Infinitewisdom
macrumors 6502a
Preach. Nothing worse than people who speak in absolute terms for subjective concepts.
Other Rumoured iPhone fold size - concept drawing and renders
- Thread starter iZac
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Stotka
macrumors regular
Sorry for the bad video. Its hard when you only have two hands. It opens correctly but when you exit the app the homescreen is in portrait mode.
That’s what people who design products do.
What’s the practical purpose then?
I already explained how it needs to hit certain dimensions to be more portable when folded OR more useful when unfolded.
ScanTheNavian
macrumors regular
This is some good speculative **** right here. Love the ideas!
People who design products attempt to do so for the highest yield. Making a product only 10 people want makes little sense. I respect your opinion but, again, it is only yours.
darngooddesign
macrumors Core
A larger screen is nicer than a smaller screen for a lot of things; especially when that larger screen fits in your pocket.
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KingofGotham1
macrumors regular
Looks like you’ve done a ton of work and it’s awesome, I’m really excited for this form factor on an iPhone. I really liked the first gen Google “passport” style phone (except the hardware and software lol)
Is there anyway you could do a rendering or compare the size of that with this rumored iPhone fold?
Is there anyway you could do a rendering or compare the size of that with this rumored iPhone fold?
Yep, it’s such a dumb statement…… I’m pre-ordering this the second it goes live. I’ve been carrying around an iPhone Mini and iPad Mini everywhere I go for years now, and a folding iPad Mini is EXACTLY what I’ve been waiting for. I use the iPhone Mini for only two reasons, for phone calls and serving up music to my cars. Everything else I do on the iPad Mini….. texting, games, surfing the web, etc. I don’t care if the unfolded dimensions are not exactly like the iPad Mini, or what kind of camera it has, or that it will weigh more than an iPhone Mini, which never leaves my pocket unless I’m answering a phone call outside of my cars.
I realize that I don’t represent the majority of Apple device users, but it certainly has a practical purpose for me.
Are you happy to see me or is it just a large screen in your pocket? 🤔
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
same
when apple releases the foldable it will replace my pro max for good.
i have a few other phones for camera so if photo quailty isn't as good it won't matter to me
Damian.
macrumors regular
the iPad mini screen is 16.5mm wider and 2.9mm taller than the screen in my iPhone fold mock-up.
View attachment 2511000
View attachment 2511001
Nice job!
So the iPhone fold screen seems to be closer to last gen's iPad mini design. (iPad mini 5)
The iPad mini 5 screen is around 160mm x 120mm
The iPhone foldable screen is 160.9mm x 113.9mm
If that’s the case, it will still be a worthy replacement for the iPad mini.
At least in terms of screen size.
Mallwill
macrumors newbie
These renders are brilliant - you appear to have a similar level of obsession with how this thing is going to look.
Re left handed users - i was thinking Apple may find a way to curve all of the corners. If you take a look at an iPhone X the curved edges are actually quite deep, but the glass and screen position gives the illusion the bezels are smaller.
Consider that a curved edge design like this might enable enough space internally for the folding screen to work whilst also maintaining the standard curved corners. It would also line the product up for a bezel-less full front screen like the iPhone XX in 2027, where the return to a more rounded edge profile appears to be on the cards.
The punch hole corner camera on the front looks like it will follow the same design language as the new iPhone pro in 2026 so perhaps front display parity between fold and pro models is also something Apple want to pursue.
Just my random thoughts from someone overly obsessed with a folding iPhone.
EDIT added some scrappy sketches of what I mean. The location where the inner display folds is actually well inside the device with a curved edge design. Might be nonsense but it was fun to draw!
Re left handed users - i was thinking Apple may find a way to curve all of the corners. If you take a look at an iPhone X the curved edges are actually quite deep, but the glass and screen position gives the illusion the bezels are smaller.
Consider that a curved edge design like this might enable enough space internally for the folding screen to work whilst also maintaining the standard curved corners. It would also line the product up for a bezel-less full front screen like the iPhone XX in 2027, where the return to a more rounded edge profile appears to be on the cards.
The punch hole corner camera on the front looks like it will follow the same design language as the new iPhone pro in 2026 so perhaps front display parity between fold and pro models is also something Apple want to pursue.
Just my random thoughts from someone overly obsessed with a folding iPhone.
EDIT added some scrappy sketches of what I mean. The location where the inner display folds is actually well inside the device with a curved edge design. Might be nonsense but it was fun to draw!
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kingalexthe1st
macrumors 6502
First of all, a lot of us on here appreciate the tonne of effort you've put into these, so thank you.
Secondly, I notice the screen of your fold renders is obviously smaller than the iPad mini, but one thing that everyone who has a mini (and all the YouTube reviewers) comment on is that weird amount of wasted screen real estate around the apps. I wonder if your unfolded render happens to exactly match the app layout on the mini. Smaller screen, yes, but same amount usable real estate?
iZac
macrumors 68030
Oh a flush rounded hinge, that would be a pretty 'Apple' way of doing it! That would make it a lot more elegant when using closed. As a few users have also said, I'd happily take a phone with just the outer screen.
