‘More issues than expected have emerged’ — the iPhone Fold could be in for a delay

• Issues have apparently emerged in the iPhone Fold’s development
• This could mean launch delays, though the phone has at least reportedly entered trial production
• We’ve also seen dummy units supposedly showing the ‘final size’ of the iPhone Fold

There was starting to be a broad consensus that we’d see the iPhone Fold later this year, but while that was probably Apple’s plan, it now sounds like there’s a chance that the phone’s ETA could slip.

This is according to a report from Nikkei Asia (via Apple Insider), in which a person familiar with the matter said, “It’s true that more issues than expected have emerged during the early test production phase [of the iPhone Fold], and additional time will be needed to resolve them and make necessary adjustments.”

They concluded that “the current situation could put the mass production timeline at risk,” which isn’t conclusive as to whether there will be a delay or not, but it certainly sounds like there could be one. And with the iPhone Fold previously expected to land in September, that might mean it now slips into 2027.

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Already in production

That said, Chinese leaker Instant Digital (via MacRumors) has claimed that the iPhone Fold has already entered trial production at Foxconn, which suggests things aren’t too far behind. Though it’s possible that Instant Digital is working off older information, and that the aforementioned issues emerged during this trial production.

Right now, it’s hard to say, but while this could all mean that we won’t officially see the iPhone Fold until later than hoped, we have now had an unofficial look at it, or at least at a dummy unit, shared by Sonny Dickson.

The above image shows Apple’s first foldable alongside dummy units of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, so you can get a sense of how the sizes might compare. Based on this, it looks like the iPhone Fold might not have a vastly bigger screen than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and we can also see that — as previously rumored — it appears to have a dual-lens camera.

Interestingly, there’s no MagSafe ring visible despite it being present on the iPhone 18 Pro dummies, but dummy units often lack details, so that doesn’t necessarily mean MagSafe won’t be included in the final product.

As for when we’ll see that product, our best guess is still September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro phones. Some previous leaks suggested that the iPhone Fold might be announced in September but not ship before October, though, which, with today’s talk of issues, seems all the more likely. And we can’t rule out an even bigger delay, but for now we’re hopeful that we’ll see it this year.

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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.