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Best Look at Foldable iPhone Design Revealed, May Only Come in White

carswell said:
Expecting this is going to be another Apple Vision Pro: technically impressive, wildly expensive, with poor sales following the initial blip at launch. Unlike the AVP, however, there'll be a gen 2 and maybe 3 before it's quietly retired and replaced with something less impractical and more affordable.
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Yes, may not be a hot seller but at least you don’t have to wear it on your face. People who dislike the lack of Face ID and a telephoto lens may not agree with “technically impressive”. I myself will consider it because of the iPad mini “function”. Touch ID is fine with me.
 
All these years I've been waiting for an iPhone fold....and this. Just put two Pro Max's side by side, that's all I want! I'll stick with my amazing Galaxy Fold 7 then.
 
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This is going to cause massive headaches for developers. I'm wondering how Apple plans to make existing apps look normal on that short, wide, folded screen. If it's going to take a ton of work for us devs to accommodate for this without our apps looking fugly on a crazy aspect ratio, then it's going to be a much harder sell.

Perhaps they are going to make apps look tiny with huge black spaces on either side like they did for the original iPad running iPhone apps, until devs give in and make apps specifically designed for this stupid screen size.

The problem is even worse if this thing doesn't run an iPad version of an app when unfolded. Can you image an iPhone application running on an iPad in landscape?

My apps are in SwiftUI, so I'm guessing a new version of Xcode will just make it work, but likely not without a lot of hassle on the part of the devs.
 
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DBZmusicboy01 said:
iPhone 18 Pro Max will sell 10x more
The iPhone Fold is very awkward size and very expensive and maybe also fragile while using the inner display. Way too many problems because the outer display is also awkward when it’s closed due to being too wide while short in height. The 18 Pro Max is the perfect size.
BUT
The iPhone Fold would been an excellent iPad Mini replacement tho. It makes way more sense.
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Replace iPad mini with a device costing 5x more? Is that even a thing?
 
Deanster said:
Exactly. FaceID is an amazing feature that has been on even non-Pro iPhones for many years now. The TouchID button on my iPad Mini is the one thing about it I legitimately dislike, all my other iOS devices have FaceID.

I might be willing to give a folding iPhone a try just to see how good Apple's attempt is or isn't. But $2K+ to go back to pre-iPhone X touch ID, a feature that's relegated to lower-tier iPads and not currently offered on ANY other iPhone?

Even the e-model bottom-tier iPhones have had FaceID for two generations now.

We'll obviously have to wait and see what Apple actually announces, but I have a hard time imagining they'll launch a folding iPhone with a feature they've been pushing down the line and out of premium phones for most of a decade.

I absolutely will NOT be paying a massive premium for a phone with touchID.
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I agree, my iPad Mini would be much better (in my opinion) if it had FaceID.I would happily pay another hundred or two for FaceID on a Mini. The fold will be cool I am sure, and many people will love it. But having owned a Z Fold 3 many years ago, the only killer app for me was the Kindle app (I doom scrolled less and as an ereader it was perfect). I do adventurous stuff outdoors and a flimsy and overcomplicated phone is not something I want to have to constantly worry about. And my Mini is a better Mini tablet than a folding phone will ever be.
 
I7guy said:
The last time a product failure was predicted it was a smash success: MacBook neo.
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Maybe I've been out of the loop, but I don't recall a lot of people claiming that to be a failure prior to launch. In fact, I do recall lots of people begging for a low cost MacBook and they finally got one.

Yes, the Neo appears to be a big success, and for good reason. Prior to that however, new form factors for Apple haven't gone over very well, and price has almost always been the reason. If the AVP had launched at $1,500 they would be everywhere. The front facing screen was really unnecessary, along with other features, and drove cost up significantly with almost zero benefit to the user. It was one of those "we can, so we will" features that served no purpose other than to price it out of range for the average user. This foldable was apparently designed with the same mentality.

If this alleged foldable launched at the same price point as the 18 Pro Max, you might see more converts trying it out. As is, with a reduction of features, and some going backward to things that they've been phasing out, still asking a huge premium is just laughable.
 
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If I had a nickel for every time an uninformed MR user posted about foldables, having zero experience with a foldable outside of maybe holding one in a store for a couple minutes, at most, I would be a millionaire. I was skeptical at first, when I jumped ship and bought a Z Fold 3. Right off the bat though, I was hooked, even though it was a Samsung phone and I honestly despise Samsung as a company. That was with the Z Fold 3, which was complete garbage compared to the foldables that have been release in the past 2-3 years. Apple will most likely sell more units of it's first foldable in the first year of its existence than every other foldable in the same year combined. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they sell more foldables the first year than two or three years of foldable sales combined. I've been in the foldable game since August of 2021, and to this day every time someone has seen one of the eleven foldables I've owned to date, they are blown away. And 90% of them have all asked me, "does Apple make one of these?" and I have told them no for many years. Even lately, they still have no clue that Apple is supposed to launch one this year. The other 10% have bought a foldable after I've shown them mine and they love them. I've said this before, but after owning a foldable it is difficult for me to understand why anyone who doesn't want the absolute smallest footprint would ever want to own a slab phone anymore. Viewing photos, videos, web browsing, checking emails, PDFs, and pretty much everything else is better viewed on a larger display. Don't get me started on multitasking. The only exception is quick replies to texts, checking the weather, and maybe some emails. On top of this, today's foldables easily fit in your pocket. Pin this post, write it down, screenshot it, whatever you have to do...I'm telling you right now that Apple will launch foldables into the stratosphere, as long as they don't make the starting price much higher than $1900-2000.

