Apple’s first foldable iPhone is now widely expected to share the spotlight with the iPhone 18 Pro lineup at Apple’s usual September event, and momentum is quietly building for what could be the company’s biggest iPhone redesign in years. Despite a swirl of rumours about delays and testing snags, the mood among people tracking the project closely has shifted from “if” to “how big” this launch will be for Apple and the broader foldable market.

For weeks, the internet conversation around Apple’s foldable has bounced between optimism and anxiety. A Nikkei Asia report suggested Apple was wrestling with engineering issues serious enough to push back production and shipments, raising the specter of a slip beyond 2026’s flagship window. But almost immediately, a counter‑narrative emerged: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple is still planning to introduce the foldable in September, alongside iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, with sales pencilled in for roughly the same time as the regular models or shortly after. The message from that camp is clear: yes, it’s complicated hardware, but no, this isn’t an “off the rails” situation—at least not yet.

Inside Apple, this device is more than just another new SKU; it’s the second step in a multi‑year plan to refresh what an iPhone looks and feels like. Last year brought the overhauled Pro and Pro Max, plus the thinner iPhone Air, and Apple is already plotting a major iPhone revamp for 2027 to mark the 20‑year anniversary of the original model. The foldable sits right in the middle of that roadmap, aimed at pushing the iPhone line up‑market with a more dramatic design shift, higher average selling prices and features that are harder for rivals to copy quickly. For hardware chief John Ternus—seen as a leading contender to eventually succeed Tim Cook—it is also a high‑stakes statement about where Apple wants to take the flagship iPhone franchise next.

On paper, the device sounds familiar to anyone who has seen a Galaxy Z Fold: a phone that opens into a tablet‑like screen, with a visible hinge and a crease in the middle. The difference, if Apple pulls it off, will be in the details. People familiar with the project say Apple’s engineers believe they’ve made progress on two of the biggest pain points in this category: panel quality and long‑term durability. The crease is expected to be less noticeable when the screen is fully open, and Apple is said to be using new display materials and internal design tweaks to reduce wear, especially around the hinge area where folding phones typically age the fastest.

The experience when the phone is unfolded is shaping up to be just as important as the hardware. Apple is reportedly planning a wider display orientation when the device is opened in landscape, making it feel more like a compact iPad than a tall, skinny phone stretched sideways. That should make it more comfortable for video, gaming, and multitasking—areas where existing foldables can feel like compromises rather than upgrades. To match the hardware, Apple is preparing updates to iOS so that apps on the foldable behave more like iPad software, with interfaces that better exploit the extra real estate instead of just scaling up a normal iPhone view.

All of this ambition will come at a steep price. The foldable iPhone is expected to cross the $2,000 mark, putting it well above even today’s premium slabs from Apple and significantly higher than many mainstream foldables from brands in China. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series and its competitors have already shown that the audience for foldables is still relatively niche at the top end, but Apple is betting that a mix of tighter software integration, premium materials and brand pull can justify the extra cost. Even if unit volumes are modest at first, a high launch price would nudge Apple’s average selling price up and help offset softness elsewhere in the smartphone market.

There are still caveats, and Apple insiders know it. The release is roughly six months away, and full‑scale production has not yet ramped up, which means the September target remains just that: a target, not a guarantee. The complexity of the panels, hinge and new materials could keep supply tight for weeks after launch, and suppliers have reportedly been warned that schedules could shift if certain engineering issues take longer than expected to resolve. Apple, characteristically, has nothing to say officially, which leaves analysts and fans reading between the lines of supply‑chain chatter and carefully placed briefings to gauge how confident the company really is.

Zooming out, the foldable iPhone is also reshaping Apple’s broader release calendar. Entry‑level models are being nudged into spring 2027, where Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone Air and a lower‑cost iPhone 18e, building on the iPhone 17e it introduced in March 2026. That shift reduces the pressure on the September event to carry every single iPhone tier and gives Apple room to let the foldable stand out, even if it shares stage time with the 18 Pro line. The result is a more staggered, less monolithic iPhone cycle that may help keep the lineup feeling fresher across the year instead of peaking once every fall.

For the rest of the foldable market, Apple’s move could be the moment things get serious. Analysts already expect foldable shipments to jump in 2026, driven in large part by Apple finally entering the segment after years of watching from the sidelines. Samsung has had time to iterate through multiple generations, and Chinese brands have aggressively pushed prices down and experimented with different form factors, but none has managed to turn foldables into a mainstream must‑have. If Apple can deliver a device that feels less fragile, more polished and better integrated with its ecosystem, it may not just validate the category—it could also reset expectations around what a “Pro” iPhone is supposed to be.

So as September draws closer, the story of Apple’s foldable iPhone is a balancing act between risk and reward. On one side are the engineering hurdles, the risk of delays, and a price tag that will put the device out of reach for many buyers. On the other is the promise of a fresh iPhone experience, a more tablet‑like device that still fits in a pocket, and the chance for Apple to define the next phase of high‑end smartphones on its own terms. For now, at least, the hope that Apple will walk on stage this September and finally unfold its vision of the future is very much alive.