Folding iPhone Appears in iOS 27, Dummy Unit Leaks
I don't know if you guys have heard or not, but apparently Apple is making a folding phone, an iPhone fold. Maybe they're going to call it the iPhone Ultra. That's one of the rumors going around.
We have had a general idea what this thing would look like for a while. Some dimensions got leaked, and there were 3D prints and CAD renders and so forth. As time has gone on, we have seen more and more clearer and clearer views and evidence that this is legitimately something that is on the way. Today we're going to package two such pieces of evidence together.
A Closer Look at the Leaked Dummy Unit
Let's go with maybe the more exciting of the two. First off, this is coming from 9to5Mac via Sonny Dickson. Sonny seems to be getting his hands on these dummy units quite a bit. This is allegedly a dummy unit of the iPhone Fold or iPhone Ultra, whatever it is that they're going to end up calling this thing.
It is remarkably similar to the 3D renders, the CADs, and the prints that we have had for a while now. There are a couple of small differences, though. Looking at the little 3D print that I made months back, the biggest difference is the camera bump is maybe a little bit taller, a little bit wider or thicker on one side, and a little bit shorter over on the other. It doesn't extend all the way to the edge, but otherwise the general shape and size looks the same.
When you open the thing up, I think you have a dead ringer. This thing will apparently have a 7.8 inch screen when unfolded, giving an effective screen area similar to an iPad mini. That's kind of what I've been saying from the start. This thing's like an iPad mini that you can fold over. It's an interesting way to go about this because rather than having the tablet open up vertically and folding it in in that direction, they've just kind of turned it sideways and gone that route. Of course, that does leave you with an outer display that's about 5.5 inches, which is quite short and quite wide.
The inner camera is paired with two external facing rear cameras, likely a primary and an ultra-wide. They're probably going to do zoom digitally on that primary. There is no Face ID, which is interesting. I guess if you're going to do Face ID, you'd kind of have to do it on the cover and then also on the inner screen as well, which would be quite a bit to work with.
They will probably just be using a fingerprint scanner in the power button, offering Touch ID on the side button for device unlock. The inner selfie camera is in the top left, which is interesting because pretty much every other foldable I have ever seen has had the camera on the other side.
One thing that I must admit I'm a little bit surprised by Apple doing is shipping those sharp-looking corners. This is a company that is obsessive when it comes to corner radiuses and radii. Not here, not on this corner at all. It is very, very sharp. Now, we've seen this sort of thing on other devices, like the Moto Razor Fold, where there is a little bit of a sharp corner up at the top and then a rounded edge. We've also seen brands kind of get around this, like the Z Fold 7, and I think they've done about the best job so far. It's still not perfect, but it's really quite close. It just looks awkward to me on this device. This is very much like what Google has done, and it just doesn't look particularly well refined to me.
Another interesting note here is that indeed you have a power button sort of over on the side, and then the volume rockers are up top because this really is kind of like an iPad.
Clues Found in the iOS 27 Beta
Now, of course, Apple also had some sort of an event yesterday where they unveiled iOS 27. Twitter user @samhenrigold dug into the iOS 27 beta and managed to find several interesting things.
It's quite small, but basically the code says makes several calls to hinge angles. Finding different things inside the iOS 27 beta looking for the angle of a hinge is a clear and obvious clue that they are developing a folding phone, and it's coming quite soon.
We also have something asking about the logical device display count. Well, these devices do have two displays. iPads, iPhones, and nothing else Apple has made besides maybe the Vision Pro technically has multiple displays. Again, this is just more evidence that this is happening and this is coming.
How This Shifts the Phone Industry
Again, I've talked about this before, I'm not sure how interested in actually purchasing the thing I am, but I am curious to see what Apple does with this because I do think that what Apple does is still extremely important in the phone industry. They are Apple. They are in first place for a reason. If they come out with this device and it sells pretty well, like let's say they sell 8 to 10 million of these things, which I think is quite reasonable, that's just going to further legitimize the segment altogether.
You're going to have Android people who are going to buy a folding phone because the iPhone fold is out. I know that probably sounds crazy to some people, but when Apple does it, it's legitimate. It's no longer just that niche thing. You're going to have people that prefer Android that are going to go, "Oh, Apple's doing it. You know what? Those folding phones are pretty cool. They are pretty luxurious. They are something that is aspirational. I'm going to go buy a folding phone." But it's not going to be an Apple one. That is going to happen. This could be a situation where the rising tides can potentially raise all boats.
Allegedly, this thing is coming at the end of this year, sometime around September, if I'm not mistaken. We won't have too much longer to go before we're going to actually get to see this thing in real life. But for now, guys, that's what I have for you. It's there. It's in the OS, and it's present in dummy units, which is pretty darn cool to be seeing.
As always, give me your thoughts in those comments down below, subscribe for more content like this, and until next time, stay nerdy, my friends.
