Two Foldable iPhone Prototypes Reportedly Pass Internal Durability Tests

[phenste]

I feel like Apple is better positioned than anyone to make a foldable phone, with iOS and iPadOS. A phone that runs certain iPadOS elements when unfolded (the Today view in the sidebar comes to mind) would be fascinating. Also…this is a much wackier idea, but…a foldable iPhone with a Smart Connector? Would allow for one to use their phone with a physical keyboard and trackpad if they’d like, whilst unfolded. As someone who’s been running on a broken XS Max and an iPad Pro for the entirety of this year (read: I LOVE my iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, it’s been my daily driver for everything except phone calls, but even half of those I can just answer on my iPad…or my Watch), this idea has become more and more interesting to me by the day, especially given my EXTREME doubt that Apple (despite its many previous blunders) would put out a foldable phone with as messy of a launch as Samsung’s. Daily reminder that the HomePod was in development for 4-5 years before it came out! (Yeah, not their most successful…anything…ever, but those are ncredibly good speakers that I will defend until my last dying breath!😂 The mini is also fantastic and at a much better price point. I have to say, the naming scheme [read: similar to iPods] makes me wonder if they will ever put out a truly portable “HomePod nano.” [Man, I miss the iPod mini sometimes, what a cute little device.])

T L D R: Foldable iPhones are a gajillion times more interesting to me than they were a year or two ago. Bring it on Apple!

 

[dazz87]

No thanks...

 

[thadoggfather]

Wonder when this will come to market? 2022/2023?

 

[jmgregory1]

If Apple is indeed working on a two panel foldable, where the screens come together to create what looks like a single screen, they’ll have solved the biggest negative that every other foldable has - the plastic covered screen. I recognize that there are a lot of people, especially tech followers, who are too young to realize that early portable tech devices started out with plastic covered screens that all suffered the same fate - scratched screens that lasted barely a year.

There is no way the broad consumer base that Apple has would accept, after 10+ years of glass screens, a soft and scratch-prone plastic screened iPhone (or iPad or MBP, etc.).

 

[The Game 161]

Wonder when this will come to market? 2022/2023?

2022 it seems

 

[dojoman]

I hope formfactor is similar to Galaxy Z flip design. Tiny phones are the future.

 

[thadoggfather]

2022 it seems

would be shocked if the 12 box-y design is only a two generation design. Very.

Especially with the competitive landscape at present.

 

[The Game 161]

would be shocked if the 12 box-y design is only a two generation design. Very.

Especially with the competitive landscape at present.

Not like the foldable will be replacing the iPhone...

 

[Neepman]

This will be one more device on the march to people renting when they think they are buying.

 

[turbineseaplane]

$1999 $2499 for 64GB

 

[quzzulKurt]

bah! folds only once? impress me with one that folds ten times from a full size ipad into a CC size.

 

[Unity451]

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said foldable horses.” - Henry Ford (probably)

 

[jamface]

That design with a notch on one side is just hilarious. I already hate smartphones with a notch as it is, no need for an asymmetrical design. And don't get me started with the ones with a punch hole...
What about putting more effort on under screen sensors?

EDIT: before some smart guy says something, I KNOW it's not an official Apple design.

How do you cope with volume buttons, power, camera bump, mute switch...?

 

[UndefinedxJoker]

Creasing will surely always be an issue. I wouldn’t be able to unsee the crease

Apple will need to combine folding and rolling so that when the phone is unfolded the screen rolls into the sides to prevent a crease.

 

[Bob Bobberson]

Two prototype foldable iPhones have passed internal tests for durability, according to Taiwanese website Economic Daily News.

Tests of an Apple-designed folding hinge system for two different iPhones were reportedly recently completed at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China.

The first foldable iPhone to undergo testing is said to be a dual-screen model, which is likely the same dual-display prototype rumored by Jon Prosser in June 2020. Prosser explained at the time that this model used two separate display panels connected by a hinge. Though the prototype ‌iPhone‌ features two separate displays connected by a hinge, Prosser claimed that the panels look "fairly continuous and seamless." It is also of note that Apple has patented a device with two separate displays that can be brought together to create a single foldable device with a hinge, which sounds strikingly similar to the rumored dual-screen Apple foldable.

The second prototype to have undergone testing is reportedly a clamshell foldable, much like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Lenovo's Moto RAZR. The UDN report claims that this clamshell model is set to use a flexible Samsung OLED display. Previous reports have also said that Apple ordered a "large number" of Samsung foldable mobile phone display samples for testing purposes earlier in 2020.

It is unclear if the two devices to have been tested had different hinge systems. The test units are purported to be shells with very limited internals rather than fully-working devices. This is because the main purpose of the testing was to assess the durability of the Apple-designed hinge system. The report states that now the testing has concluded, Apple is expected to evaluate which of the two foldable models to proceed with, and only one will be carried forwards into continued development.

The findings of this report also appear to have been mirrored by sources speaking to Jon Prosser. Prosser explained in a recent Front Page Tech video that there were two prototype foldable iPhones in testing, including one with two display panels and one clamshell with a single flexible OLED display. Prosser's sources also said that these units have passed durability testing and are now being evaluated by Apple.

A report from November 2020 stated that Apple had sent foldable iPhones to Foxconn to test the folding bearings with over 100,000 opening and closing tests, which appears to be analogous to the newly-concluded run of testing. Given the consistency of rumors surrounding foldable iPhones from multiple sources, particularly related to testing, they may be more credible.

