Apple doesn't make a folding phone. Its software just started acting like it does.
Hidden code in the new iOS 27 test version is the tell. It mentions a phone's fold angle and whether it's open or shut.
Those are clues that an Apple foldable may finally be close.
The Tell Is In The Code
A researcher dug through the iOS 27 developer beta. That's the early version Apple gives to app makers.
They found code for things like "foldState" and the phone's opening angle. There's even code to count how many screens a device is using.
You don't write that for a flat phone with one screen. So the hints are hard to miss.
A foldable phone bends in half. Open it up, and you get a screen the size of a small tablet.
Reports say Apple's version could open that way too. Apple itself has stayed quiet.
Apple showed off iOS 27 at its developer event on Monday. That points to any foldable running on it.
And it could land at the company's usual fall event.
Why does this matter for the stock? The iPhone is still Apple's biggest product by far.
So a brand-new kind of iPhone could lift sales.
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Late, But Maybe Not Behind
Apple would be years late here. Samsung and Huawei have sold folding phones for more than five years.
Huawei's phones are banned in the U.S., which leaves Samsung as the name to beat.
But Apple is often late and still wins. It didn't make the first phone or the first music player.
It took over both anyway.
Apple fans have waited years for a foldable. Rivals have sold them for a while.
The knock on foldables has always been thickness. A phone that opens into a small tablet can feel like a brick in your pocket.
Thinness is Apple's main pitch here. It's also what buyers ask for most.
This is where Apple may have an edge. Last year's iPhone Air is just 5.6 millimeters thick.
That's slimmer than a pencil.
Fold two of those screens together and you land near 11.2 millimeters. That's thinner than every Samsung foldable but its newest one.
Samsung's newest is the Galaxy Z Fold7. It's Samsung's thinnest foldable yet.
Apple would want to beat it right out of the gate.
What To Watch
Code clues aren't a launch date. And Apple hasn't confirmed a thing.
Reports point to a release this fall, next to the iPhone 18 Pro line. That timing lines up with the new iOS 27 software.
Apple usually shows off new iPhones in September.
A new iPhone type could spark a fresh upgrade wave. That tends to help Apple's sales.
Apple is rarely first. As usual, it's betting that being thinnest wins.
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