iPhone Fold just hit major milestone that’s good news for launch timing

Source: 9to5Mac

Foldable iPhone is now in trial production at Foxconn

Apple has been experimenting internally with foldable iPhones for years. But this is finally the year that the first iPhone Fold arrives.

According to Weibo leaker Instant Digital, the new model just hit a big development milestone. In a new post today (translated):

The iPhone Fold has now begun trial production at Foxconn.

Foxconn is Apple’s primary partner for iPhone production. Moving into trial production with Foxconn means Apple is moving steadily toward mass production of the iPhone Fold.

This is especially great news considering some recent reporting that the foldable might launch later than the iPhone 18 Pro. Barclays analyst Tim Long recently reported that he doesn’t expect the iPhone Fold to arrive in users’ hands until December. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman corroborated this, in part.

Though Gurman was less specific on timing, he said “there is no doubt that [iPhone Fold] is going to come a little bit later than the Pro phones.” He attributed this delay to the challenges of producing foldable phones and Apple’s history with major new models like the iPhone X launching slightly later than other flagships.

Based on today’s leak, however, it seems Apple still aspires to a September launch. In the new post, Instant Digital quoted a previous claim that the iPhone Fold would launch simultaneously with the iPhone 18 Pro. The move into trial production at Foxconn is evidence that Apple’s timelines are, so far, proceeding as planned.

When do you expect the iPhone Fold’s launch timing to be? Let us know in the comments.