Apple Enters Foldable Phones in 2026, Eight Years After China's FlexPai

Apple has finally made a folding iPhone.

But it did not invent the category.

On September 9, 2026, Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, a $1,999 book-style foldable with a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer screen.

Almost eight years earlier, a much smaller Chinese display company had already brought a folding smartphone to market.

Its name was Royole.

Its device was the FlexPai.

And while the product was far from polished, it helped start an eight-year experiment that Apple is only now joining.

The First Commercial Foldable Did Not Come From Samsung

Samsung is widely associated with foldable phones because of the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip families.

But Royole beat the Korean giant to market.

The Chinese flexible-display company launched the FlexPai in Beijing on October 31, 2018.

It featured a single 7.8-inch flexible screen that folded outward, transforming from a tablet-like display into a dual-sided mobile device.

Royole described it as the world's first commercial foldable smartphone.

Reuters' history of the category likewise begins with the FlexPai before moving on to Samsung's Galaxy Fold.

Being First Came With Problems

The FlexPai demonstrated that a commercially available folding display was technically possible.

But it also demonstrated how difficult the form factor would be.

The phone weighed around 320 grams and remained bulky when folded.

Reviewers found the early software and physical experience rough compared with conventional flagship smartphones.

That makes Royole's legacy complicated.

It won the race to launch first, but the first-generation device was closer to an ambitious technology demonstration than the refined foldables consumers know today.

Samsung Turned the Experiment Into a Product Category

Samsung announced the Galaxy Fold in 2019.

Its 7.3-inch folding AMOLED display opened into a tablet-like canvas, while a smaller screen allowed the device to work while closed.

The U.S. launch price started at $1,980.

The first Galaxy Fold also had major early durability problems.

Samsung delayed the product and redesigned parts of the display and hinge before relaunching it.

But unlike Royole, Samsung kept iterating.

Years of Galaxy Fold and Flip releases helped turn foldables from a novelty into an established premium smartphone segment.

China Kept Pushing the Form Factor

Huawei entered the foldable market with the Mate X in 2019.

Other Chinese manufacturers eventually followed with their own approaches.

By 2024, Huawei had moved beyond the familiar single-hinge book design and released the Mate XT, a tri-fold smartphone that opens across three sections.

The device launched in China at roughly $2,800.

The launch was significant because Chinese brands were no longer merely catching up with Samsung.

They were increasingly experimenting with formats that had no equivalent in Apple's lineup.

Samsung Responded With Its Own Tri-Fold

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Z TriFold in December 2025.

The device uses three panels that unfold into a roughly 10-inch screen.

Its launch price in South Korea was around $2,440.

Reuters reported that Samsung viewed it largely as a technological showcase for enthusiasts rather than a high-volume mainstream phone.

By that point, the foldable industry had already moved far beyond the basic engineering question of whether a screen could bend.

The challenge had shifted toward making those devices thinner, lighter, more durable and more useful.

Microsoft Took a Different Route

Microsoft entered the broader folding-device discussion with Surface Duo in 2020.

But Duo did not use a single flexible OLED screen.

Instead, it had two separate 5.6-inch displays connected by a 360-degree hinge.

Together they created an 8.1-inch working area.

That distinction makes the Surface Duo an important branch in folding-device history but not a direct technical equivalent to devices such as FlexPai, Galaxy Fold or iPhone Duo.

Then Apple Waited

Apple stayed out of the category through multiple generations of competing devices.

Samsung refined book-style and clamshell foldables.

Huawei expanded in China.

Motorola revived the Razr.

Google launched Pixel Fold.

Chinese manufacturers including Honor, Oppo and Xiaomi entered the segment.

Apple continued selling conventional slab-style iPhones.

That changed on September 9, 2026.

What Apple Put Into the iPhone Duo

The iPhone Duo opens to a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display.

When closed, users get a 5.4-inch outer display.

Apple says the two screens use the same aspect ratio so apps and content transition more naturally between folded and unfolded states.

The phone uses Apple's A20 Pro processor, a titanium design and a precision folding hinge.

Pricing begins at $1,999 in the United States.

But the September announcement is not the same as immediate retail availability.

Pre-orders begin October 16, and the phone reaches stores on October 23, 2026 in more than 70 countries and regions.

Is Apple Really Eight Years Late?

Chronologically, yes.

Royole launched FlexPai in late 2018.

