Apple’s focus on the iPhone Fold’s display will finally pay off when it launches, with the device said to have a slight crease compared to other foldable smartphones.
A key feature of the long-talked-about iPhone Fold is its ability to fold the larger display in half. But, as other foldables have shown, there is a risk of a noticeable crease in the middle.
If the new leak is correct, the result of Apple’s work to minimize the crease is an exceptional display. If the rumor is correct, it will have a groove, but hardly noticeable to its users.
According to the Weibo leak Digital with fixed focus in Wednesday’s post, orders were placed with suppliers for the iPhone Fold screen. The “conservatively” priced component orders therefore mean that speculation about a fall 2026 schedule is accurate, if true.
Flat as can be
Additional display details discuss the crease in the middle of folding screens. A crease forms and eventually the screen shatters at its most vulnerable point.
Apple has worked with suppliers to minimize any display creasing. They did so in part to minimize damage, but also to preserve the aesthetics of the smartphone.
According to the source, this resulted in a crease that has a depth of less than 0.15 mm. This refers to how much indentation the composite element makes on the screen, with lower dimensions being harder to detect.
For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 has a fold depth of about 0.7mm.
The leaker also adds that the fold angle is less than 2.5 degrees, which refers to the angle of the folded area when unfolded. As with measurement, the smaller the number, the more likely the user perceives it to be completely flat.
Admittedly, this seems like a great value for Apple’s display. However, this is not a metric that manufacturers typically publish, making it difficult to make comparisons.
During CES 2026, Samsung showed off foldable OLED displays that had extremely minimal creases. At least until she was removed from public view.
While it is expected to be used in the next model in the Galaxy Fold line, it is likely to be used in the iPhone Fold as well. Samsung Display is a major supplier to Apple and is a significant part of the iPhone supply chain.
Crease watchers, beware
The details provided by Fixed Focus Digital are encouraging, but there are many unanswered questions regarding the small number of highly specific screen statistics.
The key issue is that this data is definitely fresh out of the box for a new device.
You can expect the hinge mechanism to be used thousands of times over the life of the smartphone. Every opening and closing will cause wear and tear on the display and mechanism, and any creases will worsen over time. We expect the YouTube destruction videos to be soon after the release. We will do neither.
After a few months of ownership, users find that the crease on their foldable devices is much more noticeable than when they first bought them. That crease will only get worse, never better.
This is a fatigue failure, and virtually any material that flexes over time will succumb to it. A good example of this is bending a paper clip or piece of metal back and forth several times, tearing or cracking at the bend.
A much more useful metric for the user would be to know how deep and visible the crease can be after a large number of folding and unfolding actions. However, this would only be available through long-term testing and is something the manufacturers won’t reveal to potential buyers anyway.
Weibo leakers don’t have a good track record when it comes to leaks from Apple. While Fixed Focus Digital is a prominent account for leaks, it has a rather mixed history of leaks, getting some specs and details outright in the past. But the most wrong.
However, the sheer volume of previous reports about Apple’s efforts to eliminate wrinkles works in their favor.