According to a post on Weibo by the well-known whistleblower "Dingjiao Digital", Apple's first folding screen iPhone will use an innovative liquid metal hinge design. Currently, relevant prototypes have been shipped to major operators around the world for network and certification testing. The entire machine development and mass production process is described as "rapidly advancing." This statement comes after he broke the news yesterday - when he revealed that Apple's folding screen iPhone will also be equipped with a vapor chamber cooling solution.
The news of the liquid metal hinge is seen as the latest response to previous disputes about the machine’s yield rate and production difficulty. Another whistleblower, Moment Digital, had earlier pointed out that during high-frequency opening and closing tests of the foldable screen iPhone, the hinge structure was difficult to pass Apple's strict quality control, which was the main reason for mass production being hindered. In this regard, "Fix Focus Digital" has publicly expressed dissent, believing that hinges are not the difficulty in manufacturing, and its latest statement describes liquid metal hinges as a design element that has been basically finalized and verified.
Liquid metal is an amorphous metal alloy that has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than traditional metals, as well as excellent corrosion and wear resistance. Apple has previously used liquid metal in limited scenarios, such as the SIM card pins that come with the iPhone and some small internal components. However, if the material is used in folding hinges that can withstand long-term mechanical stress, it is a more difficult structural application. Considering that the folding screen iPhone is expected to withstand hundreds of thousands of folding openings and closings throughout its life cycle, this places extremely high requirements on the fatigue strength and durability of the hinge material. Liquid metal is theoretically expected to be more suitable for such working conditions than traditional alloys.
The relationship between Apple and liquid metal goes back more than ten years. As early as 2010, Apple signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Liquidmetal Technologies to obtain a global and permanent license to use the material in consumer electronics. However, in the years since then, liquid metal has been basically only used for small components such as SIM card pins. Large-size structural parts have not yet been implemented, which is considered to be related to the difficulty of mass production scale, molding process and cost control of the material. Despite this, Apple continues to renew relevant authorizations and continues to mention the idea of using liquid metal for hinges and other moving parts in multiple patent documents.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first disclosed in March 2025 that the hinge of the folding screen iPhone will use liquid metal, and named Dongguan Iantco as the exclusive supplier of the alloy. Then in January 2026, supply chain reports further supported Apple’s plans to use liquid metal hinges. However, in April this year, "Fix Focus Digital" once expressed doubts about this material choice, saying that Apple was still weighing between liquid metal and 3D printed titanium alloy, implying that the hinge material plan was not yet fully finalized at that time. In the latest revelations, he re-emphasized that the liquid metal plan is basically solid, releasing a signal of route convergence.
The statement that "the prototype has been sent to global operators for testing" is regarded by the industry as an important milestone for the product to enter the pre- and post-launch stages. As usual, the equipment will undergo compatibility testing and network access certification under different operator network environments at this stage, which usually means that the hardware design is close to the final mass production version. Previously, DigiTimes reported in April that Apple plans to start mass production of the folding screen iPhone in July, while Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said that the phone is still expected to be released in September together with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, but at the time he also reminded that there was still some uncertainty in the relevant schedule.
In terms of specific specifications, Apple's folding screen iPhone is expected to be equipped with a 7.8-inch internal screen and a 5.5-inch external screen, equipped with an A20 chip and C2 baseband, and use Touch ID to replace Face ID in the biometric solution. The rear camera combination has two lenses, and the overall positioning is close to that of high-end flagships, but it is different from current candy bar flagships in terms of biometric recognition and the number of cameras. In terms of price, it is rumored that the starting price of the machine will be about US$2,000, reflecting its product strategy for high-end and even ultra-high-end markets.
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