Apple unveiled its first foldable in September 2026.

That is almost an eight-year gap.

Strategically, the answer is less straightforward.

Apple has frequently allowed competitors to test new product categories before entering once technology and supply chains become more mature.

The foldable market gave Apple plenty of lessons to study.

Early manufacturers struggled with screen creases, fragile displays, hinge durability, thickness, battery life and software optimization.

By 2026, many of those problems have improved substantially.

Reuters described this as a potential second-mover advantage for Apple.

Apple Avoided the Most Painful Early Years

Royole had to prove that a commercial flexible phone was possible.

Samsung had to learn how to protect fragile screens and build increasingly durable hinges.

Developers had to learn how applications behave when a display changes size.

Panel suppliers needed years to improve yields.

Consumers also needed time to understand why they might want a folding phone.

Apple now enters after much of that experimentation has already happened.

That reduces some technological risk.

But it creates a different challenge.

Apple Is Entering a Market With Established Leaders

The iPhone Duo is not arriving in an empty category.

Samsung has been shipping foldable phones since 2019.

Huawei has become particularly powerful in China.

Honor, Motorola, Oppo and Xiaomi have also developed credible alternatives.

Samsung responded almost immediately to Apple's launch with a global campaign highlighting its long experience in foldables.

Apple therefore has to persuade consumers that its interpretation of the format is sufficiently better or easier to use to justify switching or paying a premium.

Samsung Is Both Rival and Supplier

There is another unusual part of the competition.

Samsung competes against Apple in finished smartphones.

But Samsung Display is also an important supplier of flexible OLED technology.

Reuters reports that Samsung Display supplies foldable screen components used in the iPhone Duo.

This is common in the electronics industry, where companies can compete in one market while maintaining supplier relationships in another.

But it creates a particularly striking dynamic in foldables: one of Apple's biggest rivals helped build the display ecosystem Apple is now entering.

Foldables Are Still a Small Market

For all the attention they attract, foldable phones remain a small slice of global smartphone volume.

IDC's latest public forecast expects global foldable shipments to reach 22.9 million units in 2026, up 12.6% year over year.

The broader smartphone market remains above one billion devices annually.

That means foldables are still primarily a premium niche.

Apple's opportunity is therefore less about replacing conventional smartphones immediately and more about expanding a high-value segment.

The “30% Growth” Forecast Needs Updating

Some reports have cited an IDC forecast of nearly 30% growth for foldable shipments.

Reuters' September 9 foldable history piece referenced such a forecast.

However, IDC's newer public forecast dated August 26 projects 12.6% growth in 2026, followed by approximately 18% growth in 2027.

For a current article, the newer official IDC figure is the safer reference.

Forecasts can also differ because research firms update their assumptions as supply conditions and launch schedules change.

Counterpoint Is More Bullish

Counterpoint Research has a more optimistic outlook.

Its July forecast projected global foldable smartphone shipments to grow about 21% in 2026.

The firm also expected Apple to capture roughly 25% of the market in its first year of participation.

A September update still placed Samsung ahead while forecasting Apple to move rapidly into the top tier of foldable vendors.

The differences between IDC and Counterpoint highlight just how uncertain the market remains.

One successful or supply-constrained product launch can materially shift annual forecasts in a category this small.

Apple Does Not Need to Be Number One Immediately

The iPhone Duo can influence the foldable industry even if Apple does not lead unit shipments in its first year.

Apple has an enormous installed user base.

Its entry gives developers a stronger incentive to optimize apps for changing screen sizes.

Suppliers may invest more aggressively in flexible displays and hinge technology.

Competitors may accelerate improvements in thickness, durability and software.

IDC argues that Apple's entry has already changed the trajectory of a segment that was at risk of losing momentum.

That may ultimately be more important than who invented the foldable smartphone first.

Bottom Line

Apple did not invent the foldable smartphone.

China's Royole commercially launched the FlexPai in 2018, nearly eight years before the iPhone Duo.

Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Google and other manufacturers spent the intervening years experimenting with foldable screens, clamshell designs, dual displays and even tri-fold devices.

Apple entered in 2026 with a $1,999 foldable that benefits from almost a decade of industry learning.

So the most interesting story is not simply that Apple arrived eight years late.

It is whether a late entrant with Apple's scale, ecosystem and brand power can reshape a category built by its competitors.