Apple might scrap the iPhone Fold amid frustrations over display tech

Analysts claim Apple could cancel the foldable iPhone

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We’ve been hearing about afoldable iPhonefor a long time now, and recent leaks suggest it’s still years away – or that it maybe won’t launch at all.

The latest news on the matter comes fromDigiTimes, which claims that followingreports of the foldable iPhone being delayed until early 2027, some analysts now fear the phone will never launch.

The skepticism about the foldable iPhone stems from panel technology apparently not being mature enough – which presumably meansApplewould either have to cancel the phone, or keep on delaying until it’s happy with the display quality.

That’s in line with another recent report that suggestedthe foldable iPhone might have been put on pauseuntil Apple could find a folding display it’s happy with. But this latest news suggest that, rather than simply being paused, the project might be canceled altogether.

The latest in a long line

Certainly, given how long this phone has been rumored for, it seems like it might be proving a challenge for Apple to deliver – and this wouldn’t be the first time the company has given up on something after years of development. Recently we sawthe Apple Car get ditched, and before that there wasthe canceled AirPower wireless charger. Some reports have also suggested that Apple has abandoned its in-house 5G modem project.

So there is precedent for this, and with the rumored release date of the foldable iPhone constantly slipping, it looks ever more possible that the phone might never launch at all.

Those hoping for an Apple foldable might still be in luck though, as there’s also beentalk of a foldable iPad, which might still launch at some point even if the foldable iPhone is canceled.

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As far as phones go though, Apple is already in a dominant position, and while sales of foldables are growing they don’t seem to pose any major threat to the iPhone line right now. So tech issues aside, a foldable iPhone might simply not be a priority anymore.

This is all just speculation for now of course, and we may well still see a foldable iPhone – but right now we wouldn’t count on it, and we certainly wouldn’t expect to see one anytime soon.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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