Report: Apple’s folding iPhone won’t have a crease thanks to laser-drilled plates

A folding iPhone (iPhone Flip or iPhone Fold) has been circulating through the rumor mill for a while now, but recent reports suggest that the device may finally reach the market late next year or in early 2027. One of the problems with creating such a phone is how to make one that doesn’t have a visible crease through the display, a result from folding and unfolding the phone. Apple doesn’t want a crease to show–and neither do most people who would buy the phone.

Apple may have found a solution to the problem. According to a report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will be using displays from Samsung Display Corporation, which has developed a crease-free display for folding phones. To prevent creasing, the display uses metal plates created by Fine M-Tec, a manufacturer of components.

The implementation of metal plates helps “distribute and control bending stress,” according to Kuo, which would help minimize creasing. SDC etches microstructures into the plates to guide stress distribution, but the company will instead use laser drilling in order “to meet Apple’s stricter crease-free display requirements.” This, Kuo notes, is a more expensive procedure that may affect the final price of the iPhone.

Kuo reports that Fine M-Tec is expected to start shipping the folding iPhone’s metal plates in the first quarter of 2026. That seems to set up the mass production of the phone for the second half of that year. Kuo also notes that Fine M-Tec is the plate supplier for Samsung’s foldable phones, but does not specifically say if Samsung is using the same method on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is also visibly crease-free.