A new report says that the folding iPhone is on track for a 2026 launch while Apple has paused work on the folding iPad.
Apple’s Folding iPhone is on Track for Launch in Second Half of 2026, the Folding iPad has Been Put on Hold
Apple has a few folding devices in the pipeline, and the most obvious two are the iPad and iPhone. According to a report by DigiTimes, Apple has made good progress when it comes to the folding iPhone, but with the iPad, not so much.
The report says that Apple’s folding iPhone is currently in its prototyping stage and is on track for a 2026 release. Once the prototyping stage is complete by the end of this year, the device will move into the Engineering Verification Test stage.
The folding iPhone is expected to launch in the second half of 2026. A launch alongside the iPhone 18 lineup makes sense, but that remains to be seen.
There’s also bad news in the report, and it lies on the iPad side of the fence, or more specifically, the folding version of it.
The report says that Apple has paused work on the folding iPad for now due to several reasons, with expensive and difficult manufacturing being a couple of them.
The folding iPad was set for launch in 2026 as well, according to one report. But if work has been paused, it likely means we won’t see it for at least a couple of years, or until the technology is ready that keeps the overall cost down.
I have a hunch Apple is going to test the market with a folding iPhone first and see if a folding iPad is a viable device. There’s no point in creating something people don’t need.
