Foldable iPhone won't arrive till Galaxy Fold 9

Samsung launched the company’s first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold 5G, in 2019. It has been five years since then, and Apple, the closest rival to the South Korean tech giant in the smartphone segment, still hasn’t launched a foldable iPhone, and going by a new report, it looks like the Cupertino-based tech giant won’t do that for a few more years, which would give Samsung a huge lead in the space.

According to a new report from DigiTimes, which cites Korea’s Alpha Biz, says that Apple has delayed the launch of the first foldable iPhone from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2027. It means that Apple’s first foldable smartphone won’t arrive for three more years, or until Samsung launches the Galaxy Z Fold 9.

However, Apple seems to have told component suppliers, including display providers, which includes Samsung Display and LG Display, to supply components according to the previous schedule. The report also says that Apple has shifted some of the people who worked on the Vision Pro to the foldable iPhone project.

There’s no concrete information as to why Apple is delaying bringing a foldable iPhone to the market. However, previous reports suggest that the company is doing so because it thinks that the foldable display technology is not mature enough for the tech giant’s standards yet and that it is taking additional time to fix that.

According to multiple reports, Apple is considering two types of foldable iPhone models. The first is a book-style foldable smartphone with a 6-inch external display and an 8-inch internal display, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold series devices. The second is a flip-style foldable smartphone, similar to the Galaxy Z Flip series devices.