The dust has barely settled on this month’s announcement and release of the new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, but rumours are already swirling about next year’s Apple smartphones, including the potential to finally see a foldable iPhone unveiled.

Bloomberg’s Apple reporter Mark Gurman has a very good track record when it comes to iPhone rumours thanks to his extensive sources within Apple and its supply chain. According to his latest newsletter, we don’t have long to wait until Apple finally lifts the lid on a foldable iPhone to rival the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold range.

“The foldable iPhone will be the star of Apple’s 2026 product lineup and work continues in Cupertino as well as with the company’s supplier and assembly partners overseas,” Gurman said. He expects Apple to save the announcement for its regular September event, so we still have a year to wait – but in the grand scheme of things that’s not too long.

Samsung released the first Galaxy Fold way back 2019. Apple is biding its time before possibly launching its own folding device, presumably to reach the company’s high standards of hardware fit and finish.

I’ve tested several folding Android phones, and while the tech has always been impressive, only in the last year or so have the phones slimmed down to the size of regular smartphones. THe past few years have seen chunky, fragile devices with beig screen creases. Apple will surely want to avoid any of that.

“As for how the foldable iPhone will look, I am increasingly told that users should imagine two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side,” Gurman said. “In other words, it’s going to be super thin and a design achievement.”

The new iPhone Air is 5.64mm thick, the thinnest iPhone ever. The idea that the folding iPhone will closely resemble two of these phones makes sense, though if Apple wants to one-up Samsung, it’ll have slim things down further.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a wafer-thin 4.2mm when unfolded. You can’t get much thinner as the USB-C port is about that wide top to bottom, and let’s not forget all of the components still need somewhere to reside.

It’s always interesting to see when Apple waits and when it leads in tech innovation. After all, the 2016 introduction of AirPods popularised wireless earbuds, though the firm also accelerated this trend by removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 that same year.

Foldable phones are firmly in the opposite camp for Apple, with the firm probably mulling whether or not it would make one at all over the past few years.

If we do see a foldable iPhone in a year’s time, then you might want to start saving now. Girman reckons the device will be “at least $2,000”, which could easily translate into more than £2,000.

The Z Fold 7 retails for £1,799, with Google’s upcoming Pixel 10 Pro Fold at £1,749 and Honor’s Magic V5 at £1,699. These book style folding phones resemble what the iPhone is predicted to be like. The alternative is flip phone style folding devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip range, which are smaller and cost less at about £1,000.