Foldable iPhone Development Allegedly Paused Due to Failing Screens

[don pianta]

Apple is not going to release a foldable device until they start making their own displays. Relying on Samsung (who haven't been able to manufacture high enough quality folding displays) is just not going to work.

I highly doubt Samsung is going to manufacture folding displays that are better than their own, specifically for Apple.

Apple isn't going to release a foldable screen unless it's near-flawless. Apple would rather never release a folding device than release one with a plastic screen or one with a visible crease.

 

[Cesar Battistini]

trading ceramic shield for a plastic screen, all for a gimmick. Absolutely not worth it.

The future is not foldable, it's Vision Pro.

 

[dannys1]

So you and everyone else can complain about apple’s lack of innovation?

They’ll figure it out. You’ll be first in line.

I've never complained about it - and no I won't, just like i've no interest in the "Max" sized phones.

Unfortunately this is the point where we need Steve to rudely tell everyone folding phones are a stupid, pointless idea.

 

[Born Again]

I've never complained about it - and no I won't, just like i've no interest in the "Max" sized phones.

Unfortunately this is the point where we need Steve to rudely tell everyone folding phones are a stupid, pointless idea.

Where do we go from here?

Apple needs to sell more phones.

 

[dannys1]

Apple is not going to release a foldable device until they start making their own displays. Relying on Samsung (who haven't been able to manufacture high enough quality folding displays) is just not going to work.

I highly doubt Samsung is going to manufacture folding displays that are better than their own, specifically for Apple.

Apple isn't going to release a foldable screen unless it's near-flawless. Apple would rather never release a folding device than release one with a plastic screen or one with a visible crease.

You're getting Samsung's manufacturing division and their consumer division confused, they have nothing to do with each other. Samsung's display manufacturing division doesn't design anything. Apple designs the displays to their own specifications and Samsung's manufacturing division produces them as they have the tools and capacity to do so.

The screens have nothing to do with what is in a Samsung consumer device. Samsung's mobile division also has to go to the display division with detailed designs to have those screens manufactured. Apple could go to anyone who has the capacity and yield to manufacture their screens (as they often split between LG and Samsung) these are still Apple parts.

 

[AlmightyKang]

This is a sales feature, to notify the user that your phone is old and you really need a new phone.

Nah the things stop getting patches way before the screen breaks.

 

[dannys1]

Where do we go from here?

Apple needs to sell more phones.

Says who? They sell plenty.

If suddenly no one wants to buy an iPhone because every other phone on the market folds, then maybe they'll have to give in (like they did with the screen size which was originally perfect)

Until then (and I don't think that will ever happen, as I don't see them taking off at all, it's doing it for the sake of doing it because OLED screens are flexible, not because it has any benefit to the end user) they need to focus on making devices smaller, lighter and have a longer battery. The next big step in phones won't be folding them, but solid state battery which makes them last much longer.

 

[Jovian9]

We all got used to the ugly notch or "Dynamic Island" that Apple have used on their screens, the crease is the same way after a while. Took me a week before I didn't even notice it anymore even back on the Fold 2 that had a more pronounced crease than current gen, if we look at something like the OnePlus Open you barely see the crease.

I think the utility is the draw for me (apart from it being cool to fold it up), having a screen size that is actually useful makes the phone a tool instead of just a communication device.

Maybe you're right. But something that's always been there on a phone for 15 generations or so partially on one end of the phone (the slot/dynamic notch) versus something that goes right down the entire middle isn't quite the same.

 

[Crowbot]

We all got used to the ugly notch or "Dynamic Island" that Apple have used on their screens, the crease is the same way after a while. Took me a week before I didn't even notice it anymore even back on the Fold 2 that had a more pronounced crease than current gen, if we look at something like the OnePlus Open you barely see the crease.

I think the utility is the draw for me (apart from it being cool to fold it up), having a screen size that is actually useful makes the phone a tool instead of just a communication device.

I'm glad you're enjoying your device.

Back in my day... companies would replace screens with dead/stuck pixels if they were in the center of the screen but not if it was at the edges. Their rationale was that defects at the center were more noticeable than at the edges.

 

[ofarlig]

I'm glad you're enjoying your device.

Back in my day... companies would replace screens with dead/stuck pixels if they were in the center of the screen but not if it was at the edges. Their rationale was that defects at the center were more noticeable than at the edges.

Not really enjoying my device since I am using an iPhone 15 PM that I don’t think is very useful, nothing much changed from my 14 PM I had before and I still have to carry my iPad Mini with me in a backpack if I want to do anything more than call, text or listen to music. Guessing the iPhone 16 PM I’d get later this year will be the same boring not useful phone again.

I miss having a foldable but I do really prefer iOS over Android, but the hardware for the foldables really are good today.

 

[carrrrrlos]

Ah bummer. I was looking forward to posting “You’re folding it wrong.” when this was released.

 

[spinedoc77]

We all got used to the ugly notch or "Dynamic Island" that Apple have used on their screens, the crease is the same way after a while. Took me a week before I didn't even notice it anymore even back on the Fold 2 that had a more pronounced crease than current gen, if we look at something like the OnePlus Open you barely see the crease.