I would like that as well, even if half the device meant roughly half the battery life (which it probably would, but hopefully the full device would have good battery life). I just don’t use a phone a lot when I’m out so I don’t need the big inside screen or a lot of battery.
Except I do prefer a good camera system, which it probably wouldn’t have, so I’m a little torn there.
ozthegweat
macrumors 6502
These renders are absolutely fantastic, thank you!
As do others in this thread, I use an iPhone mini and an iPad mini for hours each day. Can't wait to have a device that combines these two.
I actually prefer the wider, less tall form factor (when folded). I have some pants with very shallow pockets, where even the 13 mini sticks out a little bit. How much one-handed use will suffer remains to be seen though.
As do others in this thread, I use an iPhone mini and an iPad mini for hours each day. Can't wait to have a device that combines these two.
I actually prefer the wider, less tall form factor (when folded). I have some pants with very shallow pockets, where even the 13 mini sticks out a little bit. How much one-handed use will suffer remains to be seen though.
darngooddesign
macrumors Core
A double height screen in landscape is both practical and useful.
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Wow. I'm so excited to finally have someone else to talk about this with. I'm usually on 9to5mac and no one there has used any critical thinking skills to see how these two screen sizes could possibly work. Also, second the notion that both 9to5 and macrumors should be getting you more attention and using your renders instead of the dumb ones they have that don't even try to match real world measures.
So awesome renders and nice work.
This was what I came up with before I saw you post. I thought I was the only one even poking around at this but I think we basically had the same journey. Both iPhone mini fans who got obsessed with the idea that maybe a folding phone could be an iPhone mini substitute once the 5.5" outside screen rumor came out. But then I had to see if that actually makes sense and then realized it couldn't work with the iPhone mini aspect ratio.
The fun part for me was that I didn't see any leaked resolution posts or aspect ratio posts. So to play around with different aspect ratios that could make sense I used chatGPT to help make a web app that I can put in fixed diagonals and then drag a corner tool around to try out different combinations of aspect ratios and then fill in extra space for the amount of screen that could be from just the hinge space.
So then once I realized there's not as many possibilities as I thought their might be and that the width of this short outer display matches closely to the iPhone pro max models and the aspect of the inner screen was close to iPad mini then it kind of made sense as the only option.
Personally still pretty torn as an iPhone mini person. I guess I'll withhold final judgment until I see it in person.
So awesome renders and nice work.
This was what I came up with before I saw you post. I thought I was the only one even poking around at this but I think we basically had the same journey. Both iPhone mini fans who got obsessed with the idea that maybe a folding phone could be an iPhone mini substitute once the 5.5" outside screen rumor came out. But then I had to see if that actually makes sense and then realized it couldn't work with the iPhone mini aspect ratio.
The fun part for me was that I didn't see any leaked resolution posts or aspect ratio posts. So to play around with different aspect ratios that could make sense I used chatGPT to help make a web app that I can put in fixed diagonals and then drag a corner tool around to try out different combinations of aspect ratios and then fill in extra space for the amount of screen that could be from just the hinge space.
So then once I realized there's not as many possibilities as I thought their might be and that the width of this short outer display matches closely to the iPhone pro max models and the aspect of the inner screen was close to iPad mini then it kind of made sense as the only option.
Personally still pretty torn as an iPhone mini person. I guess I'll withhold final judgment until I see it in person.
- Top priority for me is one handed use as a day to day phone. 13 mini is really nice to hold. Not too wide.
- two cameras is important to me. Mini has it. I guess so does this.
- Water resistance is really important to me. So if there's a compromise in that this is a no. I take my mini in water often and get cool shots.
- I assume battery life will be better than iPhone 13 mini... but how much better?
- Will it have Apple Pencil support? It'd be a great mini sketch book.
Mocked this up quickly using screen grabs of iOS 26 simulator with the same conversations across a simulate 13 mini and 16 pro max.
Then for the "fold" I just took the pro max screenshots and adjusted the top, bottom and middle UI since it's close enough to the same width as the fold.
My mocks are way more rough than yours but I think this gives a close look at how the same conversation would appear across devices....
To me... the 13 mini is still king. One handed narrow comfort. Useful vertical space.
The pro max is just giant and while it's great to show more of the conversation, I feel like there's diminishing returns on how valuable that is.
The fold just kind of feels cramped. It's usable... but will require a lot more scrolling to catch up on the context of the message thread. Of course the keyboard will dismiss and you'll regain space but with iOS 26's absolute dumpster fire of UI design you'd have less usable space than in the original SMS app one OG iPhone.
Then for the "fold" I just took the pro max screenshots and adjusted the top, bottom and middle UI since it's close enough to the same width as the fold.
My mocks are way more rough than yours but I think this gives a close look at how the same conversation would appear across devices....
To me... the 13 mini is still king. One handed narrow comfort. Useful vertical space.
The pro max is just giant and while it's great to show more of the conversation, I feel like there's diminishing returns on how valuable that is.
The fold just kind of feels cramped. It's usable... but will require a lot more scrolling to catch up on the context of the message thread. Of course the keyboard will dismiss and you'll regain space but with iOS 26's absolute dumpster fire of UI design you'd have less usable space than in the original SMS app one OG iPhone.