iPhone Fold could be thinner than an iPad Pro when opened

AppleInsider

The iPhone Fold is expected to be very thin, with a Chinese leaker claiming the flexible smartphone could have a frame that's just 4.8mm thick.

Render of a possible iPhone Fold - Source AppleInsider

The iPhone Fold is an engineering challenge for Apple, but one that it seems to be meeting. One of those challenges is making it thin, without being too thick while folded up, something a leaker believes Apple has solved.

In a Wednesday post to Weibo, serial leaker Instant Digital said that the frame for the folding iPhone is measured at 4.8mm. For comparison, the iPhone 16 is 7.8mm thick, while the M4 iPad Pro is 5.1mm thick.

While this would theoretically mean the iPhone Fold could be as slim as 9.6mm thick when folded up, Instant Digital warns against this. They say that the actual thickness of the "inner screen frame pad" but also be taken into account, but they don't say how much that would be.

In the right ballpark

While 4.8mm sounds like an extremely thin smartphone when unfolded, this is actually a measurement that has cropped up in the past. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued various specifications in March, including that the unfolded iPhone Fold would measure between 4.5mm and 4.8mm.

Kuo also added that the folded thickness for the device would be between 9mm and 9.5mm, which isn't much thicker than a current-gen iPhone.

Instant Digital doesn't have the best reputation, in part due to the generally poor accuracy of Weibo-based leaker accounts. Instant Digital did manage to be correct about the camera control button on the iPhone 16, but they have also claimed that an all-glass Apple Watch is on the way.

Aside from the thickness, there's also some agreement between leakers in terms of the overall screen size.

In June, Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station said the screen size was 7.58 inches, smaller than their April 2025 claim of 7.76 inches and their March 2025 claim of 7.74 inches.

Kuo, meanwhile, went for 7.8 inches in March 2025.

Resolution-wise, the rumors are more consistent, with expectations of the internal display reaching 2,713 pixels by 1,920 pixels.

On the back, there are expectations of a dual camera system, though Digital Chat Station said in June that Apple will use 48MP sensors.

Rumor Score: Possible

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whizville

I’m interested to see how these are different from the Android folding phones. 

edited July 16

avon b7

Whizville said:

Why?  I guess some people need their phones to fold.  I’ve never needed mine to fold since 2007 when Steve introduced the iPhone.  Is it just because of a bigger screen?  I tried an iPhone 16e direct from Apple for a bigger screen and I couldn’t justify the $600 to buy it so I returned it five days later and still use my perfectly great iPhone SE3. 

I guess I’m different.

They fold precisely because of the possibility of getting a bigger screen out of a pocketable device.

They are expensive so many won't be able to justify the cost but some will be able and willing to.

It's for them. 

4.8mm seems a little 'thick' for this rumoured device when you take into account that last year's Mate XT was already at 3.6mm unfolded. 

rogue01

So it is almost a 10mm brick in your pocket for over $2,000, and like everything else that folds, there will be a crease down the display after use.  You can't avoid it.  Apple did not invent some magical display that won't show a crease over time.  I would rather look right at my phone without having to unfold it every single time.  I bet you have to unfold it every time you want to take a picture to see what is on the screen through the camera.  So now you will look like the fools holding up an iPad to take pictures.