Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone expectations are too high says Wall Street analyst

Jefferies analyst Edison Lee says that Apple's much-hyped foldable iPhone could disappoint, with all of the hype leading to excessive expectations.

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The Wall Street analyst said that Apple's new foldable iPhone will probably fail to meet the current hype, saying "the better performance of the base iPhone 17 has led to excessive expectations on 18 Fold" where he expects to see around 12.5 million foldable iPhones sold in 2026.

In previous reports from June 2025, we've heard that Apple was planning to produce a much smaller amount of foldable iPhones than any of the iPhone 17 family: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple's move is to challenge the foldable dominance away from its main US and global competitor -- Samsung -- while flicking shade at Huawei and its Mate XT foldable smartphone.

However, Huawei has a triple-fold smartphone available in China and Samsung has its triple-fold Galaxy smartphone announcement later this year, so Samsung will beat Apple once again in the foldable smartphone market with a tri-fold handset in 2026, while Apple hasn't even got a foldable iPhone to market at that time.

Apple's first foldable iPhone is rumored to be dubbed the iPhone Ultra, with an inward-folding book-style 7.8-inch Display with what should be next to no crease, a titanium chassis, and a next-gen durable hinge with Liquid Metal, dual rear-facing cameras, and Touch ID in place of Face ID.

The internal display will fold out into a larger 7.8-inch display that will deliver an iPad-like experience for increases in productivity, entertainment, gaming, and multitasking. Apple will reportedly work with developers to take advantage of the bigger display together with the inner display.