm….Can I just get half the phone, at 5.5. Inches, it sounds like a perfect replacement for the 13 mini.
 
Do people actually use "wireless" charging? I tried it but concluded that it needed a far larger wire than a simple usbc cable so never went back as it was also slower and less efficient. The act of plugging in isn't massively more effort than placing the phone on a puck, but it does allow the phone to be used while charging. All my friends did the same so I'm surprised people are so upset that a phone won't include it.
 
Lounge vibes 05 said:
The dummy units do not show that, all they show is that there’s not a big Glass cut out window like on the 17 Pro. Likely because the back of the folding iPhone is not metal, but Glass. There is no need for the window.
There has not been one actual report of there being no MagSafe.
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I hope you're right 🤞🏼
 
lusty said:
Do people actually use "wireless" charging? I tried it but concluded that it needed a far larger wire than a simple usbc cable so never went back as it was also slower and less efficient. The act of plugging in isn't massively more effort than placing the phone on a puck, but it does allow the phone to be used while charging. All my friends did the same so I'm surprised people are so upset that a phone won't include it.
Click to expand...

Use it all the time in the car, don’t wanna have to deal with cables in the car but plopping it on the built in wireless charging pad is easy.
 
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lusty said:
Do people actually use "wireless" charging? I tried it but concluded that it needed a far larger wire than a simple usbc cable so never went back as it was also slower and less efficient. The act of plugging in isn't massively more effort than placing the phone on a puck, but it does allow the phone to be used while charging. All my friends did the same so I'm surprised people are so upset that a phone won't include it.
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Without MagSafe, no. With MagSafe, almost exclusively. I have a MagSafe stand on my nightstand that holds the phone upright (landscape) for the iPhone's standby mode, it's pretty great.

Also great in the car and convenient in a power bank so you don't have to handle a cable when charging on the go.

The trade-offs are that it's slower and less efficient.
 
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I am looking forward to this phone; I hope it is priced well and is affordable. There will be many good case uses for a foldable iPhone.
 
TracerAnalog said:
Rumors point to it having no wireless charging. But who knows. If it doesn't have MagSafe, I'm out. I will not buy new (car) chargers and holders again.
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Zero rumours have said this. People are assuming off mock ups but they fail to realise the fold will have a glass back
 
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