There is already a lot of buzz in the market regarding foldable patents from Apple which have been published for years now.
Apple’s First Foldable Leak Surfaced
When it comes to this technology brand, it has chosen to remain tight-lipped about its plans.
But, now a new leak has surfaced, allegedly revealing detailed specifications of the rumoured foldable iPhone.
Answering to all these rumors, Apple is most likely to enter into the foldable smartphone market which is scheduled to finally arrive in late 2026.
The same is confirmed by Mark Gurman’s latest newsletter repeating the same rumor which was published on the 7th of this month.
China’s Lens Technology Providing Ultra Thin Glass
In another update, China’s Lens Technology company could be one of the first vendors of Apple’s foldable product cover window Ultra Thin Glass (UTG).
For making this, the UTG glass material is expected to be supplied by Corning in the United States.
Further this report talks about “Industry insiders cite Lens’ UTG mass production history, technology, and financial power as its strengths.
When it comes to Lens, it has a history of supplying UTG for foldable phones to Chinese smartphone companies.
The company is known to be relatively stable in areas such as UTG reinforcement and minimizing side cracks after cutting.
Besides this, the company also has etching technology.
It appears that the iPhone maker prefers a concept UTG as it only etches the folded central part of the UTG.
The logic behind this is If the central part is made thin then the overall thickness of the UTG can be increased, strengthening durability.
Besides this, they will also need etching technology as it is required to make the entire surface of the UTG flat.
Around 70% of the UTG volume of Apple’s foldable products will be supplied by Lens Technology as per the industry estimates.
For the remaining share, it could be supplied by Korean UTG companies.
They are considering Korean companies as candidates for UTG second vendors including names like Dowinsys and UTI.
These two companies have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Further, the report mentioned that “Samsung Display is likely to be the sole supplier of the foldable panel for the product. LG Display could also take advantage.”
This rumoured iPhone Fold is rumoured to be over 12 inches in size when unfolded.
Moving ahead, the leak describes the phone as “comparable to two 6.1-inch iPhones folded together.”
The leak also suggests that the iPhone Fold will be 4.6 mm thin when unfolded and 9.2 mm when folded, which, if true, would make it thinner than Apple’s M4 iPad Pro and other leading foldable smartphones.
There is a notable claim by the leaker that the iPhone Fold will feature a “large folding mechanism” on the left rear side.
Further suggesting that the phone will open like a book, again contradicts a previous rumour that suggested a clamshell-style fold, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, or a wrap-around folding design, similar to Huawei’s Mate Xs 2.
There are also rumours around Apple experimented with multiple hinge mechanisms, but it remains unclear which design will make it to production
