This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: big developments with Apple’s first foldable iPhone, plus iOS 19 and Siri rumors. Here are this week’s latest Apple rumors.
Ming-Chi Kuo on Apple’s first foldable iPhone
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with sources in the supply chain, has shared his “predictions” for Apple’s first foldable iPhone coming in 2026.
Here’s an overview of what he expects:
- Book-style design, not the top-down fold previously reported
- 5.5-inch outer display and 7.8-inch inner display
- Touch ID in the side button, likely with no Face ID
- Retail price “above $2,000 and $2,500”
- No visible crease or wrinkles from the fold
- 9-9.5mm thick when folded, and only 4.5-4.8mm unfolded
- Hinge that uses stainless steel and titanium, with casing that’s titanium
Kuo believes that only about 3-5 million units of the foldable iPhone will ship in 2026. Not for lack of demand, but rather due to production complexities limiting capacity.
My takeaways
One important thing to keep in mind is that Kuo isn’t necessarily reporting these as exact details of the foldable iPhone. Rather, he’s sharing his predictions and expectations based on what he currently knows.
That’s relevant, for example, because while details like the screen size and thickness of the device seem right up his alley of supply chain details, the pricing guess is just that: a guess.
That said, this is a fascinating rundown of what might be coming to the foldable iPhone nonetheless.
I was intrigued by previous reports that the iPhone would have a top-down fold design. But I didn’t necessarily see that offering much value. A book-style fold makes a lot more sense to me. And as a long-time fan of the iPad mini, the chance to get a mini-style tablet built into my pocketable iPhone is very compelling.
Lots can still change between now and the expected fall 2026 launch of the foldable iPhone, but these rumors certainly stoked my interest.
iOS 19 and Siri updates
Over the weekend, Mark Gurman provided updates on iOS 19’s development and a potential delay for select Siri upgrades.
Gurman says that the ‘LLM’ version of Siri is still on track to launch as part of iOS 19, though likely near the end of the release cycle in spring 2026. A key aspect of Siri’s upgrades, though, is reportedly behind schedule.
The more conversational, chatbot-style Siri functionalities in the works will apparently no longer be unveiled as part of iOS 19 this June at WWDC. Instead, they’re expected to slip into iOS 20 next year.
My takeaways
It’s clear that OpenAI and other competitors have gotten ahead of Apple in the LLM-based assistant race. But that issue aside, I think Gurman’s reported Siri “delays” are being overstated by a lot of people.
Apple’s approach with its “new era for Siri” has been to gradually offer new improvements over time. It sounds like that’s just going to keep happening not only in iOS 18.5 soon, but also iOS 19 and 20.
Siri has a giant user base today, so it’s unsurprising that Apple won’t radically change everything about it all at once. While getting too far behind competition is a legitimate concern, it’s also potentially overblown because of Apple’s ecosystem and hardware advantages.
What are your takeaways from this week’s Apple rumors about the foldable iPhone and more? Let us know in the comments.
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