Again, foldables are not for everyone. But, for the people who want the latest iPhone design, and for those who use an iPhone and an iPad Mini (and some who even use a standard iPad), these people are going to buy the Apple Fold or whatever it ends up being called. The price won't even matter to these people when you can finance it anyway at 0%.
 
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Dark-Signature said:
View attachment 2635647

It looks way more friendly now ROTFL
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This looks unironically good. I’m not even joking. This could probably have had a good chance of bring grenlit under Steve Jobs. It looks unique in a very cool kind of way. The competition has nothing like this, this could have made it immediately recognizable as (a cool kids) iPhone. It kind of reminds me of the finder icon.
 
eifelbube said:
Yes, may not be a hot seller but at least you don’t have to wear it on your face. People who dislike the lack of Face ID and a telephoto lens may not agree with “technically impressive”. I myself will consider it because of the iPad mini “function”. Touch ID is fine with me.
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After the Air, I'm sure Apple realizes this could flop– but they'll still sell a TON of iPhone Pros because the Fold will generate buzz, hits, and bring people into the store, both in person and online. It's a very expensive marketing device.
rchaser said:
very true. Same reason there isn’t a black phone now.

Also, they would already be in a state of confusion for buying the thing.
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This ignores the fact that we've always had black iphones up until the 16 Pro.
 
I suspect this will end up similarly to AVP. All hype and excitement but will undersell and just not become a hit product for the masses like regular iPhone or other popular Apple products. I mean, a device that folds and expands into a bigger screen? Sure, who doesn't want a bigger screen but for a phone device it seems like it will be way too bulky to carry around.
 
iMac The Knife said:
If I had a nickel for every time an uninformed MR user posted about foldables, having zero experience with a foldable outside of maybe holding one in a store for a couple minutes, at most, I would be a millionaire. I was skeptical at first, when I jumped ship and bought a Z Fold 3. Right off the bat though, I was hooked, even though it was a Samsung phone and I honestly despise Samsung as a company. That was with the Z Fold 3, which was complete garbage compared to the foldables that have been release in the past 2-3 years. Apple will most likely sell more units of it's first foldable in the first year of its existence than every other foldable in the same year combined. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they sell more foldables the first year than two or three years of foldable sales combined. I've been in the foldable game since August of 2021, and to this day every time someone has seen one of the eleven foldables I've owned to date, they are blown away. And 90% of them have all asked me, "does Apple make one of these?" and I have told them no for many years. Even lately, they still have no clue that Apple is supposed to launch one this year. The other 10% have bought a foldable after I've shown them mine and they love them. I've said this before, but after owning a foldable it is difficult for me to understand why anyone who doesn't want the absolute smallest footprint would ever want to own a slab phone anymore. Viewing photos, videos, web browsing, checking emails, PDFs, and pretty much everything else is better viewed on a larger display. Don't get me started on multitasking. The only exception is quick replies to texts, checking the weather, and maybe some emails. On top of this, today's foldables easily fit in your pocket. Pin this post, write it down, screenshot it, whatever you have to do...I'm telling you right now that Apple will launch foldables into the stratosphere, as long as they don't make the starting price much higher than $1900-2000.

Again, foldables are not for everyone. But, for the people who want the latest iPhone design, and for those who use an iPhone and an iPad Mini (and some who even use a standard iPad), these people are going to buy the Apple Fold or whatever it ends up being called. The price won't even matter to these people when you can finance it anyway at 0%.
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Thanks for this, it’s something I’ve suspected for a while. As you said, not for everyone. But, what is, right? Haha!!

I’ve been on the iPhone train since the OG in 2007. Upgrade every year. Currently on the Air.

When I saw the latest foldables from Honor, etc it was the first time I’ve ever felt Android-curious. I actually looked at what switching would entail. Decided to wait a bit longer when the Fold/Ultra rumors got heavy.

So glad I waited, haha!! I can’t wait for pre-orders to open for this.
 
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Sami13496 said:
Okay, then give me a use case where the Fold’s slightly larger screen provides a truly significant advantage compared to, say, using an iPhone Pro Max in landscape mode.

And I don’t mean theoretical scenarios where you could supposedly work on documents, because that’s just as frustrating on a Fold as it is on any regular smartphone. For that kind of work, you need a computer.

People want bigger screens because they’ve been convinced they need them, but in reality, most Fold users don’t do much more with their devices than people with a regular large smartphone. The main difference is that they might watch videos on a bigger screen.

It’a not that much larger unfolded than a regular big smartphone. It’s a gimmick.
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It’s significantly wider than a Pro Max when unfolded.

I don’t know why you mention documents as a theoretical scenario. I’ve had to check some excel files on the go, and having a bigger screen would have it made it less frustrating.

Same with reading books, and not having to turn pages so often (I use a Kindle Scribe over a Paperwhite at home because of that). Using Safari in landscape (current iPhones are very narrow for that). Checking your calendar. Etc.
 
OliOliOliOli said:
This form factor is way too big for my pants pocket! Count me out if I have to start carrying a handbag!
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Pants with bigger pockets are a lot cheaper than the foldable will be. Not bad if one can carry an iPad mini in one’s pocket. Who knows, Apple may expand to the fashion clothes business and design pants with iPhone tailored pockets. Only problem would be that the pants wouldn’t be a lot cheaper than the phones …
 
mgarc1125 said:
The form factor is an absolute non starter. Way too wide when folded. Don’t know who this is for.
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I don’t understand those who come out with the whole “who is this for” line. It’s really not hard to understand who it’s for

It’s for anybody who wants a bigger screen always every time they use the device and for anybody who wants to multitask and be more productive on their phone.

The form factor is clearly the best form factor for a foldable. Aspect ratio matters for these devices and it fits the bill for all levels of content usage
 
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