Technologies

iPhone Fold: Launch Date, Price, Huge Battery and Everything We Know

Apple might release its long-rumored first foldable phone in 2026, and the rumors continue to reveal potential hardware capabilities.

For years, rumors have swirled that Apple has been toiling away on a foldable iPhone, nicknamed the iPhone Fold. Over the last year, numerous leaks have suggested that it could actually be released in 2026. The latest rumor, from a leaker on Weibo, suggests that Apple’s first foldable will have a 5,500-mAh battery, which would make it the largest on any iPhone, surpassing the 5,088-mAh capacity on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

But most of the curiosity has been around how Apple’s mystery foldable will look. Recently, an Apple fan made a 3D-printed mock-up for an Apple book-style foldable’s possible design, looking more like a Microsoft Surface Duo merged with an iPhone 17 Pro than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Pixel 10 Pro Fold. In other words, a vision of two separate iPhone screens linked together rather than a continuous, folding display.

That’s an interesting proposition considering rumors have spoken of Apple’s efforts to reduce the seam where a foldable screen bends. The one on the iPhone Fold is rumored to have little or no crease, according to a recent report by the Chinese publication UDN. Screen creases, especially on early foldable phones, have long annoyed some consumers and critics. And while the crease on more recent foldables looks a lot less deep, it’s still there. Samsung’s new Galaxy Z TriFold has two screen creases, one for each of its hinges. It would be a major breakthrough if Apple has indeed found a way to fold a screen in half without leaving a crease.

We’ve yet to hear any official word on a foldable iPhone from Apple.

Foldable phones represent a tiny fraction of all phones sold globally. CNET found that 64% of people surveyed said they don’t want a foldable phone. But those numbers could change if Apple were to sell a foldable iPhone. Analysts at IDC forecast a 30% year-over-year growth if Apple were to launch a foldable iPhone in 2026.

Apple launched the iPhone 17 series along with the new super-thin iPhone Air in September. Given all the engineering it took to cram cameras and components into the top half of the Air, some have theorized that the device is a stepping stone to a foldable, which could take advantage of the Air’s internal design.

A lot of hope and expectation has been placed on Apple to release one, and if rumors are correct, we won’t have to wait much longer for the company to do so.

iPhone Fold history

Rumors suggest Apple is developing a book-style foldable like the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Years ago, in 2017, folks predicted that a foldable iPhone could launch in the then-near future of 2020 — which didn’t happen. Analysts and leakers have been kicking the release date down the road ever since, and rumors and wish lists have lingered as phone fans keep their hopes alive. Absent any confirmed details from Apple, here’s everything we know so far about the company’s future foray into foldables.

A new patent granted to Apple in July 2024, which was applied for years ago, shows how long the company has been working on a folding iPhone. Kuo’s report in early March said that an Apple foldable could launch at the end of 2026, with a 7.8-inch crease-free inner display and a 5.5-inch outer display.

Accordingly, Kuo believes the price would match that of other similar folding devices, at $2,000 to $2,500. Despite the high price tag, he says projected shipments are 3 to 5 million devices, which is a confident estimate given only 19.3 foldables were sold in 2024, market research firm IDC reported.

Although many reports have focused on the company’s struggles to eliminate the crease within the internal folding display, Apple’s patent indicates that the development has been ongoing for some time. Creases have plagued foldable phones since their introduction in 2020, and although the most recent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 have reduced the crease, it is still visible and noticeable.

By mid-2024, market analysts at TrendForce estimated that display crease issues might push back an Apple foldable until 2027, according to 9to5Mac. Prior rumors said Apple may not launch its own flexible screen device until 2025, and Samsung hasn’t let phone fans forget it by releasing an app that will let Apple phone owners experience a Z Fold-esque experience by placing two iPhones side-by-side.

Read more: I Visited Samsung’s Home Turf to See if Foldable Phones Are Really the Future

iPhone 2026 lineup

There’s no guarantee about which phones Apple will release during its usual September window, but the safest bet is on another series of flat phones, which we expect to be the iPhone 18 series. But what else could be coming alongside the usual lineup?

