Apple Foldable iPhone Likely to Sport Under-Display 24MP Camera

Apple’s long-rumored foldable iPhone is said to launch with a high-resolution under-display selfie camera — a decision that would apparently go against recent trends and also attempt to solve one of the most visible compromises on foldables. According to an as-yet-unpublished J.P. Morgan research note that’s being circulated publicly by tech insider Max Weinbach, the under-display and cover display get a 24MP sensor each, opposite the regular 24MP selfie camera.

What the leak suggests about Apple’s foldable cameras

The J.P. Morgan estimate describes a camera stack that is more ambitious than most under-panel efforts attempted thus far. To accompany the 24MP inner under-display shooter and 24MP cover selfie, it is claimed that the rear system will feature 48MP wide and 48MP ultrawide cameras. The same note suggests that the device could also eschew Face ID, a major change for Apple which might suggest design sacrifices inside the folds of a foldable body.

Forging ahead with that timetable would be significant, too, because it comes toward the end of 2026, leaving Apple considerable room for improvement in panel transparency, image processing, and durability — all things early under-display cameras have struggled with. This kind of detail is usually triangulated by bank analysts through suppliers, and Apple’s massive component ecosystem tends to leave its traces well before a product emerges.

Where the 24MP under-display camera would matter most

Under-display cameras (UDC) sit behind pixels that turn off whilst capturing an image, enabling a put-an-end-to punch-hole cutouts. The catch: they get in the way of light, blurring detail and creating unwanted haze. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line has used a 4MP UDC across generations before, again according to reports, moving back to a punch-hole for the most recent version as an admission that differently-implemented image quality was still lagging.

At 24MP, Apple could also make up for optical losses through oversampling and sophisticated computational photography. There is precedent: Xiaomi’s MIX 4 integrated a 20MP UDC and heavily relied on processing’s support; ZTE evolved over many Axon generations to improve the sharpness and texture. Sensor resolution alone doesn’t guarantee better photos, but it provides more data for the algorithms to work with — particularly in low light where UDC systems tend to struggle.

The tech hurdles Apple will have to clear for UDC

Three elements need to come together for a solid UDC: a panel with an eye-poppingly high transmittance, low diffraction over the camera window, very sensitive low-light capturing under obstructive layers, and software customized for dehazing, demosaicing, and face rendering. Display manufacturers such as Samsung Display, BOE, and Visionox have all iterated on special sub-pixel patterns to increase transparency around the camera area — Apple may source or co-develop a next-gen variant that lessens artifacts.

A lack of Face ID would simplify the inner display hardware, bypassing clunky infrared and dot-projector arrays behind the panel. That perhaps is the question of biometrics. Apple already includes Touch ID in the power button on iPads, and a side-mounted sensor on a foldable device would be an eminently practical way to keep thin bezels while maintaining reliability.

How it fits the foldable market and user expectations

Foldables have been making slow progress as prices come down and hinges and screens get better, with market trackers like Counterpoint Research highlighting multiyear growth in global shipments. But the inner selfie experience has been lagging, either due to low-res UDCs or intrusive punch-holes invading a tablet-like canvas. Should Apple ship a higher-quality under-panel camera, it would potentially reset expectations for large-screen selfies, video calls, and content creation on foldables.

It would also establish competition. That Samsung has moved away from UDC on its latest foldable implies the tech wasn’t ready at 4MP; a believable 24MP solution could trigger a second wave of Android OEM investment in it. Watch for display partners and image signal processor vendors to pitch higher transmittance materials, smarter AI restoration, and better anti-aliasing over the camera window to narrow the delta from traditional cameras.

What the supply chain tea leaves say about components

Apple’s camera sensors are traditionally sourced from Sony and a front stack of 24MP would be a departure from the current iPhone standard of 12MP. That shift would be in line with an overall movement for higher-resolution sensors along with pixel-binning (combining pixels) to produce cleaner details and better HDR. For the display side, there’s probably a custom inner panel and careful masking for the camera zone — Apple prides itself on consistency in its products and off-axis color accuracy.

As always, plans can change before mass production. But combine them: 24MP UDC target + mirrored 24MP cover selfie + 48MP rear pair + longer runway to launch, and it paints the picture that Apple’s trying to solve the under-display problem all in one shot rather than inching its way in with a low-res placeholder. For a gadget that is ostensibly all about its large inner screen, that would sort of make design and user experience sense.

Bottom line on Apple’s rumored under-display camera plan

A foldable iPhone with a competent under-display selfie camera would make as much of a point about panel and imaging maturity as it would hardware design itself, though. If Apple’s still targeting 24MP, you can bet that computational imaging will be made to do all the heavy lifting there; physics and aesthetics would have to walk hand in hand, no matter if it would look like a chorus line of zombies… Regardless of how it looks, as long as it’s producing attractive results the industry will swarm toward similar solutions.