For years, the smartphone world has had a clear divide: Apple’s iPhones on one side, and a growing crowd of foldable devices from Samsung, Huawei, and others on the other. According to new insider reports, that divide is about to collapse. Apple’s long-rumored foldable iPhone is not only real but could be coming sooner than expected, and it aims to fix the most notorious flaw in current foldables: the unsightly crease.
Sources deep within Apple’s supply chain indicate that the tech giant has pulled off a “crease-free design” for its upcoming device, tentatively dubbed the iPhone Fold. If true, this would allow Apple to potentially create what some insiders are calling the first genuinely “perfect” foldable smartphone.
The path to a flawless folding screen stretched long and required patience. Samsung supplied the base panel, but Apple took the reins on everything else: structure, materials, and the delicate lamination process. Early attempts didn’t make the cut. One shipment after another was reportedly sent back, until the display finally lived up to Apple’s expectations.
A foldable phone’s hinge is just as important as the display when it comes to durability and usability. To tackle that challenge, Apple reportedly teamed up with Shin Zu Shing and Amphenol, two experienced Asian component suppliers. Together, they’ve developed a new liquid-metal hinge bearing designed to resist strain and improve long-term reliability.
Rather than treating the hinge and panel as separate components, Apple developed them as an integrated system. This synchronized design is meant to eliminate the crease and reinforce the display, making it more resilient under repeated folding stress.
The project has now progressed from the drawing board to the factory floor. Apple’s primary manufacturing partner, Foxconn, has already established a dedicated production line for the iPhone Fold. The device has officially moved out of the prototype stage and into the Engineering Verification Test (EVT) phase.
This stage evaluates whether the initial prototypes align with the planned design and performance criteria. Successfully completing EVT would allow the project to progress into the final manufacturing phase, suggesting a commercial release may be approaching.
Apple may seem late to the trend. For years, competitors have experimented with foldables, pushing out prototypes and refining designs. But if Apple has truly solved the crease problem, everything will change. Just as the first iPhone rewrote the rules back in 2007, the iPhone Fold could shift the market’s direction once again.
There’s a catch to all this innovation: the cost. Rumors hint at a price that pushes well past what Apple has charged before. The whispers put it somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500, most likely settling close to $2,400.
If accurate, this would make the iPhone Fold the most expensive mainstream smartphone Apple has ever released, positioning it as an ultra-premium device for early adopters and those for whom a seamless, crease-free experience is worth the ultimate premium.
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