- iPhone Fold renders may have leaked
- Someone turned them into a 3D print
- There are still questions about what Apple will deliver and when
Apple is building a foldable iPhone. Even without confirmation from the Cupertino tech giant, we believe so, and every rumor and leak points to it, but tangible evidence is hard to come by – until now. After apparent CAD designs for an iPhone Fold leaked last week, someone fed those designs into a 3D printer and created an incredible mockup that you can see, touch and, yes, fold.
The story begins with German website iPhone-ticker.de stumbling across the CAD drawings and a virtual CAD rendering of the device. Less than a week later, someone on the 3D printing community site MakerWorld used the CAD to design and print what looks like a near-perfect replica of what Apple’s first foldable iPhone could look like.
However, as the manufacturer, Subsy, admits, there are limits. This is just a rendering of the exterior of the supposed iPhone Fold. The hinge is basic and only designed to allow the 3D print to fold, and has no relation to the hinge mechanism Apple had to build. More importantly, there is no working phone inside, not even a flexible screen. And yet, we can’t stop looking at the “iPhone Fold 1:1 Replica (with folding hinge).”
Look at
As the CAD design and this 3D print show, the iPhone Fold could be a much wider device — at least when folded — than we originally expected: 3.3 inches wide by 4.65 inches tall and 9.6 mm thick. In fact, the form factor reminds us a bit of Microsoft’s Surface Duo, but with that device, instead of a folding screen, it unfolded to reveal two separate display panels.
The near-full-width camera island looks real, but is definitely more akin to what you’ll find on the ultra-thin iPhone Air than an iPhone 17 Pro Max. This makes sense, as the two halves of the expected iPhone Fold will need to be at least as thin as the 5.6mm iPhone Air if Apple wants to maintain a relatively thin and easily folded profile.
Perhaps more excitingly, if you have a 3D printer, you can download this design and print a fake iPhone Fold for yourself. Why would you want a non-functional 3D printed iPhone Fold replica? Possibly because the real thing may take longer to arrive than anyone previously expected.
Recent reports indicate that Apple is still struggling to produce a “crease-free” iPhone fold. Whatever folding iPhone Apple finally delivers, likely in 2026, will follow in the footsteps of brilliant devices from Google, and especially Samsung, which have come pretty close to, but not quite, a wrinkle-free design in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. And in our review of the Honor Magic V5, we said, “the crease on the phone’s inner screen is so minimal that we first remembered seeing it on the phone’s screen ourselves.
In other words, Apple faces a high bar when it comes to flexible screen quality. The truth is, apart from the hinge, the 3D renderings of the body represent the easiest part of the folding equation. Everyone will focus on that screen and whether it meets or beats the current state of the art. Heaven forbid Apple falls short.
In the meantime, join us in enjoying what may be an early look at the iPhone Fold design, because it may be a while before we have the real thing.
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