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It'll be a neat flex to have a (nearly) creaseless foldable but I'm not convinced that the crease on existing folding phones is a big deal. I think other factors are more serious (cost, fragility, etc.)

This type of device is of no interest to me but I think it's smart for Apple to be in this market. If they ever come out with a flip form factor I might take a second look, depending on the price.
Those other factors are certainly an issue, but I hate the crease in foldables. While typically when you have something bright on the screen, the crease really isn’t that visible. But if you’re watching a movie with some dim scenes, or are on a dark-mode web page, etc. the crease definitely becomes visible. Worse for me is, whether you can see the crease or not, you can always feel it, and it just feels weird and distracting.
 
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I tried a pixel fold 2. It was fun but ultimately it’s too big in the pocket and frankly too much. It was interesting to actually use for 2 weeks. I was deathly afraid of getting sand in between the display. I took it off-roading lol.
 
**IMPORTANT**
Future solutions (Galaxy Z Fold 8 and beyond)
Laser drilling technology: Samsung is reportedly developing new technology that could virtually eliminate the crease, making the unfolded screen appear as a single, continuous display.
Potential for near-invisibility: This new approach aims to make the crease so faint it is unnoticeable.
Wider adoption: This technology is expected to be incorporated into future Samsung foldable devices, and potentially even supply other manufacturers, like Apple, for their foldable phones.
 
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I'm very interested as I carry an iPhone 17 and I carry a Kindle with me when I want to read books. So possibly a fold would replace both devices for me. An awful lot depends on how thick and heavy the folded device is. Will it be as small as a 17 Pro Max? Or thicker and heavier?
 
Yes, no surprise the 1st generation is expensive. Every time this happens, people claim it's outrageous and that they'll never buy it. The 3rd generation unit has a good price point, so then they do. People should at least be less predictable.
Generally people who complain about initial pricing, are those who couldn't afford it anyway.
 
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Good to see bigger battery. However the battery life might not be excellent considering that it has to power a bigger display. A crease-less display will be nice. While a 24 megapixel front camera is great, I would also like to see a telephoto lens too.
 
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Wow, if the reported outside screen size is right, this is finally the new iphone mini i'd like to eventually replace my 13 mini with.
Sadly, the 13 mini cost me about 578 USD, which was the most I'd ever spent on a phone, so this may be a bit of a big ask price wise, even if I wait for it to be a couple years old and on sale.
I wonder how the thickness will compare to the iphone mini.
 
Reverting to TouchID on a device like this is like building a brand new Maserati with a hand crank start. This is a rumor I really, really hope is wrong.
 
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Do we even want this for $2.500. Sheesh.

I'll be saving my money for the Vision Pro Fold.

You have not seen this secret version yet!
a_A_funny_satirical_pr.jpeg
 
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Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition.

Apple-Foldable-Thumb.jpg

The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That would be a major leap over existing Android foldables, which typically use lower-resolution under-screen cameras of 4 or 8 megapixels. If the leak is accurate, the quality bump suggests Apple has achieved a breakthrough in light transmittance and image clarity that has eluded other manufacturers.

As for the display itself, all the indications suggest Apple has solved "the crease problem" that has plagued most foldable smartphones. Apple is said to have worked intensively on the hinge and display to minimize creasing, and the latest report from Chinese site UDN claims the foldable iPhone will be the first crease-free foldable on the market.

On the battery front, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said the device will use high-density battery cells, and Korean sources indicate Apple is testing capacities in the 5,400–5,800 mAh range, while Chinese leaker Instant Digital has today claimed the final capacity will "definitely" exceed 5,000 mAh. That means it could be the largest battery ever fitted to an iPhone, surpassing even the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 5,088 mAh cell.

For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 packs a 4,400 mAh battery, while the Google Pixel Fold achieves 4,821 mAh. The Honor Magic V5 manages 5,820 mAh using silicon-carbon technology, but the vivo X Fold 5 boasts 6,000 mAh, which is currently the largest in its class.

Multiple sources agree the foldable iPhone will include a 7.8-inch main display when unfolded, a 5.5-inch cover display, and Touch ID rather than Face ID. The device will feature four cameras in total: one front hole-punch camera, the aforementioned under-screen inner camera, and a dual-lens 48-megapixel rear system.

Multiple reports have suggested the foldable iPhone will be priced between $2,000 and $2,500 in the United States, which could make it the most expensive iPhone ever. Apple will allegedly call the device the "iPhone Fold," which is the name the media has already adopted when describing the product.

Article Link: Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features
The Honor Magic V5 actually goes up to 6,100mAh if you get the chinese 1TB model. Insane what they can fit in such a small space!
 