There could be an iPhone Air 2, though rumors conflict on whether to expect one next year or not. There’s been a lot more evidence for an iPhone Fold, though whether it comes out in 2026 or in later years is still uncertain. If the iPhone Fold does launch next year, more rumors have suggested a clamshell device has been prioritized and may come first — given reports of Apple researching a book-style foldable, we could get one of those as well.

In mid-January, MacRumors reportedly saw a research note from analyst Jeff Pu suggesting that the iPhone Fold will pack 12GB of memory — as will the entire iPhone 18 line. Apple never discloses how much RAM is included in its phones, but specs sites like GSMArena have reported that the standard iPhone 17 has 8GB of RAM, while the rest of the series (iPhone Air, 17 Pro and Pro Max) all have 12GB. If correct, that means Apple doesn’t think its foldable will need more memory than its standard flat phones — it’ll have more screen area, but potentially no better hardware than its iPhone 18 siblings.

It’s also interesting to see the standard iPhone 18 packing 12GB of memory, as the RAM shortage is predicted to hike prices on phones released in 2026. Apple may be willing to pay the price for a more capable basic model of iPhone 18, or perhaps it’ll pass those costs on to the consumer with a price hike.

iPhone Fold or iPhone Air 2?

There’s the chance that we get an iPhone Fold next year, which rumors have said could launch in 2026 at the earliest, though it could also come out in 2027 or later. It should be noted that analysts and rumors had predicted a foldable iPhone release from as far back as 2022, so the rolling prospective launch windows don’t lend confidence that we’ll necessarily see the device come out next year. Given Samsung’s six-year head start on making foldables, Apple seems to be in no rush to get one out.

While the iPhone Air came out with the iPhone 17 handsets, there are conflicting rumors on whether we’ll see an iPhone Air 2 in 2026. A recent report from The Information says that Apple is delaying the release of the next version of the iPhone, citing people familiar with the matter. This follows rumors that disappointing iPhone Air sales after launch led Apple to dial back production, though even that claim was denounced by TD Cowen, according to a note from the investment research firm that was seen by AppleInsider that asserted the company would continue producing the thin phone. The Information’s story was amended to say that the delay could be caused by engineers who are re-considering the Air’s design so that it could support a second rear camera.

All of which casts doubt on whether we’ll get an iPhone Air 2 next year, but there’s not enough evidence yet to roundly dismiss the possibility.

iPhone Fold specs

There are no confirmed specs for the iPhone Fold, because Apple hasn’t even confirmed one exists or is coming out. Given we don’t have a year of expected release, we can’t much predict what kind of internal specs the iPhone Fold will have — presumably, Apple will want its most powerful A-series chip to run it, along with enough RAM to handle two or three displays (depending on whether it folds inward or outward and needs a dedicated outer screen).

We do have some predictions for other specs, though only for the book-style Fold (not the clamshell). In March, analyst Kuo predicted the larger Fold could have a 5.5-inch outer screen and 7.8-inch inner display. When folded up, it will be 9-9.5mm thick and 4.5-4.8mm when unfolded. A front-facing camera will be available whether the phone is folded or unfolded, while it will also have two rear cameras.

Kuo predicted that the device will use the same high-density battery cells as used in what he referred to then as the «ultra-thin iPhone 17» which is presumably the iPhone Air. But that trim thickness means the foldable may forgo Face ID, so the device may use Touch ID in a side button.

Some rumors about hardware have emerged. In January, an analyst note seen by MacRumors suggests Apple’s foldable could launch with 12GB of RAM, the same amount in the Galaxy Z Fold 7‘s starting configuration. That could mean Apple doesn’t need a lot of memory to handle multiple screens or that it isn’t banking on big AI features that can take up a lot of RAM.

We finally have a prediction on the iPhone Fold’s battery, with Weibo leaker Fixed Focus Digital posting that it will have a 5,500-mAh capacity, as 9to5Mac first reported. That’s substantially larger than batteries on some other foldables — for example, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a 4,400-mAh capacity — but Samsung has been in the foldable game for so many years that it’s bound to have increased efficiency, likely in an effort to slim down the thickness of its devices. Yet if the Weibo leak is true, this will be the largest battery ever on an Apple handset: the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s is 5,088-mAh.

iPhone Fold release date

Apple has neither confirmed the iPhone Fold nor announced a proper release date. Analysts and rumors have predicted that the foldable could come out in 2026 or be pushed until next year.

