iPhone Fold at 2,000 dollars: 4 things Apple is doing differently
Apple is preparing its first foldable iPhone for September 2026, with a creaseless display and Touch ID returning in the power button instead of Face ID.
Is it worth waiting for Apple’s foldable phone when Samsung, Huawei and Honor have already been making them for six years? Maybe.
Apple is late, but it is late with concrete solutions the competition has not yet shown. The iPhone Fold, which may also be marketed as iPhone Ultra, ships in September 2026 at a starting price of 1,999 dollars for the 256 GB model.
The biggest change is not the screen or the price. The biggest change is that Apple is splitting the iPhone line into two waves across the year.
- Fall: Pro and Fold
- Spring 2027: iPhone 18 and 18e
That breaks the unified launch date that has held since the original iPhone in 2007.
1. A creaseless folding screen
The main problem with foldable phones is the visible crease down the middle of the screen when the device is open. Samsung, Huawei and Honor all ship with a more or less visible crease.
Apple, according to supplier reports, has solved this with a new material that does not break under hinge stress. The goal: an unfolded device that looks indistinguishable from a regular tablet screen.
Whether the result is truly creaseless will only show up in real-world testing after launch. But Apple attacked this problem as a priority “regardless of cost,” and that usually means the result is not half-baked.
2. Touch ID returns in the power button
Face ID will not be available on the iPhone Fold. Touch ID is back, integrated into the side power button. It is the same solution Apple uses on smaller iPad models.
The reason is technical. Two screens leave less room for the Face ID module, which would have to be duplicated. Apple chose not to do that and instead reused a proven biometric solution in the button.
3. Two cameras instead of three
The iPhone Fold has a main and an ultra-wide camera. There is no telephoto lens (the camera that zooms in for distant subjects) that standard Pro models keep.
The reason is space again. Three cameras do not fit inside the thinner body of a folding device.
For anyone choosing the Fold for the tablet-in-your-pocket factor, losing the telephoto is a reasonable trade. For anyone who would normally buy a Pro Max, this is worth pausing over.
4. Book form, closer to the Z Fold than to a clamshell
There are two main foldable form factors:
- Clamshell: folds into a square with a small outer screen (Samsung Z Flip, Motorola Razr)
- Book: opens like a book into a tablet (Samsung Z Fold, Honor Magic V)
Apple is going with the book form. Unfolded, the phone has a screen close to iPad mini size. Folded, the outer screen is slightly shorter and wider than a standard iPhone.
The book format makes more sense for work and media consumption. The clamshell makes more sense for fashion and pocketability. Apple clearly chose the first category.
What this means in practice for buyers in Serbia
The Serbian price has not been announced. Based on Apple’s standard pricing conversion, the 256 GB version would land around 2,350 euros (about 275,700 dinars) at authorized retailers.
That is more than two and a half times the price of the base iPhone 16e, which sells for around 800 euros (about 94,000 dinars).
Apple’s official Serbian warranties are handled by authorized distributors, with more than ten locations across the country. iCloud, Apple Music and the App Store work normally with Serbian payment cards.
Does it make sense to buy a first-generation Apple foldable?
As a rule, the first generation of a new form factor is not the best buy. Samsung needed four Z Fold generations to make the device genuinely usable. Honor and Huawei worked through their problems across iterations.
Apple is unlikely to be the exception, even if its hardware is more refined out of the gate.
Our take: if the device genuinely interests you, wait for the second generation in 2027 or 2028. If you have to be among the first, know that a piece of that 2,000 dollars is effectively paying to beta-test the hinge.
For 2,000 dollars, would you try the first Apple foldable or hold out for the second version?
