A new leak doubles down on the iPhone Fold being launched in September 2026, and says production difficulties were surmounted without the rumored extensive redesign.
Despite some reports saying that the folding phone industry was likely to follow Apple’s innovative hinge system, others said that hinge was a problem that could mean the iPhone Fold being redesigned. Now regular leaker Fixed Focus Digital says that recent reports of delays to the iPhone Fold are not true.
Writing on Chinese social media site Weibo, Fixed Focus Digital claims instead that there has never been any delay. “The foldable project faced production challenges during the initial manufacturing phase [as] a small batch was produced for testing,” says the leaker (in machine translation).
“While ramping up output was initially difficult,” they continue, “the hurdles were overcome, and the issue is now resolved.”
Reportedly, the problems became apparent as the manufacturing tried to progress from that small testing batch to a larger production run. Whatever the difficulties were, though, the leaker says that they have been resolved without significant changes.
Specifically, they say that the final production model will remain much as Apple had it planned early in 2026. The leaker is confident enough about this that they suggest a future teardown of the shipping device will prove them right.
The claim that the iPhone Fold remains on schedule for a September 2026 launch does back up recent reports from the supply chain. Those claimed that multiple component manufacturers were continuing production for Apple and had not been told of any significant delay.
Note that Fixed Focus Digital has a mixed track record when it comes to Apple rumors. One success was naming the iPhone 16e before most others, but the account also incorrectly predicted that the iPhone 17 would get a 120Hz display without ProMotion.
