---
title: "Apple Is Said to Ready Its First Foldable iPhone and Five New Models"
description: "Apple has raised its production target for its first foldable iPhone to around 10 million units and is preparing at least five new iPhone models across late 2026 and early 2027, according to a Nikkei report. Apple hasn't confirmed any of it — but the plans, if accurate, mark its most ambitious product push in years and a jolt for the foldable supply chain."
category: "Tech"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/tech
author: "Priya Venkatesan"
published: 2026-07-02T06:45:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T06:45:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/apple-is-said-to-ready-its-first-foldable-iphone-and-five-new-models
tags: ["apple", "iphone", "foldable", "supply-chain", "smartphones"]
---
# Apple Is Said to Ready Its First Foldable iPhone and Five New Models

Apple has raised its production target for its first foldable iPhone to around 10 million units and is preparing at least five new iPhone models across late 2026 and early 2027, according to a Nikkei report. Apple hasn't confirmed any of it — but the plans, if accurate, mark its most ambitious product push in years and a jolt for the foldable supply chain.

Apple is preparing the biggest expansion of its iPhone lineup in years — including its long-rumored first **foldable** — according to a report from Japan's Nikkei, though the company itself has said nothing.

Apple has **raised its production target for a foldable iPhone to around 10 million units**, up from earlier estimates of roughly 7 to 8 million, and has told suppliers to prepare components for **at least five new iPhone models** launching across the second half of 2026 and into early 2027, [Nikkei Asia reported](https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/apple-to-launch-5-new-iphone-models-to-gain-market-share-amid-memory-crunch), citing people familiar with the plans. The foldable is expected to be a premium device — [reportedly priced around $2,500](https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/01/apple-reportedly-orders-10m-foldable-iphone-ultra-models-which-could-sell-for-around-2500/), well above the standard iPhone — though pricing, naming and specifications are unconfirmed.

**A caveat up front:** Apple does not pre-announce products, and none of this is official. These are **supply-chain reports**, which are often directionally right but can change before launch. Treat the figures as reported plans, not confirmed fact.

## What a foldable is — and why it's hard

A **foldable phone** has a flexible screen that folds, so a device the size of a normal phone can open into a small tablet. Rivals led by **Samsung** have sold them for years, but they remain a niche: the folding displays are expensive and prone to a visible crease, and the hinges add cost and fragility. Apple has stayed out of the category until now, and reports suggest it has worked on techniques to minimize the crease — the kind of engineering detail that has kept it on the sidelines while competitors iterated.

## Why the volumes matter beyond Apple

The headline isn't just a new gadget — it's the **numbers**, because Apple's scale reshapes entire supply chains. A target of around 10 million foldables is large for a first-generation, premium product, and it signals confidence to the suppliers who make **flexible OLED displays, hinges and specialized components.** When Apple commits to a category at volume, component makers invest to meet it, and analysts expect Apple's entry to give the whole **foldable-panel** market a lift.

The broader five-model push, meanwhile, points to an unusually busy product cycle as Apple tries to defend and grow market share — and it comes as the industry navigates **rising memory-chip costs**, a squeeze Boursel has covered that is pushing up prices across electronics.

## Why it matters

For **Apple's suppliers** — display makers, chip and component firms across Asia — a bigger, more varied iPhone lineup means more orders but also more complexity to manage. For **the smartphone market**, Apple finally entering foldables could move the category from niche toward mainstream, pressuring Samsung and others. And for **investors**, the plans (if borne out) speak to Apple's strategy of **segmenting** its lineup across more price points to keep growth going in a mature market. Boursel offers no view on Apple's stock and cannot confirm unannounced products; the takeaway is that the most closely watched hardware company is, by these accounts, betting big on a **new form factor** — and the ripple effects would reach well beyond Cupertino.

## Sources

- [Apple to launch 5 new iPhone models to gain market share amid memory crunch](https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/apple-to-launch-5-new-iphone-models-to-gain-market-share-amid-memory-crunch)
- [Apple reportedly orders ~10M foldable iPhones, could sell for around $2,500](https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/01/apple-reportedly-orders-10m-foldable-iphone-ultra-models-which-could-sell-for-around-2500/)