As for timing, since the iPhone Air was released alongside the iPhone 17 models, the Fold could come alongside the iPhone 18 series. But since Apple released the iPhone 16E early this year, far before the September window for its main iPhone release, the company could do the same with the iPhone 17E in 2026. Apple could even delay the launch of the standard iPhone 18 to the spring of 2027 to make room for the iPhone Fold in Apple’s Sept. 2026 launch, according to an ET News report. Given that Samsung offsets its standard and foldable phone releases at Unpacked events months apart from each other, Apple could do the same.

What Apple’s new patent says about the iPhone Flip

After years of rumors that Apple was working on foldable phones, a patent was finally granted to the company, confirming that it has been working toward a folding iPhone. The 22-page patent (PDF), simply titled «Electronic Devices With Durable Folding Displays,» was filed in November 2021 and granted on July 16, 2024.

Sadly for folding iPhone hopefuls, the patent doesn’t offer much illumination of what an iPhone Flip might look like. Most of the pages show figures depicting cross-sections of potential displays that fold about a hinge but not the device they’re folding around.

There are some tidbits deeper into the text of the patent that hint at potential design choices Apple might make, like a hinge that holds the display flat when unfolded but which would let the display «slightly fold about the bend axis when the electronic device is jolted during the drop event» — in other words, if dropped, the device would fold inward slightly so that it lands on its edges to protect the inner display.

It’s important to note that all evidence shows Apple working on a foldable iPhone, but the patent broadly applies to folding displays in general — to wit, some figure schematics describe a device that «may be a cellular telephone, tablet computer, laptop computer, wristwatch device or other wearable device, a television, a stand-alone computer display or other monitor» or screens as far-ranging as on vehicles, in kiosks, in media players or other electronic equipment.

The rest of the patent describes what an Apple device with a folding display may have and categorically lists things like batteries and wireless charging, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, LED or LCD displays, microphones and capacitive sensors, haptics and so on. There’s explicit mention of a display folding 180 degrees, or fully flat, which follows most other foldables — presumably, Apple isn’t going to leapfrog the competition in following Samsung’s concept displays we saw at CES that unfold nearly 360 degrees.

Two foldable iPhone Flips?

Foldable iPhone hopefuls will at least be encouraged that Apple seemingly continues to tinker with an iPhone Flip design. The company is said to be working on two sizes of folding iPhones: a book-style and a clamshell-style, according to an older report by The Information, although this may be contradicted by a newer report by the same site suggesting Apple had settled on the latter for a smaller device. This aligns with prior rumors hinting the iPhone Flip will be in the clamshell format similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series or Motorola Razr Ultra.

It sounds like Apple’s been struggling to meet its high expectations: The company’s design team wants the iPhone Flip to be half as thin as current iPhone models and to have displays on the outside that are visible when the device is folded shut, according to the report.

Development on the iPhone Flip was halted around 2020, the older report noted, in order to focus on a new project, a folding iPad. This device would have an 8-inch display, around the size of the iPad Mini. The foldable tablet supposedly had less strict durability and thickness requirements, as it wouldn’t need to fit in pockets like an iPhone Flip. Apple was still working on ways to reduce the crease in the middle of the folding display and get the iPad to lie fully flat.

Release date: The iPhone Flip could launch in 2027

The latest indications of an iPhone Flip release date came back in June, when analyst Kuo suggested production could kick off in 2026 with phones coming out that year. This follows Kuo’s earlier prediction in March that the company could release a crease-free foldable by the end of 2026. Furthermore, this would likely be a book-style foldable with a 7.8-inch internal display and 5.5-inch external screen, which is counter to other predictions anticipating a clamshell-style foldable.

It’s possible that these timeline predictions apply to one or the other or, due to the vague nature of rumors, even both — that is, Apple could be working on both a book-style and clamshell style foldable, though it’s less clear if release date expectations would be interchangeable or if Apple would stagger their release.

It’s been an open secret for years that Apple is working toward a foldable iPhone. The company has been registering patents for foldable technologies for almost a decade, and while there’s no guarantee that one will come out even after all that research (remember AirPower?), there’s still been buzz and possible release dates floated for years — though still not one solid enough to get excited about.

