iPhone Fold specs and price leak — and the sales projections are absolutely bonkers versus Samsung

If there was any doubt that the iPhone Fold was going to arrive this fall, the latest batch of rumors should help clear most of it away. This week has already seen a bunch of leaks that revealed key details about Apple's first foldable, and they're not stopping anytime soon. The latest leaks might have just spilled the beans on potential pricing, as well as how much RAM and storage we should expect to see in the phone.

According to the report at The Bell, the iPhone Fold will feature the same 12GB of RAM as Apple's Pro-ier iPhones — including iPhone 17 Pro and presumably the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. Meanwhile, Instant Digital claims that there will be three storage options, with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB variants on sale.

Neither of these leaks is particularly surprising, and it would have been rather strange for Apple to release the iPhone Fold without offering specs that are on par with the Pro and Pro Max models. That said, I feel that it is rather strange that there's no 2TB storage option, considering you can buy a 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max. Then again, with the rumored cost of the iPhone Fold being what it is, Apple may have decided 1TB was enough.

Speaking of which, Instant Digital claims that these three storage variants will cost 15,999 yuan, 17,999 yuan and 19,999 yuan, respectively. According to Macworld's math, this would suggest U.S. prices could translate to $1,999, $2,199 and even up to $2,399.

If those are the prices Apple has in mind, it means the cheapest iPhone Fold is the same price as the most expensive model currently on sale: the aforementioned 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max. I gotta say, that sort of pricing is going to make the iPhone Fold a hard pass from me, and I doubt I'm the only person who thinks this way.

Plus, with RAMgeddon and the ever-increasing cost of production, there's no telling whether those prices will actually be accurate by the time the iPhone Fold launches.

"Ever since the iPhone X came out for $1,000 Apple has been engaged in this ongoing experiment to find what's the upper limit that people are willing to pay for an iPhone?” Jason Snell, editor of the Apple-centric website Six Colors and former editorial director of Macworld, previously told Tom's Guide. "I would say they haven't found it."

What is Apple thinking with this?

Somehow, Apple apparently isn't worried about shifting units. A report from Aju Business Daily claims Apple has actually increased the number of foldable displays it ordered from Samsung. Initially, this was expected to be in the range of 13-15 million units, which is ambitious enough, but now Apple is apparently purchasing as many as 20 million units.

For reference, Samsung is aiming to sell seven million foldables in 2026. That covers the entire Samsung foldable lineup, including Z Fold, Z Flip and Tri-Fold devices. Considering Samsung is the biggest player in the foldable phones market outside of China, I'm not entirely sure what Apple is thinking with that level of order.

I do not doubt the iPhone Fold will sell quite well in the weeks and months after launch. iPhones are popular, and this is the very first foldable iPhone to go on sale. Even if you ignore the novelty factor, it's a foldable that has the potential to reach a whole new audience that wouldn't ever consider buying a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. But 20 million units?

As we saw with the release of Apple Vision Pro, we're no longer at a point where the mere existence of an Apple product means guaranteed sales. Especially when the price tag is as eye-wateringly high as we're expecting the Fold to be.

Either Apple knows something I don't, or it's putting in a big order to ensure the future production of foldable phones doesn't get disrupted by supply chain shenanigans. My bet is on the latter, which suggests that either the iPhone Fold will have a longer lifespan than most iPhones, or future generations of Apple foldables will maintain the same general size and shape as the original.

But even then, 13 million displays would be a lot, and 20 million displays seems like Apple is gearing up for an unattainable goal.

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