Apple's Foldable iPhone Details Emerge: 7.8-Inch Inner Screen, Titanium-Aluminum Hinge, Starting at $2,199

Apple has been actively developing a foldable iPhone since around 2020. After concluding a trip to Asia, Chief Executive Tim Cook observed that consumers in markets such as China were increasingly using foldable devices from brands like Huawei and Samsung, prompting him to push Apple into this segment. Prior to that, Apple's hardware engineering team had already been exploring foldable device concepts, with one early proposal involving an iPad mini-style device that could unfold into a larger tablet. The foldable iPhone is regarded as one of the most complex hardware projects in Apple's history.

Pricing for the foldable iPhone has been subject to adjustment due to memory shortages and cost overruns. In the early stages of development, Apple had planned a starting price of $1,999 to stay below the psychological threshold of $2,000. For comparison, the standard iPhone starts at $799, while the iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099. The latest foldable phones from Samsung and Google start at around $1,900.

The foldable iPhone adopts a "short and wide" design, with an inner display of approximately 7.8 inches when unfolded and an outer screen of 5.5 inches. This design was finalized around 2023, and the screen width exceeds that of most Android foldable phones. Google's first Pixel Fold, launched in 2023, used a similar design, and Samsung's recently released Galaxy Z Fold8 also adopts this form factor. Apple's delay in launching a foldable product has been driven by efforts to reduce the visibility of the crease, improve hinge reliability, develop new flexible cover glass, and create camera technology that can place more components behind the screen.

Apple ultimately adopted a titanium-aluminum alloy hinge system, paired with custom cover glass developed in collaboration with Corning, making the crease less noticeable than on commercially available foldable phones. The device's durability, camera system, and battery life are weaker than those of the iPhone 18 Pro series, but Apple believes its build quality is industry-leading in the foldable phone market. On the software side, Apple has asked engineers to upgrade multiple applications to support the wide-screen display and adjust the iOS operating system to accommodate additional screen sizes.