Early rumors pointed as far back as 2021 as a potential target date, but the year passed with no foldable iPhone in sight. A March 2021 report from longtime analyst Kuo (via MacRumors) suggested 2023 might be more realistic (though that year has come and gone). According to Kuo, Apple still needs to figure out technology and mass production issues before bringing a device like this to market, hence the wait. Speculation later in 2021 from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman aligned with Kuo’s predictions: In his Power On Newsletter, Gurman said that the foldable iPhone may not arrive for another two to three years.

Since then, new rumors have pointed to an even later release. Reliable display analyst Ross Young said in February 2024 that the foldable iPhone had been pushed back to 2025, and Kuo reaffirmed his predicted release window in a tweet in April 2022.

«Apple may launch its first foldable product in 2025 at the earliest, which may be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad and iPhone,» Kuo wrote in the tweet.

Another rumor, first noticed by MacRumors in February of 2024 by Weibo-based blogger Fixed Focus Digital, suggested that the foldable iPhone project is delayed for the foreseeable future. The problem? Apple, which is rumored to be using Samsung folding panels for its iPhone Flip’s display, was dissatisfied with the screens’ performance after they broke down a few days into testing.

That’s echoed by the most recent estimate by TrendForce market analysts, reported in 9to5Mac, which predicted that an Apple foldable might not be released until 2027 at the earliest. Why? Apple’s strict requirements for reliability and the phone display’s crease. But Kuo’s more recent March 2025 predictions explicitly noted a crease-free foldable display, suggesting Apple might have moved past this roadblock — if all these rumors are to be believed, of course.

Read more: Top Foldable Phones for 2025

Design: What will the foldable iPhone look like?

A 2021 report from Bloomberg indicated Apple already had a working prototype of a foldable iPhone display. While it wasn’t a working model, it was a step up from a patent — which, until then, was all we had seen.

Apple seems to have taken out every patent under the sun when it comes to foldable displays, including an origami-style folding display, a flip-up display and even a wraparound display. We don’t know which one will make the final cut, but both Kuo and Bloomberg seem to agree that the current prototype is more of a traditional fold-out design.

Unlike Microsoft’s Surface Duo, which has hinges on the exterior, Apple’s would have one continuous display with a hidden hinge mechanism like the Galaxy Fold.

Apple leaker Jon Prosser reported in early 2021 that the iPhone Flip will likely use a clamshell design and come in several «fun colors.» Between the bright pastels of the iPhone 15 and Plus and the sleeker deep blue of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, an array of fun colors for Apple’s first foldable device is definitely a possibility.

YouTuber ConceptsiPhone also gave us a glimpse into what the iPhone Flip could look with concept art of the foldable iPhone in the colors blue, red, gold and green.

In March 2025, analyst Kuo had some very specific but non-clamshell predictions: that Apple would release a book-style foldable with a 5.5-inch outer screen that unfolded to have a 7.8-inch internal screen, and be 4.5-4.8mm when unfolded but 9-9.5mm thick. It would have the same high-density battery cells as the «ultra-thin iPhone 17» and a hinge with stainless steel and titanium alloy (a favorite material of Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2).

Per Kuo’s predictions, the foldable will have two rear cameras and a front-facing camera on both the external and internal displays. Most interestingly, Kuo also expects that Apple’s book-style foldable will see the return of Touch ID as a side button, as Face ID might be left out due to space constraints — presumably for the array of depth-of-field sensors and cameras needed for the tech.

Roadblocks: What still stands in Apple’s way?

Samsung and others have been testing the waters, but Apple has been learning from the pain points of their foldable devices and figuring out how they’d be used.

One of these pain points is the crease. A lot of the current cover materials, including the glass and plastic mix that Samsung uses for the Z Fold and Z Flip, show a visible crease when folded out to full screen. To avoid it, Apple would likely have to wait for Corning, Apple’s glass provider, to create some kind of bendable version of its Ceramic Shield screen. The company is already working on a bendable glass but hasn’t announced a launch date for it.

Kuo tweeted in April 2022 that Apple was testing a foldable OLED screen. Korean tech news site The Elec also reported that Apple was working with LG to develop a foldable OLED panel.

