Apple has never sold a folding phone. But its software just started acting like one is coming.
The clue wasn't a leaked photo. It came from Apple's own code.
Someone digging through Apple's new beta software found something strange. There were settings that fit no iPhone on sale today.
One of them is called "foldState." Others read the screen's angle as it opens.
Buried in that iOS 27 code were clues no flat phone would need. The software can tell if a phone is folded shut, and how far it bends.
It can even tell if the phone is using one screen or two. A normal iPhone never has to ask.
The code also points to a hinge that can stop at any angle. Samsung's folding phones work that same way.
Apple made iOS 27 the star of its WWDC keynote on Monday. Most of that show was about its AI plans.
The folding clues were a quieter surprise inside the software. If a folding phone runs iOS 27, the timing fits Apple's fall launch.
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Samsung and Huawei have sold folding phones for over five years. Huawei is banned in the U.S., so most Americans know Samsung best.
That long head start raises the bar. Apple's first fold has to beat what's already in stores.
Here's where Apple may have set itself up. Last year it launched the iPhone Air.
The Air is just 5.6mm thick. That's about as thick as four dimes stacked.
Fold two of those screens together and you get near 11.2mm. That would beat every Samsung fold but the new Galaxy Z Fold7.
Samsung keeps slimming its folds every year. Apple wants to leap past them on its very first try.
A new iPhone shape is a big deal for Apple's business. It's not just a job for the design team.
Phone makers sell the most when buyers get a fresh reason to upgrade. A new shape is exactly that reason.
The code even hints the phone could run two apps side by side. That only works on a bigger, folding screen.
Apple is one of the most widely owned stocks in the world. So any new product cycle grabs attention.
The iPhone is still Apple's best-selling product. A fresh shape could spark its biggest upgrade wave in years.
Apple hasn't confirmed any of this. A line of code is a strong hint, not a promise.
The real answer comes this fall, when Apple shows new phones. Its iOS 27 software is already out as a developer beta.
A version for everyone else is due in the months ahead. If a fold shows up then, this code called it first.
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