It’s early January, and in the tech world that means one thing: The Consumer Electronics Show. At this time of year, tech companies, fans, and journalists converge on Las Vegas for a showcase of the very latest innovations, and in 2026, that surprisingly included a glimpse of Apple’s most highly anticipated new product.
To be clear, Apple isn’t in attendance at the show. But rival Samsung, or more specifically its subsidiary Samsung Display, is in Las Vegas this week, and it just revealed a foldable screen that will be of great interest to Apple fans.
As reported by the Samsung-focused news site SamMobile, the new offering is the company’s first crease-free foldable panel. Product managers had set up a comparison between the new screen and that of the (widely admired) Galaxy Z Fold 7, and from photography, it’s easy to see the difference that having no crease makes to the viewing experience. Samsung displayed it next to a standard foldable screen, and the difference is massive.
This development is key to the progress of the foldables sector. If makers of folding phones are to achieve mainstream acceptance, they need to accomplish two things: to build a hinge that customers believe is pretty much indestructible, and to kill the crease. And it looks like Samsung Display just solved the second problem.
Unsurprisingly, foldable products by other subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics will be in line to benefit from this development, and SamMobile notes that the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 is likely to use the new creaseless panel. But Samsung Display is also a major supplier to another company by the name of Apple Inc., and that could prove significant later this year. Apple has reportedly been working to eliminate the crease for its first folding iPhone, and judging by the looks of this prototype, its years of work have paid off.
At long, long last, we’re expecting Apple to unveil its first foldable at some point in 2026. The iPhone Fold has been delayed for so long because Apple wants to get this product right on its first swing, which is where those two missions I mentioned earlier come in.
The device’s hinge will be made of ultra-durable metallic glass marketed as LiquidMetal. And the screen will be crease-free thanks to the work of Samsung Display. There’s a decent chance, in other words, that visitors to this year’s CES–and you–have just seen the screen of the iPhone Fold.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.