Apple Plans Foldable, Curved-Glass iPhones: Report. What It Means for the Stock.

Foldable smartphones have roughly a 1.6% share of the overall market, according to TrendForce. (Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Apple is under pressure to show it still has the ability to innovate. Its answer is coming in the form of multiple new iPhone designs over the next couple of years, according to a report.

The company is planning a series of major design changes for its flagship product, kicking off with an ultrathin iPhone Air this year, according to Bloomberg. That would be followed by a foldable version in the fall of 2026 and a curved-glass model in 2027, the news service reported.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early on Monday. It hasn’t announced any new models, and typically doesn’t discuss those it hasn’t unveiled.

Talk about Apple developing a foldable device has been circulating for years. The company received patents on such technology as far back as 2014. However, more than a decade later, the market for foldable phones is instead dominated by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and China’s Huawei Technologies.

Now, the evidence is mounting that Apple is preparing to make the leap. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Apple executives were pushing to launch such a device in 2026. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst for TF International Securities known for watching the Apple supply chain, previously said he expects a foldable iPhone to arrive toward the end of 2026 and cost between $2,000 and $2,500.

Any sign of innovation is likely to be welcome for Apple amid worries it is losing its edge under CEO Tim Cook. The stock was up 0.3% in early trading Monday but is down nearly 9% so far this year. It is hard to see how the reported design changes would significantly change its trajectory in the short term.

A section of Apple’s loyal customer base is likely to snap up any new design and a foldable version will be particularly attractive to users who watch a lot of video on their smartphones. Still, foldable smartphones remain a niche product with just a 1.6% share of the overall market, according to research firm TrendForce.

The major question hanging over Apple continues to be its relatively slow integration of artificial intelligence with the iPhone. It has repeatedly delayed an AI upgrade of its virtual assistant Siri. As Barron’s noted last week, Alphabet’s Google is targeting consumers looking for AI capabilities with the launch of its Pixel 10 smartphone range this week.

Reports continue to emerge that Apple is looking to team up with Google or another company such as OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, or Anthropic for an AI upgrade. But until it becomes clear what the company has planned on that front, the stock is unlikely to regain momentum.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com