A tale as old as time, the foldable iPhone has been delayed yet again. Okay, it’s not confirmed just yet, but it’s very likely that it has. The reason? Same as it has always been: Apple is chasing perfection.
Foldable iPhone delayed
Apparently, the foldable iPhone — or the iPhone Fold, if you will — is being delayed because Apple is still having trouble sourcing a hinge that makes the crease almost invisible.
This is why the company has taken this long to enter the foldable smartphone market in the first place: it wants to do things the Apple way. And, apparently, that means making a foldable phone unlike any other in the world.
There’s just a tiny problem with that approach.
It’s not yet possible
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a pretty invisible crease, but it can still be seen. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Currently, we do not have the technology to make a foldable smartphone that has a completely invisible crease, which has been Apple’s goal from the start. If the company keeps chasing this design, then the foldable iPhone is doomed to a lot more years of delays.
But the thing is, Apple doesn’t need to do this. If you use a Galaxy Z Flip 7 or a Galaxy Z Fold 7, you’ll immediately notice that the crease is completely invisible to the naked eye during normal use. The only time you notice it is if you hold the phone at an angle.
Apple could have made a foldable iPhone by now that matched the Fold 7, or even the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but it refuses to do so.
Setting up the foldable iPhone for disappointment
I fear that Apple is setting up the foldable iPhone for massive disappointment. There are two reasons for this.
Firstly, the phone was supposed to come out next year alongside the iPhone 18 lineup. The iPhone 18 is expected to see minor changes, so the foldable iPhone would have stood out as the star of the show. However, if it now comes out in 2027, it’ll have to compete with the 20th anniversary iPhone Pro, a phone that will have no cutouts on its edge-to-edge display.
Secondly, after so many years of delays, and after having kept iPhone fans waiting for so long, there is an almost zero percent chance that the foldable iPhone lives up to everyone’s expectations. If, after all this time, the phone comes out, and it’s just like the Fold 7 but with iOS, then some fans are going to feel very let down.
This is no time for perfection, Apple
The iPhone 17 Pro has issues. | Image credit — PhoneArena
To top it all off, I don’t think Apple should be chasing perfection when it’s already having so much trouble with its existing products.
The company has had years of bad software updates, with my favorite one being the iPadOS 18 fiasco, where M4 iPad models were being bricked. Now, its hardware is having problems too.
The new iPhone 17 Pro redesign, which was supposed to improve cellular coverage, ended up running into problems. Cellular reception on the iPhone 17 Pro was awful, and updates didn’t fix this problem for everyone.
Furthermore, the iPhone 17 Pro has durability issues as well. The new aluminum chassis, though great for heat dissipation, is very susceptible to fall damage. Lastly, now Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro models are losing their color, turning a shade of pink instead. This isn’t an isolated incident by any means, either.
All of this, to me at least, signals that Apple has a lot of problems that it needs to be attending to right now. Aiming for the world’s most perfect foldable smartphone isn’t just technically undoable, I honestly don’t trust Apple to be the one to do it.
Just give us the foldable iPhone, and work up from there.
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