Apple's Foldable iPhone Looms as Foldables Mature
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Foldable phones evolved from early failures (Samsung's first Galaxy Fold broke within days of review) to models like the Honor Magic V6, which carries an IP69 rating, holds the title of thinnest foldable, and uses silicon-carbon batteries to deliver day-or-two battery life.
- Apple's first foldable iPhone is widely expected to debut next month alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, with IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo predicting Apple will claim 34% of the foldable market by value in its first year.
- Foldables still represent just 1.6% of the global smartphone market in 2025, according to Counterpoint, despite seven years of hardware iteration.
- Huawei and Samsung shifted to wider foldable designs in the months before Apple's expected launch, with leaks pointing to wider Oppo and Honor models on the way to match the iPhone's reported form factor.
- Foldable cameras still trail top-tier Ultra handsets due to cost and design constraints, though recent Oppo and Vivo models now offer triple rear cameras comparable to standard flagships.
- Flagship book-style foldables have hovered near the $2,000 mark for seven years, though Motorola's Razr at $799 and Samsung's Z Flip 7 FE at $899 have brought cheaper entry points to the category.
Why it matters: For Apple, the foldable segment is small (1.6% of the smartphone market) but high-margin — IDC predicts Apple will claim 34% of foldable market value in its first year. If Apple prices the device at a premium, the category's ceiling stays low, but its arrival forces Android rivals to defend a segment they pioneered and bleeding-edge-ify on Apple's timeline.
