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Hands-On With a Rough iPhone Fold Mockup
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Ridiculous. Please enlighten me as to which other phone company has Steve Jobs at the helm. Oh, no one? Right, he is still dead. He’s not coming back. Deal with it, and stop criticising Tim Cook for not being Steve Jobs. Who would you hire instead who actually is Steve Jobs?
That’s a very subjective statement based on what you would like “a foldable” to mean. The chance of not having those features is absolutely not zero. I’d say more than 50.
I don’t think Apple is positioning this as a foldable iPad. Apple doesn’t think that way. They don’t start with the hardware, they start with the human interface. In other words, the use cases. It’s the same reason they haven’t put touch screens or cellular on MacBooks. They don’t like simply smashing two existing formats together. They will look at the use cases anew, and consider what people will use it for.
I don’t think this is a productivity device, it’s too small for that. The use cases when unfolded is looking at photos, playing casual games, watching video, and not least numbing your brain with social media. The use cases when folded is mostly notifications, quick reply backs, taking pictures. And Siri interactions, because Apple still thinks Siri works.
Apple will look atvthose use cases and design the software around that. Running iOS but allowing to run iPad apps when unfolded makes a lot more sense than running full-blown iPad OS, or creating a seperate “fold OS”.
But, of course that is just my guess.
After some time enjoying my Z fold7 I’m certainly ready to buy a folding iPhone.
However what’s particularly concerning is how small the dimensions are being reported for this new folding iPhone. If Apple were to make it the same as my Samsung or even a bit larger I would be an eager customer.
After the debacle with the iPhone Air, my trust in Apple is fading. As a very long time, generally satisfied customer, Apple has me questioning if it’s time to move on. Having had years of experience with other smartphones, the transition wouldn’t be difficult at all.
I base it off what current foldables do so there has to be things a foldable does that normal slab phones don't do
It needs to have spilt screen at the very least
Window support you could get away with not having as pixel fold doesn't but needs something to show difference from a slab phone
Productivity wise can really been seen for different tasks. Basically all tasks will be better than a normal slab phone so your paying for more screen in every task you do so the device needs to take advantage of those advantages
That's why apple needs to make sure it's more like an iPad than anything else
The display should look better than fold 7 due to getting the aspect ratio right. You will get more screen and better for content
Still just opinions, but so are my arguments, so you could be right… I’m not sure I agree that “all tasks” are better with a bigger screen. If they were, it wouldn’t need to be foldable in the first place.
I have never used splitscreen or any other multitasking feature on my iPad Mini. But I will still pull it out for various things I do where the phone screen is too small. Other than video, that mostly means Balatro, to be honest… I don’t write emails on my iPad. Either I reply short, which is easier on the phone, or I write a long reply where I want a keyboard.
I didn’t even want a foldable, but the more I argue for the way I think Apple will implement it, the more the thought of it is warming up on me…
Having had zero experience with Android foldables, one feature I think is underestimated is how it looks when folded. Most foldables I have seen look like two slim phones stacked. I would expect Apple to solve this as well, and make the “foldable” part truly hidden, or at least very close to it.
Until it's here it's all guess work and what we think is best
Im a big fan of foldables and do like the form factor.
I get the downsides though. High cost and cameras not being as good as slab phones but guess depends what you need the most
Mainly Samsung who have it thinner than most
Honor magic v5 is perfect when closed. So much I tried it and used it closed to much
What does “too much” mean? If a good slab (closed) phone is so good you are happy enough using it to not open it up, doesn’t that simply negate the demand for the unfolded state? The last thing I would want is to make the phone deliberately bad in folded state, to “force” me to use it unfolded.
Mean it was so good closed I didn't use it enough opened up which does against point of a foldable
I've just bought samsung tri fold and basically use it 99% open lol
Tri fold is fine closed too sbit narrow compared to a normal phone but works well overall
For me iPhone fold will be great closed and open based on renders
Hm. Still sounds to me like you would be perfectly happy with any slab phone as good as the Honor (whatever that means), and that foldability is just a novelty. Which has been my stance so far.
I use both slab and foldables so iPhone would be my main sim and would use it open a lot when at home
I happily use foldables open as that’s point of them really to use more screen
I have a vivo 200 ultra and OPPO x9 pro as well and plan to get other Chinese phones in 2026 for all photography
I 3d printed this, and I love it, I really hope this is what the Fold actually is. It is a very short phone, but that means it is super easy to reach the top of the screen. Some people may have issues one-handed typing as it is pretty wide, slightly wider than a Pro Max.
But the main thing is - when opened it is basically the size of a standard kindle (minus the kindles massive bezels.) which to me, is the ideal iPad size. Great for browsing the web and decent enough for watching video content.
The other thing...I'm hoping they focus on the "fold" itself. All foldables now are basically designed for closed/opened plus a few half opened camera gimmicks. But I think opening and being used like a book is a really overlooked use case. This passport size format is ideal for that. It would require software designed for it, but that is Apple's main advantage, people will build customized software for this device.
But the main thing is - when opened it is basically the size of a standard kindle (minus the kindles massive bezels.) which to me, is the ideal iPad size. Great for browsing the web and decent enough for watching video content.
The other thing...I'm hoping they focus on the "fold" itself. All foldables now are basically designed for closed/opened plus a few half opened camera gimmicks. But I think opening and being used like a book is a really overlooked use case. This passport size format is ideal for that. It would require software designed for it, but that is Apple's main advantage, people will build customized software for this device.
The Surface Duo is a good yardstick for this, the software was designed for the screens and had loads of innovation. It helped that the hinge was well designed so could be open, closed, or anywhere between. I quite liked the laptop layout with virtual keyboard on one screen, and the photo editor with photo one side and tool palette on the other.
I don’t think people are designing for usage though, just higher stock price. Microsoft didn’t need the money so were free to actually innovate like the Apple of old.
indeed, most for good reason want one phone and thats fair enough.
least there's so much choice to what people want these days and the line-up will show that soon enough
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Yes. Device weight does not year appear anywhere I’ve seen. Too much weight
If it emits crunchy sounds, that would not be good: think sand paper on a compressed screen…do not use at the beach
If the idea is to render current iPhone apps on that squarish front screen, the result will be a mess for many apps, even ones made with SwiftUI. And expecting devs to adapt apps for such a niche product is also a risk
