A new supply-chain rumor says Apple’s long-rumored iPhone Fold is still running into trouble during trial production. According to the source cited by IT Home, the biggest issue right now is the hinge. After repeated opening and closing, long-term durability reportedly still isn’t meeting Apple’s usual quality threshold, which is slowing progress on the foldable project.
The same report says Apple appears more willing to live with a visible crease than with a hinge that can’t hold up over time. In other words, mechanical reliability seems to be the true bottleneck at this stage, not whether the display can look flat enough in daily use.
Specific details about the hinge design weren’t shared, and the leaker suggested it’s still too early to get into the exact engineering problem. Even so, the message is fairly clear: Apple won’t push the device forward until the wear-and-tear issue is solved in a way that meets its internal standards.
The post also touched on Apple’s regular Pro iPhone line. It claims the company still sees the move to aluminum on the iPhone 17 Pro generation as more of a temporary compromise than a long-term direction. Apple is reportedly still exploring materials that can balance weight, thermal performance, and structural strength more effectively.
One possibility mentioned is liquid metal, though mass-producing that material at Apple scale is said to be extremely difficult. The idea is that if Apple can make it work first on a foldable iPhone, the manufacturing process could eventually mature enough to bring costs down for wider use later.
The report also says Apple hasn’t given up on titanium. Internally, titanium is still seen as a material worth returning to if Apple can improve heat dissipation and trim weight without giving up the premium feel it wants from the Pro line.
For now, the takeaway is simple: the foldable iPhone story still looks like a hardware execution problem rather than a branding problem. Apple may already know what kind of device it wants to build, but hinge reliability is reportedly keeping that plan from moving ahead on schedule.
