A new direction for Apple

Apple is expected to announce its first foldable iPhone tomorrow, seven years after Samsung launched the original Galaxy Fold and established a category that has remained small but persistent. The event is significant for a number of reasons, not least because it is the first hardware showcase for John Ternus, Apple's chief executive, since he took over the role. Ternus is not a newcomer to Apple's product development. He was previously the executive in charge of hardware engineering, which means the shape of the product lines now on display were often shaped by his decisions. But the CEO position carries a different set of pressures, and the foldable iPhone will be an early test of whether Apple can still command attention in a market crowded with mature competitors.

What the device might look like

According to leaks, rumors, and supply chain reports, the new device is expected to be a short, squat, passport-sized phone when closed. When opened, it is said to reveal a wider display, giving the phone a square-ish profile that differs from the tall, book-like shape of Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series. The design choice is striking because it contradicts much of the conventional wisdom about foldables. Many manufacturers have treated foldables as a way to offer a tablet-sized screen in a phone-sized body. Apple's reported direction suggests the company is more interested in offering a phone that is smaller and easier to carry than a normal flagship, while expanding the usable display just enough to make a difference in everyday tasks.

If that description sounds familiar, it is because the same basic form factor has already arrived on the Android side. Huawei was one of the first to try this with the Pura X Max, which launched in April. Samsung followed with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in July. Xiaomi's 18 Fold arrived yesterday and has been described as the best-specified wide foldable yet, although it is currently available only in China. Oppo and Honor are also reported to have similar devices in development. The result is that the shape has already been validated by multiple manufacturers before Apple's version has even been announced.

Who influenced whom?

That sequence has prompted an obvious question. If Apple's foldable iPhone has not been officially shown, let alone shipped, how could Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, or Honor be responding to it? One possibility is that several companies arrived at the same idea independently. A wide foldable can solve some of the same problems that have plagued traditional foldables, such as weight and bulk. It is also possible that Android manufacturers wanted to move first in order to take advantage of consumer excitement that Apple would eventually create. But there is good reason to believe Apple played a role, even if it wasn't visible to the general public.

Apple has been reported to be developing a foldable iPhone since at least 2017. That is an unusually long development process, but it is consistent with Apple's history of being deliberate and slow. The company's supply chain, built and perfected under former CEO Tim Cook, is vast, and details of new designs often leak through component orders ahead of launch. By the time industry observers were predicting a passport-sized foldable in early 2025, the broader manufacturing ecosystem likely already had a clear idea of what Apple intended to do. Samsung is reportedly the company that will manufacture the foldable display panel for Apple's iPhone, which means Samsung would have had direct knowledge of Apple's plans even before any public leaks.

Apple's record of moving markets

None of this would be surprising to anyone who has watched the industry over the past twenty years. Apple does not always invent new categories, but its entries often end up shaping them. The company rarely ships the first smartphone, the first tablet, or the first smartwatch, but it has often been the one to define the design rules that other companies follow. The same pattern appeared last year with the iPhone Air, a thin and light phone that instantly made thinness a talking point across the market. Samsung responded with the Galaxy S25 Edge, and manufacturers like Honor, Huawei, and Tecno began showing off their own thin designs in the following months.

A similar dynamic played out in laptops after the introduction of the MacBook Neo. That machine, which arrived in March, was not just a new laptop. It was a statement about performance, portability, and color, and within months a range of inexpensive, colorful machines from Lenovo, Dell, and Acer appeared, all seemingly influenced by the same direction. The pattern is not universal. The Vision Pro did not generate a wave of similarly ambitious headsets from major Android partners or PC makers, likely because the potential market was too narrow and the technology too expensive. But Apple's interest remains one of the most reliable signals that a form factor or feature has a future in the mainstream.

Why Android makers are pivoting now

The timing of the recent foldable launches also makes sense in light of Apple's upcoming event. For years, the Android foldable market has been organized around two basic form factors: the clam shell shape of the Galaxy Z Flip and the larger book shape of the Galaxy Z Fold. Most manufacturers either copied those designs outright or created variations that were still clearly within the same design language. The result was a market with little experimentation. Companies such as Oppo and Google actually started with foldables that were closer to the wide format now associated with Apple, but they later moved away from those original designs in favor of taller, narrower devices that fit the expectations set by Samsung.

Now that Apple is about to enter the market with a wide form factor, Android brands have a reason to revisit the approach. They cannot easily say they are copying Apple before Apple has even announced a product, but they can position their own devices as alternatives for consumers who are curious about the category. This is a common strategy in the technology industry: beat Apple to the punch, or at least ensure that your product is on the shelf when Apple's marketing machine begins educating consumers about a new kind of device. The arrival of the passport-style foldable is therefore less about a sudden burst of invention and more about the alignment of an entire ecosystem around a direction that Apple is expected to validate.

The numbers behind the noise

For all the attention foldables receive, they remain a tiny sliver of the phone market. Research firms estimated that foldables made up just 1.6 percent of smartphone sales in 2025. That is a small number by any standard, but the trend line matters more than the baseline. The same analyses suggested that foldable shipments would grow by roughly 20 percent this year, and that Apple could capture a 28 percent share of the category within a few months of releasing its own product. If those estimates are close, the foldable market is about to become significantly larger and substantially more competitive. That would be good news for the component makers, app developers, and accessory companies that have invested in foldables over the past seven years, while also creating a more difficult landscape for Samsung, which has dominated the category since the beginning.

Apple's effect may extend beyond simple market share. When Apple introduces a new display shape, it often forces the software ecosystem to adapt. Developers who ignore a new device form factor risk seeing their apps look outdated on the latest iPhone. This is one of Apple's most powerful advantages. The same apps that are available on Android can look inconsistent across different screen sizes and aspect ratios, but Apple can use its control over the platform to encourage developers to support its new format from day one. If the passport-sized foldable becomes a significant part of the iPhone lineup, it could create an environment in which the wide screen is not a novelty but a standard worth optimizing for.

Ternus and the road ahead

For John Ternus, the launch is also a statement about continuity. He is inheriting a company that has spent more than a decade building a reputation for influencing entire product categories. The Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, and the Apple Watch all carry that legacy. Ternus himself has been part of the engineering culture that created those products, and his background gives him credibility among hardware enthusiasts. But maintaining influence is harder than gaining it, especially when competitors are faster and more willing to experiment. The size of Apple's ecosystem, the strength of its brand, and the resources it devotes to supply chain all work in his favor. The question is whether Apple can still translate those advantages into products that set the agenda.

The wider foldable market is one of the next arenas where that influence will be tested. It is too early to know whether the passport-sized foldable will succeed, fail, or simply settle into a niche. The answer depends on execution, software support, pricing, and the unpredictable preferences of consumers. What is clear is that the product exists before it has even been announced, at least in the minds of competitors who have spent the last few months positioning their own wide foldables. That is not a coincidence. It is a reflection of the way Apple continues to shape the industry, even when it has not yet said a word.

Source:The Verge News