UDN predicts that a foldable iPhone will not emerge until late 2022 or 2023 at the earliest. Apple has filed for a large number of patents relating to a foldable iPhone dating back to 2016, and it seems highly likely that work on a foldable iPhone is progressing.

Article Link: Two Foldable iPhone Prototypes Reportedly Pass Internal Durability Tests

Don't forget there are some of us that are 60+ and the fact that it may be still somewhat compact but "enlarge" so we can actually see the text, etc would be a huge benefit for us folks. My needs have changed drastically in the last 10 years regarding computer devices. It's quite possible that I've been using Apple products longer than some of you have been alive. I'm looking forward to seeing this in the marketplace and would love to demo it if and when it arrives to the consumer.

 

[Lemon Olive]

Give it your best shot, Apple. Just TRY to make me anyone want a foldable phone.

Fixed that for you.

This is a solution in search of a problem. No one needs or wants a foldable phone.

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

Apple works on a lot of things that never come to market. Foldable phones are a fad and they have no real benefits- why do you want an extra thick phone that unfolds into a tablet with a crease? It's change for the sake of change, not true innovation. That's why Samsung does it- they are happy to release half-baked things to "see what sticks" that techies crow over and actual consumers never use. I hope Apple never releases this, because if they do it means they have lost their way and are not "saying a thousand nos for every yes". But who knows, they made the touchbar, maybe they will actually make this?

 

[cableguy84]

Apple will need to combine folding and rolling so that when the phone is unfolded the screen rolls into the sides to prevent a crease.

Ye roll seems like a better idea but I’m still sceptical about the whole thing

 

[gommer]

What everyone here seems to be forgetting is - the technology's already been in place for a very long time since the iPhone X. The screen underneath is in fact "folded" so to speak, where you swipe upwards.

But for this to stand a chance in the market, Apple has to do it right. Samsung and all the other companies tested their foldables by engineers in lab coats in a controlled environment, along with those touted folding machines...which is not the real world in the slightest.

Apple needs to hand the alpha devices to the smug, cocky kid in the corner cubicle with his feet up on the desk. Hand that guy the device and let him go nuts with it. He'll be shoving the phone in his pocket full of keys, coins, dirt. He'll be throwing the phone across the desk. In short...he's the perfect test subject.

 

[StevieD100]

I've tried hard to think of a use case for me to actually want one of these. I can't. There again, I'm not one of those people who have their phone surgically attached to their hand. My life isn't on the phone and most of my use for the device is to make actual phone calls. Yes, I use a phone as a phone. I'm a dying breed and I know it.
Ok, the other main use is to control the charging of my EV and that's it.
Foldables aren't for everyone. As long as there is a choice NOT to have on then I'm happy.

 

[farewelwilliams]

galaxy fold is an absolute gimmick

 

[spinedoc77]

I’m curious about this.
I’m on the bandwagon where I can’t for the sake of me project the usefulness, compact space or success far ahead in the future. I thought the same for Bluetooth headphones, keyboards, mice, ANC, etc “who need this?!” mindset... to then after get a proper taste of it and go all-bonkers-in all that.

Do you think foldables are the future? Would be so nice to have a poll today measuring who would buy a foldable phone and then again one later on after/if Apple announces theirs.

I definitely think they are the future, but firstly we must all stop thinking that all foldables are going to be like the Galaxy Fold 2. LG and Samsung already are most likely going to release rollable screens that will probably be better in terms of durability, thinner and without a crease, just as one example. It's obvious that in general durability is going to improve, just look at the first Fold versus the Fold 2, and there is again a jump to the Fold 3 if the rumored S pen support is true.

I just think it's a complete no brainer that consumers want large screens, and if portability is what is holding them back from buying a larger screen then folding screens resolve the issue. It also takes away the need to have an accompanying tablet in many cases, certainly for me one of the first things I did after getting the Fold 2 was selling my iPad mini 5 as I had no use for it anymore. We always talk about smartphones replacing our computers, to me this is a huge step forwards in that direction.

 

[spinedoc77]

galaxy fold is an absolute gimmick

Why exactly is it a gimmick? Does it not work? I absolutely love mine and gimmick is the last thing I'd call it.

 

[spinedoc77]

I've tried hard to think of a use case for me to actually want one of these. I can't. There again, I'm not one of those people who have their phone surgically attached to their hand. My life isn't on the phone and most of my use for the device is to make actual phone calls. Yes, I use a phone as a phone. I'm a dying breed and I know it.
Ok, the other main use is to control the charging of my EV and that's it.
Foldables aren't for everyone. As long as there is a choice NOT to have on then I'm happy.

That's probably a good argument for just having a flip phone.

 

[spinedoc77]

Apple works on a lot of things that never come to market. Foldable phones are a fad and they have no real benefits- why do you want an extra thick phone that unfolds into a tablet with a crease? It's change for the sake of change, not true innovation. That's why Samsung does it- they are happy to release half-baked things to "see what sticks" that techies crow over and actual consumers never use. I hope Apple never releases this, because if they do it means they have lost their way and are not "saying a thousand nos for every yes". But who knows, they made the touchbar, maybe they will actually make this?

Have to massively disagree here. Having a tablet sized screen fold up so it fits easily into my pocket is serious innovation. Serious enough that here we are with rumors that Apple is possibly going to use Samsung's screen in a future phone. You can get hung up on what today's Galaxy Fold does not do well, or you can realize that this segment will evolve and improve. As a stockholder of Apple I hope they would never limit themselves to "never", but we all know they are much smarter than that.