Apple doesn't move first just because a category exists
Two of the most consequential names in consumer technology — longtime rivals, longtime partners — are reportedly converging on a device that has lived in rumor longer than most products live in reality. Apple's pursuit of a foldable iPhone, with Samsung supplying the very screens that would make it possible, speaks to how innovation in the modern era often transcends competition, folding it, as it were, into collaboration. The timeline remains uncertain, the form factor unresolved, but the direction is clear: Apple is preparing to enter a category it once watched from a distance, and the market will not be the same when it does.
- A product long dismissed as speculation is gaining credibility — Apple is in active talks with Samsung to source foldable display technology for a future iPhone.
- The timeline is a point of real tension: one analyst sees a late 2024 launch while another pushes the forecast to 2026, leaving the industry in a prolonged state of anticipation.
- Samsung finds itself in the unusual position of potentially arming its most formidable competitor, supplying the folding screens that could erode its own dominance in a category it built.
- Apple appears to be navigating its entry carefully, targeting the ultra-high-end segment first — a deliberate premium play rather than a mass-market disruption.
- The foldable iPhone's arrival would force a reckoning: can Apple's design philosophy and software ecosystem deliver what Samsung's foldables have so far failed to fully achieve?
For years, the foldable iPhone has been the tech rumor that never quite arrives — recycled through forums and analyst notes without ever becoming real. That may be changing. Apple is reportedly in talks with Samsung to source folding display technology, a meaningful step that signals the company is moving from skepticism to serious development.
Samsung is the natural partner here. The South Korean manufacturer already supplies screens for iPhones and MacBooks, and its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines have defined the foldable category since 2019. What form Apple's device will take — book-style or clamshell — remains undecided.
Analysts are divided on timing. Display analyst Ross Young points to a possible late 2024 launch, while Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities offers a more cautious roadmap: a large foldable device in 2025, followed by a foldable iPhone — potentially branded the iPhone Fold or iPhone Flip — in late 2026.
Pu's forecast frames Apple's entry not as a mainstream push but as a premium play, targeting the ultra-high-end segment where early adopters and price-insensitive buyers congregate. This mirrors Apple's established pattern: enter a new category at the top, then expand downward across generations.
The deeper question is whether Apple can bring something to foldables that Samsung has not. If it can, the category — and the competition — will look very different on the other side.
For years, the idea of a foldable iPhone has circulated through tech forums and industry speculation—the kind of rumor that gets recycled annually without ever quite materializing. But according to recent reporting, Apple may finally be ready to turn the concept into a product. The company is in talks with Samsung to source folding display technology, marking a significant shift from years of skepticism about whether such a device made sense for Apple's lineup.
Samsung, which already dominates the foldable phone market with its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines, would be the natural supplier for this technology. The South Korean manufacturer already provides Apple with screens for iPhones and MacBooks, so an expansion into folding displays represents a logical extension of their existing relationship. What remains unclear is the form factor Apple will ultimately choose—whether the phone will fold horizontally like a book or vertically like a clamshell, the way Samsung's most popular models do.
The timeline for launch remains contested among industry analysts. Ross Young, a respected display analyst, has suggested that a foldable iPhone could arrive by the end of 2024, which would be remarkably soon given that the partnership appears to still be in development stages. Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Securities, offers a more measured forecast: he predicts Apple will first release a 20.3-inch device in 2025, followed by a foldable iPhone—whether branded as the iPhone Fold or iPhone Flip—in late 2026.
Pu's analysis suggests that Apple's entry into the foldable market would not be a mainstream play. Instead, the company is positioning the device as a "new line-up" aimed squarely at the ultra-high-end segment, where price is less of a barrier and early adopters congregate. This strategy would align with Apple's historical approach to new product categories: enter at the premium tier, establish the technology, and gradually expand downmarket over subsequent generations.
The move would put Apple in direct competition with Samsung's foldable phones, a category Samsung has owned almost entirely since the Galaxy Z Fold launched in 2019. Apple users have also begun speculating about a foldable iPad, though no concrete evidence of such a device has emerged. What seems certain is that if Apple does enter the foldable market, it will do so deliberately and at a price point that reflects the technology's current cost and exclusivity. The question now is whether the company's design sensibility and software integration can offer something Samsung's devices have not yet achieved—and whether consumers will pay premium prices to find out.
Notable Quotes
The first foldable will be a new line-up for Apple aimed squarely at the ultra-high-end market— Jeff Pu, Haitong International Securities analyst
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would Apple wait this long to enter the foldable market when Samsung has been selling these phones for five years?
Apple doesn't move first into categories just because they exist. They wait until the technology is mature enough and the use case is clear enough that they can do it their way. Foldables are still figuring out what they're actually for.
But if Samsung is supplying the displays, isn't Apple just buying Samsung's technology and putting it in a different case?
Partly, yes—but the display is only one piece. How the software responds to the fold, how the camera system works across the crease, the hinge engineering, the overall industrial design—that's where Apple would differentiate. Samsung's foldables are good, but they're not universally loved.
The analysts disagree wildly on timing. One says late 2024, another says late 2026. How do you square that?
Young is probably being optimistic about what's technically possible. Pu is accounting for Apple's actual pace—they don't rush products to market just because competitors exist. Two years from now feels more realistic for a product this complex.
Why position it as ultra-premium rather than trying to compete on volume?
Because Apple can't compete on volume in a category Samsung owns. But they can own the perception of what a foldable should be—what it should feel like, how it should work. That's worth more than selling millions of units at lower margins.
Does this actually solve a problem, or is it just a novelty?
That's the real question, isn't it? Foldables are still looking for their killer app. Apple will be betting they can find it—or create it through software—in a way Samsung hasn't quite managed.