Cost: Foldable phones don’t come cheap

Price is another major problem for these types of devices. Although Samsung still has the most affordable folding phone with the clamshell Motorola Razr at $700, most others in the category are book-style foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which are around twice the price of most flagship phones. We wouldn’t expect a foldable iPhone to be cheaper than its rivals. Apple’s foldable needs to be in line with current foldable and nonfoldable models to be able to compete against other brands and entice iPhone users to ditch their single-screen devices and pay more for a foldable.

Analyst Kuo predicted that a book-style iPhone foldable coming in 2026 could be priced anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 as it’s «expected to generate strong replacement demand-despite the premium price-provided quality meets expectations.»

A report last year found that half of American consumers are interested in buying a foldable phone, though Apple customers are slightly less willing to make the leap than Samsung or LG users. Perhaps the «Apple effect» will change those stats if and when a foldable iPhone ever becomes a reality.

Technologies

Anthropic Pinky-Promises It Won’t Add Ads to Claude

Anthropic’s Super Bowl ads are funny, but can we really trust them?

In the latest chapter of Anthropic’s «We’re not like the other guys» campaign, the AI company is pledging not to introduce advertisements into conversations with its chatbot, Claude. And it’s spending big on Super Bowl ads to make sure you know that fact.

Anthropic’s announcement takes a clear shot at competitor OpenAI. The ChatGPT-maker said a few weeks ago that it would begin testing ads in its products that will be «clearly marked» as sponsored posts. The company also said that ads wouldn’t be served around sensitive or regulated topics, like mental health and politics.

The news was a stark reversal from previous statements — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had called ads a «last resort» in 2024. But it wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the general chaos of the AI industry’s financing.

For a long time, AI startups operated at a loss, spending billions of dollars from venture capitalists and others to build their chatbots without making money. OpenAI and many others now have a complex web of circular deals to keep the lights on, but newer advanced models require more compute, better chips and generally more maintenance and money to keep up. Anthropic certainly isn’t immune to these financial pressures; the company is the the process of securing a new $10 billion funding deal.

That’s why AI companies are seeking new revenue streams. Hence the ads.

The concern with including ads in chatbots (beyond general irritation) is that it will push products at the expense of helping users. Anthropic wrote, «Users shouldn’t have to second-guess whether an AI is genuinely helping them or subtly steering the conversation towards something monetizable.»

There’s also the risk that tech companies will prioritize advertising metrics and revenue over safety or user autonomy. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Anthropic, for its part, has been very outspoken about the risks posed by AI technology, so it’s not surprising to hear the company weigh in on this issue. CEO Dario Amodei has spoken at length about the potential threat that AI systems may pose to humanity.

But we have a wealth of examples to draw on — streaming services, smart TVs and now chatbots — where tech companies tried and eventually failed to resist the allure of advertiser money. We can never say never. Anthropic didn’t.

Technologies

Overwatch’s New Season 1 Is What the Game Was Always Meant to Be

A commitment to an ongoing story and more frequent new heroes, including five right now, move the game in the direction it always seemed to promise.

In late January, I was among a group of journalists from all around the world packed into the Blizzard Theater in Irvine, California, to watch the 40-minute Overwatch spotlight and hear from Blizzard execs about where the game was going next. I was not prepared for what we saw. Nor were the other journalists, who gasped, laughed and sometimes comically swore as the video showed us what’s coming next for the hero shooter franchise — which turns a decade old later this year.

What stirred up such audible reactions? An ongoing story that’s reflected directly in the game. New subroles with distinct passive abilities. Ten new heroes are coming this year, five of which are arriving next week. One of the later heroes is freaking Jetpack Cat, who was dreamed up in concept art and scrapped before the game was even released. And maybe most surprisingly, dropping the «2» so the game returns to simply being «Overwatch.»

One of the first questions to that group of execs was about changing the title from Overwatch 2 back to Overwatch — why change, and what does it mean? Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Entertainment, said the team thought it was the right time for Overwatch to turn the corner in a big way. «It sets us up for a much broader conversation on where the future of this universe [is] and where these characters are going to go.»

Blizzard’s big swing to revitalize Overwatch comes as the game approaches its 10th anniversary in May. Gaming is different in 2026, as newer live-service games can disappear in an instant, and even more tenured franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield can struggle to retain players. Even Overwatch finally has a major, direct competitor in the team hero shooter genre in Marvel Rivals. So for Blizzard to step up and commit so boldly to this vision is a jolt, a burst of life into a game that has already spent the past couple of years solidifying and expanding its identity with new game modes and features like perks and map voting.

