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A friend of mine will be first in line to buy one of these. He's been holding off on new iPhones, waiting with his 15 Pro Max, until the foldable one comes out.

For me though I have little interest in one, at least if it's going to be US$1999 or more. So, I just bought a 17 Pro Max this year.


I heard that rumour like two years ago or something like that, and it's been repeated since. If true it's likely related to the thickness of the device and/or the fact the device is folded. Remember, MacBooks don't have Face ID either.

I guess you are right. That would be huge if true. Makes the Foldable even more appealing with Touch ID. So yeah I hope that this is in fact true.
 
Hopefully Apple has figured out a way to engineer the hinge so that it has tiny screen lifters underneath the middle part of the inner display that can support the screen, or something similar, to prevent any crease/valley. The latest foldables don't even have a crease anymore. Meaning, if you remove the inner display from the hardware there isn't a crease. The reason the crease/valley appears is because there is no hardware underneath the screen in the middle of the display to support it like there is underneath the rest of the screen. I think some sort of tiny lifter mechanisms or something to that effect that activate when the phone is unfolded will be needed to truly get rid of the crease/valley.
 
The current foldable phones are expensive cheap phones. If Apple were to produce a foldable phone, it should not have a crease as that is the first thing that you see on the current phones and is very distracting.
 
Wait it's going to have Touch ID? Whoa had not heard that rumor.
First iteration - old tech, typical by Apple, not a surprise. They will use all the latest features to be released year after year on slow and incremental fashion they have been doing all these years.
 
Seems like a foldable is a solution looking for a problem.

Pros:
Small
Light
2x screen when unfolded

Cons:
More expensive
Less battery life
Less features
Smaller thermal envelope
Fragile
Moving parts
Bulky when folded
Can’t put it in a protective case and still use it

I have to admit, I had one of those Siemens SL55 phones in the early 2000’s. The women thought it was cute.

259048633a31402877919db3bd503e84.jpg
 
The funny thing about this is, likely Apple will make a better performing folding phone than Samsung, after Samsung worked out all the R&D for them.

I wonder if the Fold X and the first folding iPhone will have literally the exact same screen, or if Apple will spec something different that performs better than what Samsung would be currently using? I can't imagine Samsung would allow that to happen. The latest Flip and Fold are pretty impressive.
This.

I think the saying that Apple is never first but always best will definitely apply with the iPhone fold. Samsung has spent years refining the fold and today the Fold 7 is a truly spectacular piece of tech (something you don’t normally read on an Apple forum). In fact, I was completely against the idea of an iPhone fold (especially for $2000)… until I played around with the Fold 7 at Best Buy.

The ability to have a phone and iPad mini in the same device may not appeal to everyone but if Apple can nail the hardware and software side of this thing, this might just be the perfect personal device. My only concern at this point is what downgrades there will be compared to the iPhone pro max…

The device also needs to be just as pleasant to use in folded mode as it is unfolded… so good in fact, that it would be mistaken for a standard iPhone.
 
There's already quite a few compromise (battery & cameras) that keep me from being sold on Fold-style devices for me and TouchID alone would probably keep me from an iPhone Fold. I have FaceID on my phone and iPad Pro and find TouchID to be quite the downgrade on my iPad mini. Now, if they had FaceID on the outside with a TouchID button for use when open, or that I could use my Apple Watch to unlock (like the Mac), then it could be back in consideration depending on what sort of camera/battery compromises they have to make.
 
Could also be Google doubling down on foldables. They don’t have a vertical flipper yet.

I still do not see the value of a screen that unfolds into a square.
…It’s pretty obvious to me for significantly more productive use of a screen for editing, reading, consuming content on calendars/sheets, optimal group photos being able to be taken, and so on
 
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Hope so! I’d buy it just for that.

I dislike FaceID a whole bunch.
I see comments like this occasionally and I am genuinely curious. What don’t you like about Face ID? It has always worked perfectly for me. Every phone since XR. Reading glasses on, no problem. Sunglasses on, no problem. Very fast and smooth.
 
I see comments like this occasionally and I am genuinely curious. What don’t you like about Face ID? It has always worked perfectly for me. Every phone since XR. Reading glasses on, no problem. Sunglasses on, no problem. Very fast and smooth.
For me it’s because, ironically, you have to look at your phone. Touch ID was great because you could unlock on a desk, in your car, on an armband when exercising etc all without having to look at your device.
 
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I see comments like this occasionally and I am genuinely curious. What don’t you like about Face ID? It has always worked perfectly for me. Every phone since XR. Reading glasses on, no problem. Sunglasses on, no problem. Very fast and smooth.
For example, and I realize this is niche, but it's a regular annoyance for me: Face ID doesn't work if the phone is too close to your face. When I take off my glasses in bed for example, I need to look at it closer than usual and Face ID always fails. I just got the 17 Pro Max, and it behaves the same way as my old 12 Pro Max. I always have to remember to hold it further away than what I'd prefer and then bring it closer after Face ID registers.

Plus of course, you have to specifically look at the phone for it to work.

So, I actually prefer Touch ID on iPhones. In contrast, I prefer Face ID on iPads, as the way I use iPads is different.
 
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