Apple’s iPhone 17 has come and gone, and while we certainly love the iPhone 17 Pro and its vibrant cosmic orange color, I can’t help but be disappointed that the long-rumored foldable iPhone flip wasn’t part of the company’s September launch event. Most Android phone makers, including Samsung, Google, Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Honor, are multiple generations into their own folding phone lineups, and it’s starting to look like Apple is late to the party. That can be a problem.
launch a foldable iPhone Flip
Apple dominates the premium phone category, but foldables — which fit into the premium space price-wise — are already taking their toll, with Motorola telling CNET that 20% of consumers buying its Razr foldable jumped ship from Apple. Meanwhile, Samsung is on the seventh generation of its Flip and Fold series. As Lisa Edicico discovered during a trip to Seoul, “foldables are everywhere” in Samsung’s home country of South Korea.
With almost every major Android phone-maker entering the foldable market, Apple risks losing potential customers. It also runs the risk of rivals like Samsung becoming the go-to name for foldables, which could make it harder for Apple to make “launch a foldable iPhone Flip” an impact if it eventually launches its own device. Moreover, early adopters attracted to foldable technology may be too tied into the Android ecosystem by the time Apple’s phones are willing to switch to iOS.
launch a foldable iPhone Flip
Apple is unlikely to be worried. It’s estimated that around 20 million foldables from all manufacturers were sold worldwide in 2023, while Apple reportedly sold 26.5 million iPhone 14 Pro Max handsets in the first half of that year alone. In 2024, foldable sales were flat — and not much better than in 2025 Analyst at Counterpoint ResearchAlthough Samsung has reported a record number of pre-orders for its latest foldable. Apparently, Apple thinks it hasn’t missed the boat just yet.
Apple has always found success in its timing, monitoring the industry and launching its own adoption when a product is ready. Apple didn’t invent the phone, tablet, smartwatch or computer, but it found ways to take existing products and make them more useful, more valuable and — dare I say it — more exciting in everyday life. This is why the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac lines dominate the market today.
As for me, I have to see Apple’s take on foldable phones. I’ve written before about how disappointed I am with foldables. I’ve been a mobile reporter for over 14 years and phones have become increasingly dull as they become slight variations on the same rectangular slab.
Read more: The best flip phones for 2025
Foldables promised something new, something innovative, something that briefly sparked some excitement in me, but over the years, that excitement has waned to the point of extinction. They’re fine products and while I love the novelty of curved screens, they’re not a revolution in how we interact with our phones. The advent of touchscreens is not the way we were still pushing buttons to type text.
launch a foldable iPhone Flip
I had hoped that Google’s Pixel Fold would be the phone to catapult foldables forward, and while the latest Pixel 10 Pro Fold – the second generation of Google’s foldable – offers some great updates, it still doesn’t offer any “launch a foldable iPhone Flip” kind of revolution. Instead, it feels more like removing “Me Too” from Google. Same goes for the OnePlus Open. So instead I look to Apple, a company with a track record for product revolution, to create a new take on the genre that truly advances how we use our phones.
That innovation will not only come from product design. Apple works closely with its third-party software developers, and it’s that input that will help make a foldable iPhone truly useful. My biggest complaint about the foldable at the moment is that while the hardware is decent, the devices are basically just running standard versions of Android with a handful of UI tweaks. These are regular phones that are simply bent
Some Android developers are embracing the folding format, and it’s not hard to see why; There just aren’t enough users yet to justify the time and expense of adapting their software to a variety of screen sizes. The multiple folding formats already “launch a foldable iPhone Flip” available mean Android foldables face the same fragmentation problems that have plagued the platform since its inception. Android-based foldables are a more difficult platform for developers to build on than regular phones. Apple will be able to change that, as it has proven with the iPhone and iPad.
launch a foldable iPhone Flip
Given Apple’s close relationship with top-tier developers — not to mention its own massive developer team — I expect an eventual Apple foldable to offer innovations that make it more than just an iPhone folded in half.
And I really hope it does. I look forward to “launch a foldable iPhone Flip” Tech Launch again. I want to feel the excitement of having a new gadget in my hands and experience that “wow” moment because I’m doing something transformative for the first time.
In short, I don’t want to be bothered by technology anymore. Apple, it’s your end.
I took 600+ photos with iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. look my dear
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-desperately-needs-to-launch-a-foldable-iphone-flip-next-year/#ftag=CAD590a51e