Apple has more plans to protect the iPhone Fold display, says report

Early folding phones were notorious for the internal display being vulnerable to damage. Indeed, the first Samsung Galaxy Fold saw all pre-orders cancelled because of this issue.

A new supply chain report suggests that Apple is adopting two further measures in order to protect the iPhone Fold display, as well as reduce the visibility of the crease …

The Samsung Galaxy Fold disaster

The original launch of the Galaxy Fold is probably now a case study in industrial engineering classes.

It was only days after the first review units shipped when the first problems with the device were reported. As more screen failure reports followed, Samsung delayed the launch by ‘at least’ a month, and took back review units. Finally, the company cancelled all pre-orders because of the issue.

A solution to the visible crease

One of the reasons Apple was said to have waited so long to launch a folding iPhone was that the company was unhappy with a very visible crease. It was reported that the Cupertino company rejected multiple samples provided by display partner Samsung before getting its own designers heavily involved to solve this problem.

Apple engineers were also said to have worked closely with Samsung on the hinge mechanism in order to protect the screen from damage.

Protecting the display

Previous reports said that Apple would use new button placements in order to reduce the risk of damage to ribbon cables during the fold, and fit a much tougher built-in screen protector.

Leaker Digital Chat Station today reports on further protective measures.

Apple’s first foldable device will feature self-healing glass, a seamless hinge design, and a dual-layer UTG/UFG glass architecture. In this configuration, the display panel is positioned between the two layers of glass, rather than in direct contact with the hinge. Reliability will be improved, and in theory, crease control will also be better.

The abbreviations refer to ultra-thin glass and ultra-flexible glass respectively.

Last week, the Oppo Find N6 gave us a preview of what we can likely expect from the iPhone Fold, while a new rumor suggests that it may launch months after the iPhone 18 Pro.