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Apple's First Foldable iPad Could Face Delays Into 2026
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They can’t. Still massive issues with their foldable screens. Start reading. Yes, they were first to market but still not ready for prime time.
I guess I just don't see the need for a larger screen at all
to me the iPhone mini screen is just about the perfect size
I'd love it even more if they took the rear cameras out to make it a bit thinner
Isn’t a Macbook a foldable device? 🥸
At the time, the analyst said Apple would likely release a large-screen foldable iPad or MacBook in that timeframe before launching a higher-volume foldable iPhone in late 2026.
If somehow you could make an ipad that folds into an iphone, without being thicker than a current iphone, I could see the appeal. I wouldn't want it. These things are expensive and hinges have historically been my nemesis on flip things. But I could see the appeal.
I'll be the last person in the world to get a foldable phone - I didn't want them when screens were small, and I want them even less now*. But, a foldable iPad actually makes a lot more sense to me. The ability to have a large-ish screen in my bag that I can fold into something quite compact, seems quite compellling. And since Android tablets are so notoriously bad, Apple is the only company who will be able to make such a product. Which makes it the perfect segment for Apple - a product that noone else has mastered yet, that Apple can supply an actually good version of.
*Fold-out phones fold into a product that is either a weirdly shaped and sized tablet with a crappy OS, or an ungainly shaped and sized phone. Flip-phones might have made sense back when we used our phones 5-10 times per day. Now that we use it 5-10 times per hour at least, it's just an annoying extra step every time you want to quickly do something on the phone and put it back in your pocket. YMMV.
Because didn't you know Apple always does it perfect and never has any issues, so they will delay it until it's perfect (and then they launch it years later and it is in fact... not perfect).
Because they don't care about doing it well, just trying to be FIRST!
Agree. Just yesterday I was hanging out with my stepson who owns a Samsung foldable. Don’t ask me which one because I didn’t care enough to ask. The only reason the phone even came up was that we were running some errands and around lunchtime he needed to charge his phone. When I asked if he charged overnight he said he always does, but he was already down to 25%. All he did was a couple of short phone calls, and showed us a few recent pictures and very short videos of his baby daughter.
Turns out the battery is in only one half of the device. Not very big. We did not have a cable handy so I suggested he throw it on my car’s wireless charging pad. Talk about frustration! Like the battery, the wireless charging coil is also in one half of the phone. If closed, it might sit properly over the car’s charging area for a few seconds before sliding off during driving just enough to stop charging. He tried to charge the phone while open, but that meant the charging coils would never line up with the car’s coils due to the offset from center of the open phone’s dimensions.
He told me he thought the idea of the foldable was cool at the time, but he is absolutely done with it and plans to get a “traditional” form factor phone for a replacement. I think this pretty much sums up the current foldable screen/phone interest. It looks cool. That’s about it.
Apple’s PR is starting early with the tutti-fruitti, phoney baloney, plastic banana, good time, rock-n-roll “leaks” about “delays” and “push outs.” Don’t fall for it, folks. Like all their products, Apple has a clear timeline with a clear product path. Any “delays” are Apple PR trying to hype how “bleeding edge” Apple is. Golly gee whiz, Apple is pushing the boundaries so much that, aw shucks, this product just isn’t quite read to delight customers. But, not to fear, stay tuned for the incredible pipeline!
I would also buy a MacBook 12-inch, which would complete what is currently missing from my Apple portfolio. Apple Watch, IPhone, IPad 11 pro, MACBOOK 12 inch (MacOS for on the go and on vacation) and a more powerful MacBook Pro. The latter could perhaps be replaced with a Mac Mini.
I would never buy a foldable iPad, nor a foldable iPhone!
Even if so people can change their mind over time ultimately supporting something before being against something. Timmy was for the Apple Car before he was against it.
I was referring to foldable devices.
That aside, if Apple was introducing compelling features faster on the Pro models, they would be able to drop the 60 Hz as a distinguishing factor sooner. So it does hinge on Apple’s velocity of innovation.
Just two days back I happened to visit Samsung Store for an accessory, when I saw the Fold 6, I think Samsung has finally nailed the Foldable with a sleek design, very comfortable holding in one hand (unfolded), screens looking amazing both sides, flat corners along with the textured outer shell was really ensuring, the clamshell mechanism is almost perfect without even knowing it is there while folding and unfolding. The crease problem is not a big issue to me and it wasn’t affecting the viewing experience. While folded, it wasn’t really bulky considering what is beneath the body.
Hope Apple has something to beat Samsung on this front!
Yes, a MacBook Air is literally an iPad that runs macOS and has a built in Magic Keyboard. Down at the logic board level, they run the same processor, likely the same firmware. If they need a Device Firmware Update to be resurrected, they work the same way for that too.
Even the major part of the OS below the GUI level is the same between iPadOS and macOS.
I think that macOS on an iPad would be useful to a few percent of the market users, and confusing to the rest, and that's why Apple avoids it. Also, it would let companies say things like "just run the macOS version of our program", and the iPad app ecosystem would suffer (and that ecosystem provides millions of apps for Vision Pro).
I do agree that a small laptop would be nice, but if you can live without the macOS part, my 11" iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard is like a tiny little laptop. The typing experience is outstanding compared to the keyboard folios. I never thought I'd actually use a trackpad on an iPad, but if I'm typing, I do.
I do think this is a weird time.
On the one hand, many people are suggesting that a phone be foldable for more "screen real estate" which actually has nothing to do with phones AND we have many people finding the over functionality of "smart" phones being to expensive and packed with extra technology (bigger cameras, batteries, etc.) a burden... wishing for simplicity.
I wonder what the real size for each of these groups is and if they're similar in size.
I would suggest based on your needs and wants, you don't get one ,if and when it becomes available.