iPhone Fold Isn’t Even Out Yet, But Samsung Might Already Be Copying the Design

Apple is widely expected to introduce its first foldable iPhone next year as part of the revised iPhone 18 series.  Rumors indicate only the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Fold will be unveiled next September, with the standard iPhone 18 appearing in spring 2027.  Reports also suggest Apple has been able to eliminate or greatly lessen the creasing effect that appears in the middle of the screen on several foldables.

Importantly, Apple apparently won’t mimic the design Samsung has been utilizing for the Galaxy Z Fold line since the first model.  The iPhone Fold will be a book-type foldable like Samsung’s flagship, but it will sport a different aspect ratio.  The foldable iPhone should be bigger and shorter than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.  The biggest benefit of utilizing such a design concerns the tablet experience.  The foldable iPhone will look more like an iPad rather than a rectangle.  When folded, the iPhone Fold might be easier to use with one hand.

Apple wouldn’t be the first foldable phone company to fight Samsung with a Fold-like design, assuming the rumors are correct.  For example, Oppo did it a few years ago with the Oppo Find N, seen below.  Huawei earlier this year introduced the Pura X, which might very likely turn out to include a design comparable to the first foldable iPhone.  But this time, Samsung looks to be paying attention.  According to SammyGuru, Samsung presented a new design in a recent poll that hints the phone company is working on something comparable to Apple’s foldable.

How can Samsung copy a foldable iPhone that doesn’t exist?

SammyGuru notes that Samsung is already building a mystery new foldable for 2026.  The business may be preparing a Fan Edition version of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for next summer before the iPhone Fold arrives.  It’s unclear whether the foldable design Samsung displayed in the survey is that secret product.  That device is bigger and shorter than the Galaxy Z Fold handsets.  It’s squarer in shape when folded and becomes a tablet similar to the iPad when unfurled.  If this actually is a new phone, Samsung may be aiming to get ahead of Apple.

Let’s remember a few major happenings this year.  First, Samsung recently introduced the Galaxy Z TriFold foldable.  It appears like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 when folded but unfolds into a genuine 10-inch tablet, which has unique software experiences designed for a huge screen.  An iPhone Fold design converting into an iPad mini-like device would allow Apple to take advantage of tablet-specific experiences already included in iPadOS 26.

Second, Samsung has already tried preempting Apple this year.  The business debuted the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge in May, several months before Apple unveiled the iPhone Air, to ensure it could compete against the latter.  Samsung’s gamble seemingly didn’t pay off.  Samsung apparently decided to drop the Galaxy S26 Edge following weak sales of the initial edition.

Third, Samsung is reported to have reduced the Galaxy S26 to ensure it can meet the same $799 price tag as the basic iPhone 17.  Finally, Samsung Display is apparently the only supplier of foldable iPhone displays, which provides Samsung some insight about Apple’s display design intentions.  It’s going to be an exciting battle of the foldables in 2026.

Key foldable iPhone specs virtually completed in fascinating new leak

How big is the foldable iPhone?  What type of cameras will it use?  Does it have Face ID?  A new leak wrecks all the surprises.

Apple’s entry into the foldable smartphone market is all but certain for next year, and the foldable iPhone is shaping up to be an interesting device.  For Apple devotees, who have waited years for such a phone, an intriguing new leak is cause for celebration.

Some crucial specs, leaked before in prior reports as well, have been reconfirmed to be accurate.  In addition, an intriguing new prospect has been teased: Apple might have actually fulfilled its aim for the perfect foldable phone.

Foldable iPhone display sizes.

While the foldable iPhone will not be as large as the great Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, it will be approximately the same size as last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6.  To refresh your recollection, the main display on the Fold 6 was 7.6 inches across.

The core display of the foldable iPhone would reportedly measure in at roughly 7.58 inches, and the external display will be around 5.25 inches.  Apple is also likely planning to make its phone a lot broader than Samsung’s current foldables, a design decision that the latter has also supposedly expressed an interest in.

When unfolded, the foldable iPhone will supposedly look a lot bigger horizontally than most ordinary foldable phones on the market today.  However, the article also suggests that Chinese phone producers would beat both Apple and Samsung to market with such a large foldable phone.

What’s Apple doing for the cameras?.

Though numerous prior versions of the Galaxy foldables used an under-display camera on the primary display, the Fold 7 did away with it, employing a punch-hole camera instead.  Apple is not doing that, and the foldable iPhone will include an under-display camera on its primary screen.

This is also because the iPhone 18 series will initiate Apple’s practice of placing everything below the display, and the foldable iPhone will come alongside it.  The iPhone 18 will purportedly place the Face ID sensors under the display, and the iPhone 20 Pro—it seems that there are no plans for an iPhone 19—will do the same for the camera, attaining a distraction-free display.

Though the main display of the foldable iPhone won’t have a punch-hole design, the external display will, according to the claim.  Additionally, the main camera configuration is believed to have two 48 MP sensors.

As has been noted many times in dozens of sources, the entire reason that Apple took this long to enter the foldable smartphone market is because it wanted to produce a perfect phone.  The business was enamored with the idea of producing a folding iPhone that had no wrinkle at all across its main display.

Many recent sources have revealed that the firm could have to settle for a very tiny wrinkle instead.  This current article, in my perspective, corroborates that allegation by gently declining to identify a crease but yet noting that the hinge mechanism is quite sophisticated.

According to several reports, the foldable iPhone would launch with the most advanced hinge on the market.  However, that does not mean that there will be no crease at all.  But, seeing how the Fold 7’s crease is essentially undetectable during normal use, anything better than that is practically a crease-free display anyhow.