Apple’s big surprise! The iPhone Fold is here: it won’t be available until the end of the year.

In his latest research report, Barclays analyst Tim Long revealed that Apple’s foldable phone, the iPhone Fold, is expected to be released in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro series, but actual shipments will be delayed until December.

This timing is similar to the launch schedule of the iPhone X in 2017, becoming an important feature of Apple’s first foldable screen product.

As Apple’s first flagship product in the foldable screen market, the iPhone Fold is positioned in the ultra-high-end market, and its starting price in China is expected to exceed 12,000 yuan, potentially making it the most expensive phone in Apple’s history.

The device features a horizontal, book-like inward-folding design, equipped with a 5.5-inch external screen and a 7.8-inch internal screen. The internal screen also incorporates under-display front camera technology. Combined with a liquid metal hinge and a customized flexible glass solution, the crease depth is compressed to 0.15mm, which is almost invisible under strong light. At the same time, the hinge has a fatigue life of over one million cycles, greatly alleviating users’ concerns about foldable screens.

In terms of materials, the iPhone Fold uses titanium alloy, with a closed thickness of 9-9.5mm and an unfolded thickness of only 4.5-4.8mm, balancing lightness and thinness with structural strength.

In terms of performance, the device is equipped with TSMC’s 2nm A20 Pro chip and 12GB of LPDDR6X memory, which significantly improves AI computing power and multitasking capabilities.

To optimize internal space, the iPhone Fold will eliminate the existing Face ID, replacing it with Touch ID integrated into the side power button, and will no longer support physical SIM cards, only eSIM.

Meanwhile, on the communication side, it will be equipped with Apple’s self-developed C2 baseband, supporting millimeter-wave technology. In terms of imaging, the device features a dual 48MP main rear camera setup, along with an under-display front camera on the inner screen and a punch-hole front camera on the outer screen. The battery capacity reaches 5000-5800mAh, the largest in iPhone history, and supports fast charging and wireless charging.

In terms of system, the iPhone Fold will run iOS 27, which is optimized for foldable screens and natively supports true split screen, dragging and dropping multiple apps, and seamless switching between inner and outer screens, although the front-end scheduling function on the iPad will not be available.