Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Foldable iPhone Prototype Allegedly Features Separate Display Panels Connected by Hinge
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This, if released, could possibly be cheaper than the Galaxy fold as it would use standard screens rather than the proprietary folding screen. It would almost certainly be more durable, as you could use more traditional glass. Even the latest release of the fold is easily scratchable. The major issue would be hiding the gap and whether they could sell it.
If thin and small enough, it's a way to get an iPad-mini-like surface to read and work on in a pocketable form factor. Lot of "ifs" there.
For those of us with bad eyes or those of us who get frustrated banging out email responses on the tiny iPhone keyboard (or who rotate our devices for more typewriter space), may be compelling. Perhaps.
We won’t know a response to this product until it actually launches, if ever. We all know Apple has been dabbling with foldable displays, but where is the demand? The price point is the crucial feature, not the Want for a product like this. If the price is out of reach, this Will only reach a small demographic, but it has potential if executed properly.
That looks awful, just as bad as the surface duo. Well actually the duo looks worse with its bezels from 2013 and the huge hinge. This isn't a foldable phone, it's 2 phones sandwiched together. The duo has an advantage with pen support, although we don't know if Apple's device might have that also. I'd be happy if I just got pencil support on my current Max pro iphone.
Can't wait for the Galaxy Fold 2, this year might be the year I switch back to Android.
[automerge]1592256214[/automerge]
Put a larger screen next to a smaller one, now try to fit the larger one into your pocket. There, you see it wasn't that difficult.
Can't wait for the Galaxy Fold 2, this year might be the year I switch back to Android.
[automerge]1592256214[/automerge]
Put a larger screen next to a smaller one, now try to fit the larger one into your pocket. There, you see it wasn't that difficult.
For me foldable phones is a big no… foldable tablet on the other hand a big yes. My phone usage is such that an increase in the display size actually doesn't gain me a lot. I use and view my phone a lot on my desk and having a foldable open all the time would simply suck. Also, a larger display requires a larger battery. At the same time, if I could have carry about a 13" iPad at half the size but double the thickness I'd be all over it in a second. This would in fact be great to have a larger display and wouldn't require the same durability that my phone would require.
And the vertically folding phone will have the same aspect issues the Galaxy Fold has… that is, pretty much square.
And the vertically folding phone will have the same aspect issues the Galaxy Fold has… that is, pretty much square.
This is what I've been saying all along is the Achilles heel to the Duo. I like the idea of the ipad pro, I believe Lenovo has a laptop just like that which is close to release https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/p...fold-ushers-in-a-new-era-of-mobile-computing/ My only issue with that, as well as the Duo and this Apple rumor is I don't really want to type on a glass screen. I like the keyboard attachment that MS uses on the Neo.
It's so boring that people keep saying "Why?" Obviously it would be to have an iPad mini that fits in your pocket - obviously! Now, one can very well ask if this design would work, is attractive, is genuine, is realistic, needs a screen fold or not, whatever... But stop asking why there might be a call for such a device.
Yeah, that would do the trick! They'd just tell their three suspects, then they would have their man. /S
[automerge]1592257507[/automerge]
Umm, yeah, that's a really good question... Oh, hang on, that's it... To have twice the amount of screen space to fit in your pocket. Obviously.
It make a lot of sense to a lot of people who live their lives on their phones. There are many that don't have tablets and/or laptops. For those there can be a lot of merit. The problem for me is that to get the 10.5" 16:10 display size of my current tablet there would need to be a tri-folded phone which makes no sense at all.
Because if you're not experimenting with ideas, crossing boundaries and occasionally "breaking stuff" you fall behind and then people start saying you are no longer innovative.
[automerge]1592257916[/automerge]
Sure, great alternative, why didn't they think of that? It's such a simple and elegant solution! Oh, hang on... It doesn't fit in your pocket.
Me too. It’s a mechanical problem, to align the panels perfectly every time for countless open/close cycles would need extremely precise engineering and exceptional rigidity.
I’m sure Apple has experimented with these concepts but I certainly will not be a buyer of them. It’ll far too expensive for far too little gain.
Is there anyone here who thinks that Apple doesn’t experiment with ideas and prototypes behind the scenes, many of which never see the light of day?
The difference here is that Samsung is so desperate for attention that they like to trot out their test ideas in public in the name of “innovation”, only to watch them crash and burn because they don’t seem to understand that good design is searching for and having technology made to serve the product experience, not engineers excited about about new hot tech and trying to turn it into a product.
That’s the difference between Apple’s design-led product strategy, vs everyone else’s, and their track record pretty much speak for themselves, IMO.
I join all of the people saying that folding phones are stupid. That said, if you want to make a folding phone this seems to be the way to go. With tight enough tolerances you could make the seem disappear, and it solves the issue of how to get a perfectly flat display, how to prevent dust/water from getting under the folding display, and lets you have real glass screens instead of crappy plastic. I think if Apple did release this it would embarrass all the other folding phones on the market, but that's not a very big accomplishment. Maybe in a few years.
They could just make two displays that curve over one side, and put those two sides together. But that's using a pretty generous interpretation of "seamlessly" because there would still be a physical seam and it would be visible (if not more so than a foldable display).
It's not necessarily false, but the fact that Apple builds a prototype doesn't mean that it will be produced. As usual, people are reading way too much into things.
You’re describing the Galaxy Fold. Samsung puts out whatever so they can shout “FIRST!!” and then sees what sticks, regardless if it’s ready for prime time or not.
A foldable phone doesn’t need to be double the thickness of a single screen phone and it doesn’t need to be less durable.
A phone with the body of an iPhone could distribute the chipsets and batteries on two equally sized halves. A separate screen on each half could be truly bezel free engineered to have a tight fit between both sides when closed, bridging them into a single screen. With microscopic tolerances in their devices for years, Apple has proven that they can manufacture components without gaps.
Samsung went the other route by trying to make the screen itself fold, then compromising on the glass and using plastic instead, resulting in a fragile screen that was bound to break and scratch. They also didn’t bother to optimize the power efficiency for such a device and ended up having what was two phones on top of one another.
Agreed. It’s one thing when you’re typing on a screen that fits in your hand, but going larger and not having any kind of feeback or differentiation between keys makes it just feel cheap and wrong to me. It kind of reminds me of my first computer in the late ‘70’s - an Atari with the plastic keyboard that wasn’t really a keyboard. I hated it. It was even worse that typing on glass because you had to push on the “keys” hard enough to get the button sensor below the plastic cover to click for it to register your input. Back then I had learned basic typing first on a non-electric typewriter, so it wasn’t so out of place to have to push hard on each key, but without having any movement like you do with a typewriter, it was just so unnatural in how it worked (or didn’t).
It’s funny how there is this subset of computer users today using new “old” mechanical keyboards, that have tons of key travel and the clickety clack sound to them. I dig the throwback appeal, but given the number of times I need to multi-task while on conference calls, I really don’t want everyone to hear me type on the call.
The Atari 4800. Yep, remember it was a deliberate push to register your touch.