Apple Continuing Work on Folding iPhones, No Launch Until at Least 2026

[haunebu]

This was confirmed in the recent Vanity Fair article that profiled Tim Cook and the Vision Pro. This is news... again?

 

[Harry Haller]

That hero image is the quintessential example of a solution in search of a problem. There is literally nothing wrong with the iPhone as is. We don't need to gimp the product just so we can fold it in half.

Is that the Royal we?
Asking for the peasants.

 

[npmacuser5]

Thin vs fat in one’s pocket or other carry item. If the screen were to be double or greater than current iPhones when unfolded, fat maybe a good option. As noted, not a choice now.

 

[transpo1]

Has Tim Apple begun work on 8k video yet?

I’m sure that will be in iPhone 16 Pro or 17

 

[transpo1]

LOL. I hope the folding phone is just an iPhone 4 cut in half like in the picture. That would be bad*ss.

 

[Lioness~]

Good Apple, continue to work on it until it gets a really good Mini replacement 👍🏼
My Mini is however great, and will be so awhile. Then I can change battery and it will be great another few years. So I am in no hurry whatsoever.

Love my Mini.

When Apple can offer a really good flip/fold to replace the Mini I’ll be interested.

 

[Cape Dave]

Let me see if I can be clear. I still don't care and would never buy a folding phone ever no matter what. Who thinks this crap up? Is there any filter on their brain at all?

 

[zorinlynx]

Great, more moving parts to wear out and break. No thank you.

We've steadily been reducing mechanical complexity in cellphones for years now and it's been wonderful.

 

[dmk1974]

Folding screens? No thank you. I use the "smaller" 6.1" 13 Pro still which is fine. Wife has the mega 6.7" 13 Pro Max.

I also have a gen 6 iPad Mini which I think is great...maybe the golden product is a:

• 7" - 7.5" tablet with phone capabilities
• smaller iPhone-sized bezels
• maybe a 1.77:1 screen ratio.
• The iPad Mini is 34% heavier than 13/14 Max, but make it with titanium (woo!) and little slimmer and it won't be super heavy to carry or even pocket. AND should have great battery life!

 

[quietstormSD]

I'm down for it. It makes a big phone a little smaller length wise. And that satisfaction of just closing your phone when you are done with it.... ahhhh.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Sorry we wasted all our resources on the Scuba Mask everyone is returning in droves...

In the mean time, here's another tiny spec bump to the cameras ...oh and another button if you want to pony up and be a "Pro"

"Innovation" season continues

 

[Cryates]

Have you ever touched one of those crappy Android foldables?

They're terrible. The plastic screen feels like running your finger across a vinyl shower curtain, and after about a week of use the crease is VERY noticeable. They rarely last longer than six months without looking like complete ass. I'd be amazed if Samsung isn't losing money on them, because most don't make until the end of the warranty before the screen fails.

No, you do not want a foldable iPad or iPhone.

Spoken like someone who has never touched one of those foldables but watched a YouTube video once.

 

[darngooddesign]

Has Tim Apple begun work on 8k video yet?

He's not a developer so... probably not.

 

[ofarlig]

Just sell me a 8” foldable iPhone, what’s the point of a foldable iPad if they don’t expect me to have it in my pocket. If I have to bring a backpack for my iPad it doesn’t matter if it folds or not since I have a backpack to store it in…

Just got my M3 14” MBP but it was as boring as I expected it to be, nothing have really changed from the M1 variant I sold last year so I might just return it. The Galaxy Fold really is calling to me with something that isn’t old tech like I’ve gotten used to with Apple in the past years, at this point I’m fed up enough with boring Apple that I might even be able to convert to Android.

 

[eoblaed]

I have zero interest in a foldable phone. I really don't want a compromised screen with a joint/seam/wrinkle/fold/etc. I understand the curiosity appeal of the concept, but I appreciate the full fidelity, non-interrupted, smooth display I look at and interact with every waking hour of every day.

 

[Ta_whirimatea]

This is a product we don't need.

A foldable iPhone would just be silly money likely near £$2000.

I’d love Apple to stop making the iPhone the key device for its ecosystem. ie. Let me connect my Apple Watch to a foldable iPad & view all my fitness / health via a garmin connect website / app.

I’d happily drop the extra £$ for a iPad mini size device to see stuff easier & get rid of my 13PM. I only keep my 13PM purely for camera functionality & watch connectivity.

In an ideal world I wouldn’t have a phone! #lifewasbetterinthe80’s

 

[darngooddesign]

More than a few times I've been at meetings for projects with the "VIP's" and they proudly place their foldable samsung or whatever on the table, unfolding it in the process, then during the meeting their spouse or kids call and they pull out their iphone to answer it. Cracks me up every time.

Why would they spend all that money on a personal foldable when work gave them one?

 

[WannaGoMac]

I had a foldable phone 20 years ago. I have no desire to have another...

Id love to be able to fold the phone in half reliably. It would make phones fit much more easily in the pants pocket again.

All you naysayers, this is one concept that if it can be made to work reliably, you will be proven drastically wrong.

 

[eatrains]

All this effort, just make a new mini!

 

[darngooddesign]

Advantage: You can possibly fit an iPad mini in your pocket.
Disadvantages:
Thicker.

Thicker, but also smaller when folded.

Heavier, because the hinge is heavy.

The ProMax is heavier than the regular iPhone, but people still buy them.

Flimsy, because it is foldable.

True, so either take care of it or get a warranty.

Where do we charge the Pencil? The top is occupied by the hinge.

On the side opposite the hinge.

Even bigger camera bump.

Not necessarily if it is the same thickness as a regular version when unfolded.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I don't know how anyone can say they absolutely don't want a foldable device (iPad or iPhone or both) from Apple

As with the AVP being an iteration on an existing concept, I think we'd have to see what an actual Apple foldable would be like -- what benefits or tradeoffs it might have (which would be likely different than existing options) -- and then decide.

Ruling it out in advance is jumping the gun a little I think

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple couldn't sell enough iPhone Minis to justify their existence, no way they are going even smaller.

 

[MarkNewton2023]

I am glad to hear Apple is still working on foldable phone and looking forward to have it materialized. Keep calm, be hopeful on foldable iPhone and be happy on possibility of foldable iPhone😊 Life is too short to be unhappy 😊

 

[turbineseaplane]

iPhone 5 being super lightweight is really underrated

If they purposely specced some "new" Mini phone options with lower performance, intentionally, I'd imagine we could have thin and light devices again that would be awesome for those of us with minimal iPhone needs.

Apple won't do this because the uproar from their highest paying customers would be large.

Even though their flagships would objectively be better and do a ton more, folks wouldn't be able to get past the comparisons of how big, bulky, heavy and unwieldy the "most expensive iPhones" would be vs these light "air" options.

 

[AlastorKatriona]

Of course they're going to be prototyping this, just to see where it goes.

Prototyping, yes. Apple should be prototyping everything imaginable just to see if a good product exists somewhere. If only to rule out bad ideas.