Will there be a foldable MacBooks?

[iHorseHead]

I've been watching laptop reviews and there are foldable Huawei laptops and Asus Zenbook DUO etc and they look really neat. Also, Huawei's foldable laptop can be changed into a regular keyboard as well.

I feel like people don't talk about those laptops enough and I think there was Oppo's foldable phone that opens as well and is as big as the iPad mini, has a better battery and is thinner.
I feel like Apple is falling a bit behind, which is why people are excited about Samsung's newest phone too.

Huawei also has a phone that folds into an iPad mini, but their screens are prone to break. Until today I didn't even know there are foldable laptops. They seem cool though. I wouldn't need one for personal use, but I'd definitely need one for work and the company I work for refuses to purchase anything but HP Elitebooks.

 

[drrich2]

I don't think such a thing will be out anytime soon. The Apple computing 'ecosystem' of hardware is much narrower than that of the Windows PC world. Apple hasn't embraced touch screens for Macs, or 'convertibles' (i.e.: notebooks where the screen detaches and becomes a tablet), both of which sound more mainstream in computing that what you're asking about and showing us here.

Apple did try adding a 'touch bar' to the keyboard section of the MacBook Pro, and that got so much pushback it's hard to imagine they'd dare try what we see here.

It's hard to imagine the typing experience on a touch screen is comparable to a keyboard, particularly regarding touch typing. I assume that's what the bottom 2 shots are showing. I'm guessing the idea is let at times ditch the keyboard section and turn the thing into a big, touch screen-controlled tablet-like screen. Apple has thus far refused to combine iOS and MacOS, or embrace touch screens for Mac, so I don't see it happening.

That top photo, on the other hand...I'm not sure what the point of that is. The rectangular 'window' at the top of the keyboard is for...what? It looks like the old MacBook Pro touch bar 'on steroids,' and I don't think Apple is looking to relive the taskbar fiasco. I presume it compresses the key layout into an unnatural setup (either fewer keys, more compaction or both), and I see the touchpad is over on the right side.

I suppose it looks a bit 'neat,' and of course some people like shiny new things that look 'innovative,' but I gotta ask...what practical need does one of these preferentially meet, and how many people have that need? Given the evident functional tradeoffs, how many people considering a MacBook Air or Pro would buy one of these instead?

Speaking of which, I'd expect considerable experience. How does one of these compare in price to a same brand, similar capability 'plain old' Windows PC notebook? What's the premium?