A wide foldable iPhone dummy emerges amid rumors of a delay
We might need our first good have a look at the form of the oddly wide iPhone Fold, after leaker and journalist Sonny Dickson shared pictures of what he says is a dummy unit of the foldable, alongside related fashions of the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. The obvious design leak comes because it’s reported that early engineering checks of the foldable have suffered from manufacturing issues which can trigger it to ship months later than different iPhones this 12 months.
Dickson, who has a good monitor file for sourcing correct dummy fashions of Apple and Samsung telephones utilized by case makers to check and design their merchandise, shared images of the foldable unit on Bluesky this morning. It exhibits the telephone from either side, though the within of the dummy reveals little concerning the seemingly design, not even the doable structure of a selfie digital camera or Face ID sensors. The outdoors is extra informative, displaying two rear cameras side-by-side in a raised pill-shaped island that stretches about two thirds of the way in which throughout the telephone’s unusually wide physique.
Dickson would not present actual measurements for the dummy unit, though it seems to be squatter and wider than any book-style foldable we have seen to date. It’s closest in model to Google’s first-gen Pixel Foldalthough seems wider nonetheless than that telephone. That alternative may appear odd, however Samsung can be rumored to be engaged on a “Wide Fold” variant of its foldable to launch later this 12 months, suggesting this manner issue could have legs.
The query is perhaps which firm will get there first. Apple has been widely expected to launch the primary foldable iPhone alongside the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max at its normal iPhone launch occasion in September, with the bottom iPhone 18 to observe in 2027, however that schedule could also be unsure. Nikkei Asia reports that early manufacturing runs have encountered “engineering challenges” which can be taking longer to resolve than anticipated, which “could delay the first shipment by months.”
“Apple and the supply chain are working under a pressured timeline and the current solutions are not enough to completely solve the engineering challenges,” one supply informed Nikkei. “More time is needed.” The reported delay echoes a recent prediction by Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman that the foldable will ship a while after the 2 Pro iPhones, even when it is revealed alongside them.