I think the utility is the draw for me (apart from it being cool to fold it up), having a screen size that is actually useful makes the phone a tool instead of just a communication device.

That's personally puzzling to me for sure. How some could hate on what I personally don't really see, the crease, but are ok with a huge black "island" blocking their view. Different strokes for different folks and all so I'm not hating on the island, it's just something personally I could never get used to as it's always there blocking your view.

 

[firewall00110]

Apple has suspended its development of a foldable iPhone after supplier displays failed to pass the company's own stringent testing standards, claims a new rumor coming out of China.

According to Fixed Focus Digital, a Weibo-based tech video blogger from Guangdong with a huge Chinese following, Apple has been testing rival foldable phones as part of its research and development process into foldable devices, which is believed to have been going on since 2016.

At least one of the foldables that Apple is said to have been testing uses a display made by Samsung. Samsung is a major supplier of display panels used in Apple devices, and is known to have provided foldable display samples to Apple in the past. A recent report also claimed that Samsung has been attempting to strengthen its operational efficiency in anticipation of Apple's first foldable products by integrating the expertise it has gained making foldable devices since 2019.

However, the source of today's rumor claims that Samsung's latest folding panels "broke down after a few days" under Apple's rigorous internal testing, which has caused Apple to put the entire project on ice for the foreseeable future, or at least until a display that can meet its high standards can be developed.

According to a report from The Information earlier this month, Apple has been actively building prototypes of at least two foldable iPhones following over five years of research and development. The two iPhone prototypes are said to fold widthwise like a clamshell, but do not feature in Apple's product roadmap for 2024 or 2025. The report noted that the foldable iPhones could still be canceled if they do not meet Apple's standards.

The Weibo account purporting to have received information about the foldable project's suspension at Apple is a largely unknown quantity, having no previous track record for Apple rumors to our knowledge, therefore skepticism about its accuracy is warranted.

It's also unclear whether the claim impacts Apple's continuing work on a foldable iPad. Apple is rumored to be more interested in such a device, which could be thicker than a foldable ‌iPhone‌ since users would not expect to carry it in their pocket and it would not need to pass the high durability requirements of an ‌iPhone‌.

Earlier this month, Korean outlet The Elec reported that Apple is considering launching its first foldable in the next few years in the form of a 7- to 8-inch device that could ultimately replace the 8.3-inch iPad mini.

Article Link: Foldable iPhone Development Allegedly Paused Due to Failing Screens

The Japanese market just does fine with flip phones with larger screens/touch screens.

 

[dcingie]

We’ll wait 5 years and then use our distortion field to imply that we’re the first ones to do this and Samsung is copying us.

 

[aj_niner]

We’ll wait 5 years and then use our distortion field to imply that we’re the first ones to do this and Samsung is copying us.

5 years from now people will celebrate Apple's ability to mass produce a crease-less folding smartphone.

A folding smartphone that will have a near ZERO failed hinge by year 9 of devise use.

 

[fyun89]

Writing on my near 2 year old Sammy Fold 4.
No damage what so ever.

 

[williamkey123]

Foldable phones are stupid. I don't see why they ever considered them in the first place.

 

[aj_niner]

Foldable phones are stupid. I don't see why they ever considered them in the first place.

It was a popular dumb phone form factor before 2007.

Personally... I don't want to deal with possible hinge failure within the 1st decade of use.

 

[257Loner]

trading ceramic shield for a plastic screen, all for a gimmick. Absolutely not worth it.

The future is not foldable, it's Vision Pro.

Wrong. The future is the Borg. Imagine yourself walking down the street wearing an Apple Vision Pro and an Apple Watch Ultra on each wrist while taking a call on your Earpods Pro while taking notes on your iPhone Fold Pro as seen through your Apple Vision Pro.

And then a thief steals your wallet while you’re, ahem, preoccupied with your designer computer gear.

 

[Beautyspin]

Now that AVP is DOA and there is no foldable phone, what will drive the growth at Apple? They are already seeing declining growths in China. If the DMA is properly implemented, Apple will lose revenue from Appstore in the EU as well as end up paying significant fines.

 

[iMattPro]

If this rumor is true, it is news to celebrate. Apple has more important things to spend its resources on than foldable fat ugly impractical phones, lol

 

[Arran]

Multitouch screens weren't a norm much less mainstream before the iPhone.

Digital distribution channels for software were rare and largely unpopular.

Apple's App Store was headlining and pioneering in success.

In other words other companies may have started it but Apple made them commercially viable.

Yep.

 

[Arran]

But no one was asking for better versions. My point exactly.

Indeed. Nobody, not least Apple’s customers, had any clue that a better version was possible. How would they?

The great thing about Apple was that it didn’t care what its customers weren’t saying. It believed in its own vision and quietly executed on it.

And then blew everyone’s socks off!

Who needs focus groups?

 

[svish]

A foldable device from Apple is years away. Apple might end up not even releasing it. Durability of folding screens have to improve.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Foldable screen mobile devices are the tech equivalent of bread & circuses. Perfect entertainment for the easily excited and fans of Star Trek. Any engineer knows that the moment you open it on day one (and laugh at the crease), it’s a countdown to mechanical failure.