Apple will unveil its new iPhone lineup on September 10, and expectations are building that the company's first foldable phone will also take the stage.
Apple sent out official invitations on the 27th, saying it will hold a product launch event at 2 a.m. on the 10th of next month Korean time, or 10 a.m. local time on the 9th. The official Korean title of the event is "Time to Shine."
The event will mark the debut of new Chief Executive John Ternus, a hardware specialist who takes over from Tim Cook, who steps down as CEO at the end of this month. According to industry sources, Apple is expected to adopt a split-launch strategy, introducing the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the foldable phone at this event, while holding back the standard iPhone 18, the iPhone 18e and the second-generation iPhone Air until around next spring.
Other products expected at next month's event include the Apple Watch Series 12, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the AirPods 5. The event will be streamed live on Apple's website, Apple TV and YouTube.
Attention Turns to Apple's First Foldable
The name of the foldable iPhone has not been officially confirmed, but "iPhone Ultra" is cited as the most likely candidate. The device is expected to be a book-style fold that opens sideways, with an external screen of about 5.5 inches when closed and an internal screen of roughly 7.6 to 7.8 inches when open.
The price is likely to be the highest of any iPhone to date. Current forecasts put the U.S. starting price at around $2,000, or about 2.77 million won, rising to about $2,500, or roughly 3.47 million won, for higher-capacity models. Initial production volumes are also expected to be limited, raising the prospect of supply shortages soon after launch.
Research firm IDC said in a report released the same day that Apple will sell more than 10 million foldable iPhones in the first year alone, with sales reaching 17 million by next year. As a result, IDC projects that Apple will enter the foldable smartphone market with a 31% share this year and take 40% of the total market next year, a shift from last year, when Android accounted for 88% of the market and Chinese company Huawei's HarmonyOS held 12%.
Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said Apple's entry into the foldable smartphone market fundamentally changes the trajectory of the market itself. Without Apple, she added, shipments of foldable devices would have posted a double-digit decline from a year earlier.
