Apple has extended its OLED display panel reserve from four weeks to six weeks starting in the second quarter of 2026, according to ETNews, part of a broader effort to insulate its fall launch window against component price spikes and supply disruptions. The company has already booked parts for roughly 80 million smartphones for the second half of 2026, giving it substantially more purchasing power than rivals including Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, each of which has cut production targets below 100 million units amid ongoing memory shortages. Apple’s total 2026 production is expected to top 220 million units.
The stockpiling move comes as Apple prepares to launch its first foldable iPhone Ultra alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September. The OLED panels for the foldable are manufactured by Samsung, which means Apple’s extended buffer applies directly to components sourced from its most prominent hardware rival in the foldable category.
Samsung is ramping Galaxy Z Fold 8 production by one million extra units after the device claimed 70 percent of a record 1.44 million total Galaxy Z8 series pre-orders. Apple is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone the following month, and foldable iPhone launch timing has been a moving target, with some reports placing it in October rather than September.
Samsung offers two Z Fold 8 configurations this cycle, and the wider, book-style Fold variant overwhelmingly outsold the other. That suggests consumers are gravitating toward exactly the form factor Apple has chosen for its own entry. Apple’s foldable is expected to use a book-style design with an outer display for use when closed and a larger inner display when open, matching the 4:3 aspect ratio that drove the Z Fold 8’s outsized demand.
The inner display on Apple’s foldable is expected to measure 7.76 inches at 2,713 x 1,920 resolution, while the outer display comes in at 5.49 inches with 2,088 x 1,422 resolution. Those are competitive numbers, but the detail Apple has reportedly pursued most aggressively is one Samsung has never fully cracked: the crease. Apple is said to have developed a new material property that makes the fold crease nearly invisible when the device is open, having pushed suppliers to solve the problem regardless of cost. A genuinely crease-free foldable would be a concrete differentiator in a category where that flaw has followed every competitor since Samsung introduced the original Galaxy Fold in 2019.
The foldable iPhone is expected to start above $2,000, making it the most expensive iPhone ever shipped. Apple has reportedly told suppliers to prepare for approximately 10 million units this year, up from an earlier forecast of 7 to 8 million. For context, the entire global foldable smartphone market sold around 19 million units in all of 2025, so Apple is targeting nearly half that volume in its debut year alone. Confirmed details on all six iPhone 18 models have now surfaced in iOS 27 beta code, placing the foldable firmly within this fall’s lineup.
Samsung manufactures the OLED display panels for Apple’s foldable iPhone, which means it collects component revenue regardless of which device consumers choose. Apple wins if its foldable takes share; Samsung wins either way. That arrangement doesn’t blunt the competitive tension on the marketing and retail side, but it does explain why Samsung has continued supplying Apple even as it builds a million extra units of a directly competing product. Apple’s broader supply chain position is already under pressure from an industry-wide DRAM shortage that has left significant chip inventory idle heading into the fall launch window. Apple has responded in part by extending its display panel buffer and locking in component orders well ahead of rivals.
