TrendForce has maintained its forecast for roughly 5 million iPhone Duo shipments in 2026, projecting that Apple’s first foldable will account for 24.8% of the global foldable-phone market this year. The estimate remains in place despite early owner reports of cracked inner displays around the fold and occasional bright lines on the panel.
The iPhone Duo reached customers on October 23, so the forecast would represent a strong start for a new product category at Apple. It measures shipments rather than confirmed consumer sell-through, however, and does not establish how display issues could affect longer-term demand. TrendForce said some early orders were showing delivery estimates extending as far as January 2027.
Apple has told TechRadar it is aware of an inner-display issue affecting a small number of devices and has directed affected users to AppleCare for replacements. The company has not disclosed the number of affected phones or identified the cause. An iFixit analysis has raised the possibility that a central hinge support bar may not retract far enough when the phone closes, potentially pressing against the display, but that remains an unconfirmed hypothesis.
The iPhone Duo is expected to reshape a foldable market that is otherwise barely growing. TrendForce forecasts 20.2 million global foldable shipments in 2026, up just 0.5% from 2025. Without Apple’s projected 5 million units, combined Android foldable shipments would fall by more than 20% year over year, according to the firm.
For 2027, TrendForce expects the market to reach 23.5 million units, a 16.3% increase, with Samsung still narrowly ahead of Apple. Its vendor-share forecast is as follows:
- Samsung: 31.9% of the foldable market in 2027, according to TrendForce.
- Apple: 29.8%.
- Huawei: 21.3%.
Counterpoint Research has offered a more bullish outlook, forecasting Apple could take 40% of the foldable market in 2027 while the overall segment grows 37%. The gap between the two forecasts underscores how uncertain Apple’s first full year in foldables remains.
Beyond durability questions, the iPhone Duo’s 7.6-inch inner display has a relatively subtle crease, but some apps reportedly still show black borders rather than using the full panel. Apple has yet to clarify the cause and scale of the reported display failures, a key unknown as the company seeks to challenge Samsung’s foldable lead.
