Apple is quietly laying the groundwork for a foldable iPhone debut on a scale that defies earlier market forecasts. According to ET News, the company has secured an order for roughly 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display an unmistakable signal that Cupertino’s production aspirations for its inaugural foldable device are anything but modest.
Before the report vanished from public view, ET News asserted that Samsung intends to fabricate 11 million inward-folding OLED screens for Apple next year, alongside an equal number of secondary outer displays. Given that Samsung Display stands as the sole supplier for these components, the math points toward an Apple production goal hovering around 10 million completed units. This buffer aligns with Apple’s long-standing habit of over-ordering parts to accommodate yield inconsistencies and rigorous quality thresholds.
What makes this revelation particularly striking is how sharply it diverges from prior expectations. Early projections had placed initial foldable iPhone shipments somewhere between six and eight million units a figure extrapolated from the broader foldable smartphone sector, which has struggled to push beyond an annual volume slightly north of 20 million devices worldwide. Apple, it seems, is betting on swifter adoption than the industry’s historical rhythm would suggest.
Design wise, the device is said to embrace a book-style, inward-folding architecture. The exterior screen is expected to span 5.35 inches, while the internal foldable display reportedly stretches to a generous 7.58 inches. Beneath the glass, Apple is believed to be engineering a sophisticated hinge assembly paired with bespoke material treatments, all aimed at suppressing the notorious crease that has plagued many early foldable panels.
On the display technology front, Apple is rumored to be adopting Color Filter on Encapsulation (COE) a technique that discards the conventional polarizer layer and fuses its role directly into the OLED structure. The payoff is twofold: a slimmer profile and heightened luminance. Adding to the device’s visual sleight of hand, an Under Display Camera (UDC) is also said to be in the pipeline, enabling a continuous, uninterrupted internal screen without the blemish of cutouts or punch holes.
If timelines hold steady, Apple’s first foldable iPhone is slated to make its public bow next year, arriving in tandem with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Should these production figures prove accurate, Apple’s entry into the foldable arena may arrive not as a cautious experiment, but as a calculated declaration of scale.
