Apple will debut next-generation under-screen camera technology in its first foldable iPhone expected next year, before adapting the tech for its all-screen 2027 iPhone, according to prolific Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station.
The Weibo-based account claims Apple is adopting this strategy – foldable first, 20th anniversary iPhone second – to gauge consumer reaction to the under-screen camera, where the lens is literally concealed behind the panel with no visible cutouts in the display.
Apple's foldable is also understood to be utilizing side-button integrated Touch ID over Face ID for biometric authentication due to internal space constraints. This means the "iPhone Fold" will have the first all-screen display of any Apple device – a design goal the company is known to have been working on for years, as several patents testify.
Why now? Two factors stand out. First, Apple is believed to have perfected an under-screen version of its TrueDepth camera system – the technology behind Face ID that lives in the Dynamic Island on current iPhones. According to one leaker, Apple is using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display that allows Face ID's infrared sensors to pass through the panel unimpeded. Several rumors suggest this technology will debut in next year's iPhone 18 Pro models, potentially reducing the size of its Dynamic Island.
Under-screen Face ID is likely seen by Apple as a lower-risk first step, since biometric sensors are more tolerant of display interference than front-facing cameras, where even minor image degradation would be immediately noticeable to users.
Second, Apple is said to have developed an industry-first 24-megapixel under-screen camera for the inner screen of its foldable. Under-display camera technology has been used on some Android phones, but they tend to have lower resolution sensors (4 or 8 megapixels, for example) because the image quality suffers due to being behind display layers.
If accurate, the jump to a 24-megapixel camera (with six plastic lens elements, per the report) would be a significant technological advance, potentially resulting in clearer, sharper images with more detail. The rumor suggests Apple has achieved a breakthrough in greatly improving light transmittance and image quality compared to previous designs.
So in Apple's roadmap, the under-screen Face ID arrives with the iPhone 18 Pro, the under-screen selfie camera debuts in the iPhone Fold, and then the two technologies converge in its celebratory 20th anniversary iPhone.
Coming 10 years after the iPhone X, the radically redesigned 2027 iPhone is rumored to feature a completely bezel-less display that curves around all four edges of the device, closely resembling what was former Apple design chief Jony Ive's ultimate dream: a phone made from a single slab of glass.
