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Apple’s first foldable iPhone is reportedly being produced at only a few hundred units a day due to strict quality-control standards, Nikkei Asia reported. The bottleneck is not a component shortage, with Apple and suppliers still working to scale production. The device is expected to debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup this September.

Initial production of Apple's long-awaited foldable iPhone is currently running at only a 'few hundred' units a day, largely because of the company's unusually strict quality control standards, sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia in a report. The dispatch, filed from Taipei by Nikkei's Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li, indicates Apple and its suppliers are still working to scale up output of the device even as the company's broader iPhone 18 lineup nears its autumn rollout.

Quality control, not component shortage, behind the slow start

According to the report, the bottleneck is not a shortage of parts but the exacting standards Apple has set for the foldable's build quality, a constraint that has kept daily output in the low hundreds during this early phase of manufacturing. That marks a sharp contrast with the scale Apple typically commands: the company has told suppliers to prepare for roughly 80 million smartphones in the back half of 2026 alone, covering the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the debut foldable model, with full-year production expected to top 220 million units, Nikkei reports.

A rocky road to mass production