With just weeks to go before Apple's biggest product launch of the year, Apple's most renowned information leaker – Mark Gurman – has shared details of the next three years of iPhones, including an upcoming folding phone iPhone.
In his paywalled piece for Bloomberg, he explains that Apple is about to begin a 3-year plan to re-invent (and perhaps reinigorate) the iPhone, and that will begin with an iPhone Air (a rumor we have covered here before), a phone which will make some compromises on the number of cameras and battery size in exchange for thinness.
Gurman is clear he thingks that the iPhone Air will actually replace the iPhone 16 Plus in the lineup, so there will not actually be another product when it comes to number, just a new way of looking at the four phone line up. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max will come out as you might have expected.
The next big change will come in (presumably) September 2026 with a folding iPhone – that Gurman tells us is internally codenamed called V68. It will fold open into a small tablet (though it's a fair bet it'll cost more than an iPad Mini). We are told that this device will have four cameras, one on the front, one inside, and two on the back. In other words, one fewer back camera than we're used to on a premium product.
We're also told that the iPhone Fold (just a guess at a name!) will feature Touch ID rather than Face ID. It will also, apparently, only be sold in black and white rather than Apple's traditional four color options. Screen tech has proven an issue at Apple towers too, with Apple first wanting to use the less accurate on-cell touch tech, but shifting to in-cell touch sensors.
Apple will start to include its own modem chips in the iPhone Air, and the iPhone Fold will be the first where a C2 modem chip – one as powerful as the premium chips from competitors – might make an appearance.
Finally, the third year will be 'iPhone 20' – a special curved design to recognise the 20th anniversary. Ring any bells?
