Yeah, but in my world that is a terrible solution that I would never implement. But, it can be done.
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The MacRumors Show: We're Finally Getting a Foldable iPhone
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If you are referring to a foldable when you say "and probably doesn't perform either role quite as well", you couldn't be more wrong. I gave my wife my iPad Mini about five days after I bought my first foldable phone, and they have come a looooong way since then. Of the people I know who own foldables, none of them own a standalone tablet anymore. Again, not a large number at all, but I imagine the vast majority of people with foldables are in the same boat.
To clarify, it'll certainly be a compromised 5.5" phone, far heavier and bigger than it needs to be as it bulges in your pocket.
How well it functions as an 'ipad' remains to be seen...perhaps good enough for some.
But if they're prepared to cater for such a tiny niche, you wonder why they won't entertain the idea of another small / mini iphone as so many people are screaming out for it.
Granted they didn't sell as many as the regular iphone, but I'm 100pc sure they'd sell way more than this.
I don't like it much either, because it drains the iPhone battery. But the thin Fold with large screen probably won't have stellar battery life either when used unfolded.Yeah, but in my world that is a terrible solution that I would never implement. But, it can be done.
Because for some reason people have gotten the idea that a smaller phone should be cheaper, I remember a time when we paid a premium for the R&D and manufacturing required to make something good smaller.
Also devices that are selling in lower numbers needs a higher margin in $ to be able to cover the cost of having more products in your lineup, which becomes hard when the price is expected to be low.
Apple would probably love to bring back the mini if they believed they could sell them for what the normal iPhone costs (or more).
I can appreciate that.
Going way off topic of this thread;
when the full cost of people's mental health decline due to gawping at phones all day long finally starts to affect Apple's bottom line, smaller and less elaborate phones may well start to become more attractive than the current phablets IMO.
iPadOS26 Stage Manager and Windowing is already designed to work on A# chips. So the closed display will lock to the full screen app view and the inside display will enable multi window mode, just like you can manually choose to do in iPadOS.
It a general sense its akin to having an external display connected so opening the iPhonebook will send data to the inside screen instead of the outside screen.
My Fold6 gets pretty good battery life, enough to last an entire day from the moment I wake until I lay back down to sleep. After a year, I can still get over 8 hours of SOT while on OneUI 7. I shouldn't have updated the software though because OneUI 6 was great and routinely lasted over 9 hours of SOT with mixed screen use indoors/outdoors, in the car, and even some hotspot duty for my work laptop.
The 8-9 hours of SOT has been the norm for my Fold 4/5/6 and, IIRC, on par with my previous iPhone 12 Pro Max or iPhone 13 Pro. As long as a phone gets me through an entire day then I'm happy. I am looking forward to more thorough battery life tests on the Fold7 before making the jump.
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The camera bump almost never affects what you feel in your hand, but most phone thickness usually don't include the bumps.
Browse a website in landscape on your ProMax and ask yourself if a double height screen would be nicer.
My use case is a phone within the Apple eco-sphere, easy fit in a front pocket of my jeans, small screen so I can use it with just one hand. I don't use it for playing games nor watching videos. For that purpose I have my MacBook Pro and my iPad. The screen size of the 13 mini is just perfect, maybe a tad too big. A foldable iPhone might be small enough but the screen itself isn't. I'm awfully sure I will regret buying a foldable iPhone. Even now, I'd prefer my old 5S over my 13 mini in regard of the device & screen size.
I'm pretty sure though a lot of fancy youngsters will go for that foldable iPhone or iPhablet. It will fragment the iPhone market even more. But maybe, just maybe, Apple recognizes that, and drops all larger iPhones and introduces some new mini in the nearby future, as the only real iPhone. Pretty sure the mini sales will rock.
I'm pretty sure though a lot of fancy youngsters will go for that foldable iPhone or iPhablet. It will fragment the iPhone market even more. But maybe, just maybe, Apple recognizes that, and drops all larger iPhones and introduces some new mini in the nearby future, as the only real iPhone. Pretty sure the mini sales will rock.
I'm not sure the foldable iPhone is a good idea. Sure, it will allow you to have a larger screen and protect it better while you're not using it. But it's also going to be even heavier than the Pro Max and a bit awkward to hold with one hand and/or use while calling. I hope Apple proves me wrong, but for now I'm not convinced. Wait and see.
Wow, you consider a 13 Mini a "tad too big"? I dont know how many others would agree with that. I upgraded my Mom to an iPhone 16 because her 13 Mini was just infuriating to use. It was hard for her to read the small screen in her old age and I was frustrated whenever I had to show her how to do something on such a hand cramp-inducing tiny device.
The new Fold 7 weighs less than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and is only a fraction of a millimeter thicker.
i find it amazing that apple has succesfully taught an entire generation of iphone users to ignore the notch; and then later embrace the holepunch as a feature.
Yet they somehow think the crease is going to be a deal breaker.
One of two things is going to happen; it'll have a crease and people will conveniently forget it's there after a few days of use; like they did the notch. Or the crease will be there and apple will turn it into some sort of gimmicky feature so people embrace it.
Yet they somehow think the crease is going to be a deal breaker.
One of two things is going to happen; it'll have a crease and people will conveniently forget it's there after a few days of use; like they did the notch. Or the crease will be there and apple will turn it into some sort of gimmicky feature so people embrace it.
I held a Fold 7 today at Best Buy and it makes the iPhone look like an ancient technology. Apple is far, far behind. You guys on iPhone have no idea what you're missing out on lol
The lack of iPad multi functionality is a BLATANT example that Apple cares more for the profit of stockholders (or performance based option holders) than the end user. Apple is greed driven now and greed doesn’t end well. It really grieves me to see what Apple has become. They are severely & shamelessly short changing their customers telling themselves they are a high end luxury lifestyle brand. The emperor has no clothes and its plain to see. Apple needs leadership that isn’t the first or second in their family to become a millionaire. They’ve become a tacky nouveau riche greed driven enterprise. I really hope I’m wrong but unfortunately I’m usually right. Either Apple has a spiritual revival or they just exist for max profit until the market has enough of it and a better company comes along. They can only play “monopoly” for so long. Our culture at large is becoming fed up with this type of hubris. The Apple of today would crucify Steve Jobs and tell themselves it was for the “greater good.”
Too late, Apple.
I was iPhone user since 2007 and had endless iMacs, MacBooks Pro, iPads, Apple Watches, TVs, Homepods etc.
I wrote endless reviews since 2011 and always supported Apple and iOS and suggested those to friends.
Last week I got the Galaxy Fold 7 with the UI8 and newest Android.
It fells like Apple was sleeping for the last decade.
The Apple Fold will not change anything.
I expect a hands-free AR/AI device around 2030, wich will completely change the way we communicate, search, work and have fun.
Since this will not happend with Tim being a CEO, I'll stay with Samsung for a long while.
I was iPhone user since 2007 and had endless iMacs, MacBooks Pro, iPads, Apple Watches, TVs, Homepods etc.
I wrote endless reviews since 2011 and always supported Apple and iOS and suggested those to friends.
Last week I got the Galaxy Fold 7 with the UI8 and newest Android.
It fells like Apple was sleeping for the last decade.
The Apple Fold will not change anything.
I expect a hands-free AR/AI device around 2030, wich will completely change the way we communicate, search, work and have fun.
Since this will not happend with Tim being a CEO, I'll stay with Samsung for a long while.