Foldable iPhone's 12GB RAM to Be Supplied by Samsung

Apple's first foldable iPhone will feature 12GB of RAM supplied by Samsung, with the latter set to begin DRAM shipments in the second quarter of this year in line with Apple's production schedule.

Korea-based media outlet The Bell reports that Samsung was able to negotiate a substantially higher price than previous memory contracts with Apple, owing to tightening global memory supply amid the AI server build-out.

The price of a 12GB LPDDR5X module, which is already used in the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, has risen sharply from around $30 at the beginning of 2025 to roughly $70 at the start of this year.

Despite Apple's typical multi-vendor strategy, the company is said to be expanding the share of iPhone memory it sources from Samsung due to rapidly rising memory prices. Concentrating a much larger share of orders with Samsung should allow Apple to secure more predictable deliveries and potentially benefit from economies of scale, even as overall component costs rise.

That said, companies such as SK hynix and Micron are also believed to have secured DRAM purchase orders from Apple for its first foldable, though these are expected to enter the supply chain at a much later date.

Apple's book-style foldable will operate like a cross between an iPhone and an iPad, recent reports suggest. When closed, it will resemble a traditional slab-style iPhone, but when open, it will be closer to the size of the iPad mini. Rather than a tall design, Apple is using a wider design than its competitors, and it is expected to have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

The foldable iPhone or "iPhone Fold" is expected to launch in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.