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Alleged Foldable iPhone Specs Detailed in Questionable Rumor

My next iPhone will be the foldable. Hoping fall 2026 is accurate. Running an iPhone 14PM at 2.x years old currently. That would make it 4 years old, the longest I will have had any one model.
 
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I've never seen a folding phone in the wild, only ever in shops, and they really haven't impressed me. Awful hinges, terrible crease, and the screen's too plastic to the touch! I want to hope that Apple's version would have a better hinge, and a much diminished crease, even then I still don't get it. It doesn't improve anything I use a phone for. What's the point of a squareish screen? Watching old TV?
 
MacRumors said:
Thickness

The report says the foldable iPhone will have a 4.6mm thickness when unfolded, and a 9.2mm thickness when folded. That's perhaps unrealistically thin. Samsung has been making foldable iPhones for six years and the current Z Fold is 5.6mm thick when unfolded. The thinnest device Apple has made to date is the 5.1mm iPad Pro, and that device doesn't have any kind of hinge mechanism.
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Samsung has been making iPhones?! :p
 
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2x iPhone Air's side-by-side.

We already are fully aware that the slim will be the Apple beta phone for foldables & the SE will be the beta phone for Apples own modem.
 
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Better not have a crease. Would be better if branded as the next-generation iPad Mini tbh.
 
This will probably be released soon, along with a typical iPhone form design. Not this year 2026. Do I want one no.
 
I had the latest Samsung Z-fold, and although it was nice and incredibly bright, I felt the screen was very fragile and ultra glossy, which was the worst thing about it, actually. Extreme brightness can of course help with glossyness, but gloss just doesn't work for me. Also, the screen felt like it might scratch easily. I didn't test this theory :)

I think a Gorilla Glass foldable is maybe unlikely, but wtf do I know. Matte they might be a making.
 
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Why assume the halves to be the same thickness? If I were designing a folder, one side would be little more than display thick. What, to me, would make more sense would be a telescoper, where the flex OLED goes around a roller inside the phone, allowing the user to have half a screen when that is all that is needed, or the end could be just pulled out for a bigger screen – no crease to worry about.
 
applezulu said:
There's still no use case for a foldable iPhone. The tech would add expense, software bloat for extra outside screens, additional screen aspect ratios, etc, and would drastically increase damage and warranty claims for an item that would be opened and closed over and over all day until it breaks or wears out. All this would be for what? The transitory novelty of being able to say, "look, it folds!"

There is a use case for a large-screen iPad that would fold in half for easier portability. It would require no software bloat, because there'd be no need for an additional 'outside' screen, the opened iPad screen would have the same aspect ratio as other iPads, and there'd be no wear and breakage hazard because people don't constantly get out an iPad to check for calls, texts and social media.
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Would add expense in the short order, but quickly translate to cutting expense & bumping price for the longer term- doesn’t matter it’s expensive consumers will bear the brunt - see Vision Pro for ref. Lauch it with upgraded Siri/AI & it can be demoed as the full package. If it flops it’s positioned the same as AVP, if folk buy enough of them. Winner winner.
 
applezulu said:
There's still no use case for a foldable iPhone. The tech would add expense, software bloat for extra outside screens, additional screen aspect ratios, etc, and would drastically increase damage and warranty claims for an item that would be opened and closed over and over all day until it breaks or wears out. All this would be for what? The transitory novelty of being able to say, "look, it folds!"

There is a use case for a large-screen iPad that would fold in half for easier portability. It would require no software bloat, because there'd be no need for an additional 'outside' screen, the opened iPad screen would have the same aspect ratio as other iPads, and there'd be no wear and breakage hazard because people don't constantly get out an iPad to check for calls, texts and social media.
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You don't see the logical fallacy and double standard in your post?

Somehow, a folding iPhone is a novelty while a folding iPad useful. Only iPhone results in software bloat while iPad doesn't.

It's entirely likely many people will experience a genuine benefit to having an iPhone that can also serve as an iPad.
 
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roland.g said:
My next iPhone will be the foldable. Hoping fall 2026 is accurate. Running an iPhone 14PM at 2.x years old currently. That would make it 4 years old, the longest I will have had any one model.
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I've got the 14PM and will be waiting to see if the foldable rumor is true as well. I've got no reason to upgrade this year so won't hurt waiting another year.
 
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Flip Apple, flip. Not fold. Now that we have RCS, as soon as my 13 Mini expires or is obsolete, it's flip or fly for me.

Hopefully my S7 will hold out too because I will be all in with a flip & whatever new smartwatch the manufacturer compliments the phone with.
 
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snipr125 said:
All the Chinese and Korean tech companies have released their own foldable. Google have also, an American company, its just Apple left.
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Sure, but it wasn't until relatively recently (mid to late 2023) that the first models with a nearly flat fold that you could barely see and feel were released, like the OnePlus Open and the Honor Magic V2. More are going to be released soon, but it's not atypical for Apple to spend more time on the engineering before coming out with their own version of something that's been on the market for at least a couple years, in an attempt to make it better (whether or not they always succeed).
 
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Never gonna happen. Or perhaps they are tired of making a profit and selling products.
 
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