The folding iPhone is becoming clearer day after day and is more and more talked about! Mark Gurman de Bloomberg told us last Sunday that Apple could launch his first foldable smartphone from the beginning of 2026, without waiting September. We imagine that Cupertino may accelerate his calendar in order to get ahead of the release of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, and propose the First folding phone on the market without visible folds.
To carry out this ambitious project, Apple paradoxically chosen Samsung Display as the main supplier of foldable screens, but there is nothing abnormal to that, it is a usual fact. This choice may surprise: why would Samsung provide Apple with a more advanced slab than those it uses for its own folding smartphones? The answer is simple: it was Apple who set the new technical requirements.
The firm imposed Unpublished criteria to completely eliminate the central foldand Samsung Display was content to respond to this specific order, without having initiated it. Clearly, if the next Galaxy Z Fold also benefit from this improvement, it is because Apple has shown the way. Samsung has already launched seven generations of folding phones, but it was Apple’s demand that prompted suppliers to cross a new technological course.
Anyway, we were talking to you recently about another hot topic: Samsung accuses Apple Boe’s supplier of having used counterfeit screens, some of which equip iPhone 16. Following this complaint, which was filed almost two years ago, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) recommended on July 17, 2025 the ban on the importation of these slabs in the United States.
No products found.
It is now Boe’s turn to counterattack, with a complaint that could directly threaten the release of the folding iPhone.
A war of screens that does not stop
Boe filed a complaint against Samsung Display the July 15 in Texasand this complaint has just been made public by The Guru and relayed by Apple Insider. The Chinese manufacturer now accuses Samsung of having stolen him four technologies for OLED screens.
This new complaint follows ITC’s decision to ban BOE screens in the United States. We learn today that this ban concerns Only OLED screens made by BOEand does not concern the sale of iPhone 16, unlike what circulated previously. Cupertino confirmed it to Apple Insider: “Apple is not a party to this case and the prescription has no impact on Apple products”.
In his new complaint, Boe nevertheless asked the American authorities to block the sale of all Samsung products using the OLED screens concerned. The group accuses its rival of having violated several patents linked to this technology. This mainly concerns the latest Samsung phones such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or the Ultra S25. The two companies have been fighting since 2023 and have already launched five trials one against the other.
The folding iPhone concerned?
Apple is not directly targeted by the new complaint, but may be affected by this conflict. As specified in the introduction, Apple chose Samsung Display for the screens of its future folding iPhone. Samsung even builds a express factory for that. The Korean giant seems to make real efforts to remain the favorite supplier of Apple, and to prevent Boe from going up too much in the chain.
If the United States blocks the entry of Samsung screens in the coming months, Apple may have to change its plans regarding the folding iPhone. Cupertino is already working on an iOS 27 which is specially dedicated to him.
By: keleops ag
