Apple Foldable iPhone Forecast
Apple Inc. will launch its first foldable iPhone, a passport‑style device priced at $2,500, in September 2026. IDC projects that the handset will ship more than 10 million units during its first year, giving Apple a foothold in the fold‑able smartphone segment that Samsung introduced seven years earlier. IDC senior research director Nabila Popal said the elite‑priced phone is expected to be “widely successful” because a very elite set of consumers will line up to buy it. The firm also estimates that the global foldable category will expand 12.6 % in 2026 and 18 % in 2027, and that Apple will capture roughly 40 % of all foldable shipments by 2027.
IDC revised its outlook for the broader smartphone market downward, forecasting a 16.7 % decline in 2026 as rising memory‑chip and component costs constrain production and push retail prices higher. IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo noted that the same components that enable AI are in short supply, signalling “the era of the cheap smartphone has ended.” Despite representing a small share of the overall smartphone market, which exceeds one billion units annually, foldable devices command premium prices and remain a profitable niche for manufacturers.