Apple appears to be laying the groundwork for a foldable iPhone in iOS 27, with new references discovered in the operating system's frameworks and a notable emphasis on flexible app layouts at this year's Platforms State of the Union.
Watch on YouTubeDuring the Platforms State of the Union session, Apple told developers to move away from designing apps for specific devices and fixed orientations, and to instead target what it described as "a dynamic range of sizes and aspect ratios." The framing appears to go beyond the stated context of iPhone Mirroring and the iPad.
Apple used the session to introduce support for resizable iOS apps in iPhone Mirroring and on the iPad. Developers who rebuild against the latest SDK will have their apps automatically opted in to resizability, Apple said, with SwiftUI apps that already use scene lifecycle and standard framework support for basic resizability considered "well on your way to supporting full resizability."
A new resizable iOS simulator and Previews in Xcode were also announced, allowing developers to test layouts across a range of screen sizes and aspect ratios. Apple said it is also providing a skill for coding agents to help identify and fix common resizability issues.
The guidance effectively asks developers to treat every iOS app as something that may need to reflow across a wide variety of form factors, which is a requirement that makes considerably more sense if a future iPhone is capable of folding open to a substantially larger inner display.
As if that wasn't enough evidence for the upcoming foldable iPhone, X user @samhenrigold spotted two strings within iOS 27's frameworks that point directly toward foldable hardware: "foldState" and "angleDegrees." A third discovery, a new key that returns the total count of built-in displays on a device, is a further indication that Apple is preparing the software stack for a device capable of presenting more than one integrated screen.
The foldable iPhone, widely expected to be called the "iPhone Ultra," is anticipated to be announced in September 2026 alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, with a book-style design featuring a roughly 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover display. Other rumored key features include Touch ID instead of Face ID, a titanium frame and Liquid Metal hinge, dual rear cameras, the A20 chip, and the C2 modem. The device is expected to start at over $2,000, making it the most expensive iPhone ever.
