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Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Could Reinvigorate Stalling Market

Harry Haller said:
The problem is the huge and growing size of slab phones.
The solution is a foldable which halves that footprint.
It’s not rocket surgery.
Click to expand...


People literally asked for larger phones. There are smaller sizes available for people that want smaller phones.

I don't need my phone to turn into a tablet.

It's not just "not rocket surgery." It's not needed.
 
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TheWraith said:
This will not work. There is no new market—it's saturated.
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I would agree, except for one thing. Nobody’s done it well yet. Having had a few android foldables, there is a pretty steep trade-off somewhere in the equation. Camera quality, battery, life, etc.

If Apple could create a foldable sans sacrificing features and hardware, that would be a pretty big win.

It sure was nice to be able to fit a while phone in a pocket again. But wasn’t worth giving up decent cameras, for instant. I’d go back in a second if they could pull that off.
 
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Considering the fact that foldable phones cost more than slab phones, and then factor in the expected upcoming tariffs, I could see this phone easily costing at least $2,000 in the US.
 
Remember when Apple Intelligence was supposed to reinvigorate the stalling iPhone market? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
 
Radeon85 said:
Can't wait for a radically new design. We've had the same slab since 2007. After 17 years it would be nice to have something new.
Click to expand...
Because it’s what works. The same way a car has four wheels in a rectangular arrangement. Or airplanes have two wings, one on either side. Or a spoon has a handle part and a concave bowl shaped part.

Sometimes you find the optimal design and everything is just a slight variation of that because anything “radically new” is worse.

Aside from novelty what good does a “radically new” phone design do? What problem does it solve? What way is it better without being worse in other ways?

If you can’t answer those questions then there’s no reason for something new.
 
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Not sure how you reinvigorate a market in which ~200mn iPhones are sold every year. Maybe 220mn iPhones would be sold in 2026 if a good foldable iPhone came out? 😉 I would have to buckle up and wear a helmet for that reinvigoration.
 
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The Game 161 said:
Foldables are great tech no matter how much many apple fans are in denial about that.
Click to expand...

LOL, you think it’s just Apple fans who recognize how unnecessary and compromised foldables are? Over 98% of the smartphone market are people buying non-foldable phones. You and those like you who love them are in the significant minority. Stop acting like this is some “Apple fans” thing. It’s not.

Almost no one wants foldable phones. They are inferior in almost every way to the standard slate style phones. And their only advantage (being able to be less tall/wide) is minimal at best and requires significant compromises. It’s got literally nothing to do with like Apple devices or not. Unless Apple has somehow made a spectacular breakthrough in materials science their phones will face the exact same problems. It’s not Apple fans who are your problem it’s physics.
 
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The Game 161 said:
Slab phones have become boring as hell. It’s not until you use other devices that you realize it’s true. Apple intelligence has great potential but just so damn slow to be rolled out which again is apple just taking their time when others are ahead of the game
Click to expand...
So you just want novelty then? Well then yeah, iPhones probably aren’t for you. Apple doesn’t make new things just to make new things. You want Samsung for releasing half-baked products just because they can.
 
rotax said:
I agree. from my post just above:

How about this? Turn the Apple icon on the back of the phone into a capacitive touch trackpad so I can hold my phone in one hand and scroll up and down or swipe left and right with the same hand without destabilizing my hold of the phone trying to use my thumb ineffectively. Double tap on the phone back through accessibility works great to get into App Switcher... but when in it, we need a single tap to select the app to go into. Paired with a capacitive touch Apple icon I can double tap to get into app switcher, swipe left / right or up to remove, and singe tap to select. In apps I can scroll... all with one hand. I'll take this over the camera button or a folding design any day
Click to expand...
Software can still solve all the problems because its an infinite canvas of possibility. In the case of ergonomics the biggest offenders are notifications and the control centre. These could both be moved to the app switcher carousel, with control center sitting to the RH-side and notifications mimicing the lockscreen ready to fan up from the bottom.

Adopt the universal back gesture from Android and most of the issues go away. I do like the idea of a capacitive back though. I enjoyed the one on the PS Vita.
 
The Game 161 said:
I remember folks on here saying

Who needs 120hz
LCD is fine OLED isn’t a big deal
All needs more ram
Who needs fast charging
Who needs wireless charging

Will be the same when or if apple releases a foldable.

It’s been proven trying to explain to many on macrumours the benefits of other great tech is pointless as they just see it as pointless all because apple is slow at releasing better technology. It’s no wonder a large majority of android fans think iPhones fans don’t know much about technology and just settle for what apple says. I don’t agree obviously with that but some comments here don’t make it easy to defend that notion

I love my apple products but they have played it safe for years and make tiny upgrades year on year. Android brands are at least making tech fun and offering great technology. Foldables are great tech no matter how much many apple fans are in denial about that.

Slab phones have become boring as hell. It’s not until you use other devices that you realize it’s true. Apple intelligence has great potential but just so damn slow to be rolled out which again is apple just taking their time when others are ahead of the game
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Excellent points about technology advancement. I remember people saying, “A camera on a phone? I would never use that. That’s ridiculous!”

Then as cam technology improved it became, “I don’t need a camera that good on my phone” yet it’s the camera they use every day to document their lives and family’s. Then complain their pics aren’t as sharp as what they see elsewhere.

What are some example you can think of?
 
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Krizoitz said:
What users? Who is having multiple people using one smartphone? No one wins in that case. Apple wastes a lot of money on a feature that 99.9999% of people would never care about let alone use.
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The multiple users spaces are for *one single user* to separate data into two or three separate spaces for their own privacy/security, *not for multiple people*. The feature already exists on iOS with shared iPad, but only for organizations and not consumers. (https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/shared-ipad-overview-dep9a34c2ba2/web). All they need to do is enable the feature for consumers. How does this waste money in any way whatsoever? 50 percent of people *do* care about and want to use this feature, so that's a big chunk of people who would be willing to pay for a 512gb device giving more money to Apple, generating more revenue and more profit. Everyone wins.
 
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Krizoitz said:
Well since my argument isn’t based on my personal use but the actual market data and yours is based solely on your personal use, therefore meaningless when we are talking about the overall market, your case would lose.
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I asked you about personal use, not market data. Case won.
 
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It's a stalled market because nobody gives a f* about foldable phones. It was a niche market at best, with only a handful of diehards. There is no value in having a too big phone/too small tablet combo. Get over this fad already.
 
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Krizoitz said:
LOL, you think it’s just Apple fans who recognize how unnecessary and compromised foldables are? Over 98% of the smartphone market are people buying non-foldable phones. You and those like you who love them are in the significant minority. Stop acting like this is some “Apple fans” thing. It’s not.

Almost no one wants foldable phones. They are inferior in almost every way to the standard slate style phones. And their only advantage (being able to be less tall/wide) is minimal at best and requires significant compromises. It’s got literally nothing to do with like Apple devices or not. Unless Apple has somehow made a spectacular breakthrough in materials science their phones will face the exact same problems. It’s not Apple fans who are your problem it’s physics.
Click to expand...
It’s certainly an Apple fan thing in regards to how useful people see foldables being. Many android fans find foldables great tech and useful but prefer slab phones and are happy with those phones and don’t want to spend double the price for worse cameras than their slab phones.

The market stats show there is a market for foldables. Basically 40 million in foldables sales in the past 2 years show many techies love them and will keep buying them. Foldables are only inferior when it comes to camera hardware and overall durability

Chinese brands are releasing great foldables which are thinner than most slab phones.
 
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