Apple’s Foldable iPhone Targets China With a 4:3 Display
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is preparing to introduce its first foldable iPhone, the product of roughly a decade of development and the company’s largest iPhone design change in years. He argues that limited initial production—seven million to 10 million units—and stronger foldable demand in China make it a strategic premium device rather than a near-term mass-market seller. Apple’s differentiator, Gurman says, is a 4:3 unfolded display designed to resemble an iPad in landscape orientation.
Supply limits and China give Apple’s foldable its immediate strategic weight
Mark Gurman says Apple is likely to make seven million to 10 million foldable iPhones this year, and that the broad expectation is it will sell every unit it can produce. The device is entering as a tightly constrained premium model, not as a form factor that will immediately account for a large share of new iPhone sales.
Manufacturing is itself a limiting factor. Gurman says the phone combines advanced display and hinge technology with the difficult task of fitting batteries, cameras, and the rest of an iPhone’s components into a folding chassis. He describes that as much more complicated than building a conventional slab- or “candy bar”-style phone.
The category remains small in the US market. Foldables represent about 2% of the market there, Gurman says, meaning the product will be only a slim proportion of new iPhones. In China, foldables account for roughly twice that share—about 4%, by Gurman’s comparison. That makes the device disproportionately important in a market where Apple has recently been on what he calls a high point after a more volatile period. The company’s hope, he says, is that the foldable helps sustain that position.
The Bloomberg Intelligence estimates displayed during the discussion put iPhone revenue growth at 21.7% year over year in both the first and second quarters of 2026, before slowing to 14.1% in the third quarter and 4.8% in the fourth. Gurman’s account presents the foldable less as a mass-market US volume driver than as a scarce, high-end product with particular strategic relevance in China.
| Quarter | Estimated iPhone revenue growth |
|---|---|
| 1Q 2026 | 21.7% |
| 2Q 2026 | 21.7% |
| 3Q 2026 | 14.1% |
| 4Q 2026 | 4.8% |
Apple settled on a wider screen rather than a squarer foldable
Apple’s eventual design differs from the more square format associated with earlier foldables, according to Gurman. Around 2023, he says, the company had its “aha moment”: a device that is shorter and wider when opened, using a 4:3 aspect ratio.
It’s an aspect ratio known as four by three. It’s basically the same aspect ratio you get with an iPad in landscape mode, versus traditional foldable phones had a more squarish design.
Gurman describes the geometry as more interesting and better for watching video. Its unfolded screen is intended to resemble the proportions of an iPad in landscape mode rather than the squarer interior displays common in traditional foldables. The distinction is central to Apple’s design rationale: the company is not simply adding a hinge, but choosing a different shape for the larger display the hinge creates.
This short and wider design [is] more interesting, better experience for watching video.
That choice followed an earlier concept that was more literally tablet-like. Apple’s original idea, Gurman says, was an iPad mini that could unfold into a larger iPad. The eventual iPhone therefore reflects a shift in both product category and display geometry.
A decade-long project shifted from a foldable iPad to an iPhone
Foldable phones have been available since Samsung launched the first Galaxy Fold around 2019, Gurman says. Apple’s work began earlier: about a decade ago, its core technology teams—hardware research groups looking at future technologies—started experimenting with foldable screens.
The early focus was the expandable iPad mini. Around 2020, Gurman says, Tim Cook traveled in Asia, including China and Korea, saw Huawei, Samsung, and other companies using foldable phones, and returned unusually enthusiastic about the category. He asked where Apple’s foldable phone was, Gurman says, and the company pivoted from the tablet concept to a foldable iPhone.
Gurman says Apple is set to introduce the device at its “Surprise and Shine” event in Cupertino, alongside new Apple Watches and likely new AirPods. Conventional iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models are also expected. The foldable, however, would mark the larger design departure: a new display-and-hinge configuration joining, rather than replacing, Apple’s standard slab-style phones.