The new foldable iPhone won't ship to customers in the same September timeframe as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said today in a Q&A session.
Apple will likely ship the iPhone Fold to customers after the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max come out in September, but Gurman did not provide a specific availability timeline.
Earlier this month, Barclays analyst Tim Long suggested that the foldable iPhone won't ship until December, suggesting a roughly three-month delay between the iPhone Fold and the iPhone 18 Pro models. Apple has done a split launch before, shipping one model later than another. When the iPhone X launched in 2017, it shipped out in November, while the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus introduced alongside it came out in September as usual.
It is entirely possible Apple will ship the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September and then follow it with the iPhone Fold sometime between September and the end of the year. Back in December, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone Fold would be in short supply, suggesting manufacturing difficulties. Kuo expects supply constraints into 2027, and supply problems or manufacturing issues could explain why Apple would delay the iPhone Fold's shipment date.
Even if Apple does plan to ship the iPhone Fold after September, we can still expect to see it introduced during the annual iPhone event that will feature the iPhone 18 Pro models. Apple will likely announce all three phones at once, and then bring them to customers when they're ready.