Some people here on MacRumors are going to be so mad when this thing is successful. For some reason, they have a hard time accepting that different users have different requirements and different economic constraints. They will pan it as unsuccessful when it only sells a few million units and only brings in $1 billion in net profit.
 
Of course, people would buy the foldable when or if it arrives. Some would do so simply out of habit, or for the need to show off, purchasing the newest model even if they don't want or need it. Most would buy it because it could be written off from income tax, particularly self-employed individuals and business buyers.
 
I don't know, feels like extra work, pull it out of your pocket, open it like it's 2003... it's less convenient IMO but I'll try one when they release. Also an even more expensive phone? No thanks.
 
They made an iPhone mini not long ago and it did not sell.
So what? Most people are also consume fast food on a daily basis. Why we should cater to the lowest common denominator?

The fact is mini is the best iPhone Apple ever made.

Huge phone only makes sense if it’s your only device.
 
So what? Most people are also consume fast food on a daily basis. Why we should cater to the lowest common denominator?

The fact is mini is the best iPhone Apple ever made.

Huge phone only makes sense if it’s your only device.
Steve Job’s era Apple made products people didn't know they wanted, current Apple just follow trends. And constant screen size bumps is a clear symptom of this fundamental shift.

Now we are expected to unfold a damn thing every time we use it? How is this useful? How does it make our lifes better?

The answer is: it doesn't’, it’s just trend chasing and trying to increase average iPhone price.
 
I’m indirectly interested in this and as such am hoping that Apple is successful in solving the various issues namely creasing and good battery life with a form factor sufficiently small to still be pocketable.

I’m not directly interested - for my phone I’m happy with the existing Pro Max model - but for iPad I fairly recently sold my 12.9” Pro and went back to an 11” model because the 12.9” was too bulky, had terrible battery life, and the step up from an 11” screen to a 12.9” screen wasn’t as noticeable to me as I’d hoped. That’s why, despite not wanting a foldable phone, I’m still interested to see what Apple comes up with here in case it subsequently applies those technologies and lessons learned to a foldable iPad.

I’d have to try it to see but I suspect that a maybe 16” iPad that folded up into a form factor smaller in terms of width and length than my current 11” iPad Pro would be something I would buy as long as the screen wasn’t compromised by a crease and it had battery life at least as good as my current 11” model. It almost certainly wouldn’t be as thin as my 11” iPad Pro when folded but that’s OK, for putting it into a front pocket of my luggage it’s the other dimensions that I’m more concerned about and was where I struggled with a 12.9” iPad for very minimal perceived benefit; maybe a foldable iPad could change that balance.
 


Now we are expected to unfold a damn thing every time we use it? How is this useful? How does it make our lifes better?

The answer is: it doesn't’, it’s just trend chasing and trying to increase average iPhone price.

I’m also not enthusiastic about foldable phones but your post did trigger a random thought.

As I understand the foldable phone world you don’t have to unfold one to use it, if you’re just taking a call or doing something else that doesn’t need the big screen then there is another screen on one of the outer faces that you can use. That makes me wonder whether Samsung and/or other manufacturers of foldable phones are, as part of their opt-in analytical data, collecting information on how often users are actually unfolding their phones to use the big screen vs what percentage of screen-time usage is being spent using the outer screen.

Obviously if such data is being collected it will be considered totally proprietary by the manufacturer collecting it but if such a data set does exist I would be fascinated to see it.
 
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I seriously doubt it will be called iPhone Fold just because the media has adopted that term. If that logic held, we’d have ended up with iSlates instead of iPads.
 
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Those "higher" battery levels are now pretty mundane.

"OnePlus managed to cram a 7,300 mAh battery in this phone without increasing the weight compared to last year’s model. Flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 10 Pro XL are at 5,000 mAh or a little more, and they weigh the same or a bit more. Adding almost 50 percent capacity on top of that without making the phone ungainly is an impressive feat of engineering."

Quote from:
 
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I don't know, feels like extra work, pull it out of your pocket, open it like it's 2003... it's less convenient IMO but I'll try one when they release. Also an even more expensive phone? No thanks.
Of course it's not extra work. It works just like a normal phone until you unfold it to use the larger screen. There's a 5.5-inch front screen that one has to assume it will work exactly like a normal phone.
 
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Steve Job’s era Apple made products people didn't know they wanted, current Apple just follow trends. And constant screen size bumps is a clear symptom of this fundamental shift.

Now we are expected to unfold a damn thing every time we use it? How is this useful? How does it make our lifes better?

The answer is: it doesn't’, it’s just trend chasing and trying to increase average iPhone price.
Of course you don't have to unfold it every time you use it. It works just like a normal phone until you unfold it to use the larger screen. There's a 5.5-inch front screen that one has to assume it will work exactly like a normal phone as Do the current folding phones on the market.
 
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