The announcements are both a celebration of the game’s history and a statement that the game is building a bolder future for itself.

Across my own nine-year history playing Overwatch, I’ve experienced its ups and downs, from the heights of queuing with a full six-stack and joining organized team play to the lows of the seemingly interminable double shield meta. And after talking to hero designers, narrative designers, systems designers, artists and voice actors, I left the Blizzard campus reflecting on the idea of playing Overwatch and following its larger story after all these new initiatives launch. One thought stuck with me.

This is how the game was always supposed to feel.

The emotion of a new cinematic driving the story of Overwatch forward, of puzzling over 10 hero silhouettes and learning that five of them would be ready to play almost immediately… it kindled the same kind of anticipation I had in the movie theater where I first awed over an early Overwatch trailer.

Best of all, fans won’t have to wait for this new era of Overwatch, as its fittingly rebadged Season 1 is launching next week with five heroes up-front and another new hero roughly every other month in each new season. We’ll get two new maps later in the year, alongside the return of postmatch accolades, which updated the old voting cards that let you show some love to players on either team who performed particularly well in a match.

I got an early look at the journey awaiting Overwatch fans this year during my time at Blizzard. And while I have some lingering questions about how certain elements will play out, here’s why I’m more excited about the game than I’ve ever been.

Overwatch embraces storytelling directly in the game

The world of Overwatch has always felt vibrant and pulsing with lore, but the game has struggled to tell a story outside of an impressionistic narrative you could vaguely piece together between cinematics, comics and occasional in-game events.

Season 1 promises to change that by kicking off the year-long Reign of Talon storyline, beginning with a cinematic that shows major upheaval in the villainous organization and longtime antagonist to Overwatch. The rest of that story will play out over the course of the year, through traditional avenues like hero trailers, short stories and comics, as well as more immersive methods like new voice lines and map changes that reflect story events.

The Overwatch Spotlight video includes a clip of Talon aircraft assaulting Overwatch’s Gibraltar base, home of operations for genius ape hero Winston. In the media playtest, I fought across a Watchpoint: Gibraltar map that showed the damage of that attack. The bridge outside the starting attacker spawn was partially collapsed, and a flaming beam had crashed down on the airship in the hangar. These map changes breathe life into the larger narrative of a new, more aggressive Talon and make sure players see the consequences of these story beats.

In addition to map changes that illustrate the ongoing story, Overwatch’s narrative and audio designers said that character interactions will also change to reflect the story’s progression, noting an «outrageous amount» of voice lines being added to the game.

Collectively, these changes help bridge the gameplay with the wider world of conflicts and characters that have been the initial point of interest for so many players.

Five new heroes headline a massive influx over the next year

Overwatch 2 launched with three new heroes and has added another 10 in the three-plus years since then. Now we’re getting 10 heroes in a single year, starting with five who all have connections to existing characters and factions in the game.

Domina, the new ranged tank and ally of Talon, is the heiress of Vishkar Industries, the same company that damage hero Symmetra works for and that also suppressed and exploited support hero Lucio’s hometown with technology his father had developed.
Anran, a new fire-themed damage hero, is the older sister of support hero Wuyang. She wields hand fans that can shoot fire, and is a new Overwatch recruit alongside her brother.
Emre, a damage hero wielding multiple weapons, is a former Overwatch agent now turned to Talon’s aims. He’s an old friend of damage hero Freja, though the person she found in their recent reunion is very different from the friend she remembers.
Mizuki, an offensively focused support hero, is part of the Talon-aligned Hashimoto clan, which has been facing opposition from the support hero Kiriko and her allies in Japan.
Jetpack Cat, a cat wearing a jetpack, is based on an early Overwatch hero concept long thought to be scrapped. Overwatch support hero Brigitte builds the kitty a jetpack to let her support allies from the skies by towing teammates and trolling enemies.

Multiple developers reiterated that this superdrop of new heroes wasn’t the result of cutting corners or rushing the process, but instead a benefit of improved tools and systems that have shrunk the design time for new heroes from eight months down to four or five.

«We still wanted to give the characters the same level of care we give any hero that we build,» the game’s Art Director Dion Rogers said in a panel on the new Reign of Talon story’s art.

In the leadership panel, Keller noted that the team wanted to kick off this year with an update that would feel like an expansion for the game, and the best way to do that for a hero shooter was to give them a bunch of new heroes: «People play this type of game … to learn more about these heroes, pick them up and continuously master them,» he said. Launching five heroes at once gives players that much more to engage with and could substantially shake up the meta of hero picks and team compositions.

Buzzing enthusiasm among developers

There’s plenty more driving my optimism beyond the new narrative focus and influx of new heroes. It’s the vibe of the announcements, the willingness for the game to go big, chase ideas and deliver a uniquely Overwatch experience to players.

There was palpable excitement among the five groups of Blizzard developers that journalists got to hear from at the Overwatch Spotlight event. In a panel about the game’s narrative, Lead Narrative Designer Miranda Moyer buzzed with enthusiasm, speaking alongside Scott Lawson, the game’s audio and technical director, about planning a year-long story, bringing Talon into the fray and how characters and allegiances might change over the course of that story.

«I think a lot of this new story is predicated on questions that have existed since, y’know, Overwatch was an entity [before eventually being disbanded],» Moyer said. She also noted that while some characters may have felt a little out of the loop of any sort of larger narrative throughout previous years of the game’s story, in the new structure «every single character … is pertinent to the overall plot.»

Developers being excited about their game isn’t surprising, but the degree of enthusiasm was encouraging for a game that suffered a years-long content drought followed by a troubled launch for Overwatch 2, stumbling over gated hero releases and long-announced game features that never saw the light of day. The conversations with devs gave me confidence that there’s a vision and passion for Overwatch that can fuel exciting updates like this for a long time to come.

The question marks amid the coming changes

The promises of ongoing stories and new heroes every season — six per year — are two of the most exciting things the game could announce. That said, some announcements from the spotlight raise more curiosity or concern than confidence.

A major overhaul of the menus forces us to relearn where things are and how to navigate them. The systems design team asserted that the new layout will add value, minimize interruptions and give players choices in menus, and I’m hopeful that the time spent relearning how to get around is worth the payoff. I like the cleaner look, but it will take some time to see how the new layout really feels.

The team also announced that some heroes, such as Ana and Genji, would be getting their second mythic skins before others received their first. I say this as someone who plays lots of Ana and wasn’t at all excited by her mythic skin, but that feels pretty unfair to the rest of the roster, especially given how many new faces we’re getting this year.

Balancing is the other element that feels like a bigger question mark in 2026. Dropping five heroes simultaneously and adding a new hero every season is going to put a lot more pressure on the team responsible for balance.

I asked Associate Game Director Alec Dawson about the challenge of balancing five new heroes at once. He acknowledged that the team does still want heroes to feel «impactful» at launch, but said they «probably went a bit too far» with recent releases.

«It’s good to have an impactful launch. It’s not good if your hero is banned in almost every match you’re in,» Dawson said.

The hero design team told us that they’ll be keeping a close eye on Jetpack Cat, especially given that permanent flight is an entirely new element in the game, and there are very few restrictions on her Lifeline ability that lets you fly allies around the map. Hero designer Scott Kennedy added that the team knows it’s going to be difficult to figure out all at once and that they’ll react quickly if things are out of line.

A new day and a familiar feel for Overwatch

The Spotlight video alone felt like Overwatch returning to the wonder and imagination that powered its 2016 launch. And the experience of talking to a variety of developers — and particularly seeing the seemingly unseverable thread of enthusiasm that connected them — made me as hopeful for the game as I’ve been since I started playing. The promise driving a story forward seems to mirror the team’s own internal hopes for shepherding the game into something bigger and bolder.

In a group interview with global media, I asked the game’s director, Aaron Keller, whether the Spotlight announcements were a commitment to moving the game forward — not just in terms of game mechanics but using it to tell a story beyond just brief snippets we’ve gotten from cinematics and events. He referenced the «amazing, sentimental» character pieces they’ve done so far, but said the team wants the new story to go somewhere.

«We want to take players on a journey over the course of this year — and over the course of many years,» Keller said. «We want to be doing this for as long as players are going to tune in for it.»