I consider folded a bit fragile for now. Apart from that; Rest my case.
AR glasses will get there. They might have (or not) solved this already, but I'm not sure whether users will get fatigued or not wrt shifting focus/distance to refocus eyes/sight.
Back to sales / future sales / market share: Apple silicon will most likely change the dynamics of the 2nd hand market for some time. Used intel machines are a lot less interesting at "normal prices" as Apple silicon provides decent performance at lower price points. Those normally considering well specced and relatively expensive 2nd hand will buy new Apple silicon instead thus 2nd hand prices will drop more than normal, which in turn may cause some to keep their old Mac a tad longer, or not. I believe it will increase sales of new Apple silicon Macs.
Yes, different input methods or the primary method for input being different necessarily means different UI to get it right. For the foldables, I think the best path is probably adding necessary features to iPadOS to really make computing easier. Apple will have to put in the work to make the UI of their Pro apps for multi-touch, and other complex app makes will have to do the same. This transition is going to be a lot harder than a chip ISA switch though. It would probably work if they used macOS as an OS for a foldable, but for a lot or most situations, people would have to use a mouse or trackpad for those complex apps. If so, is it materially better or different?
The foldable concept is to use it like a laptop with the bottom half displaying virtual keyboards, trackpads and stylus; fold it open or flat, put it on a dock/stand vertically and use it like a desktop with external displays, keyboards and pointing devices; have it lay flat on table and use it like a large tablet with stylus, virtual keyboards and trackpads; connect it to an external display and use it as an input device; and, fold it 360° and use it in on a couch or bed like smaller tablet.
A model that is folded in half to a 13" 4:3 sized display will unfold along the long edge to a 18.5" 3:2 sized display. About 3 lb. Interesting to think about. It will need to have coating to make wiping fingerprints off super easy.
Anyways, not sure robust and durable display covers for foldables will beat AR glasses to the market. AR glasses that can display a virtual display with legible small font text? Game changer.
It sounds like just a big iPad that folds to make it smaller. I'm not sure that I see much advantage to that -- especially as it would impede the normal function of an iPad.
But, I do see foldable phones - where case size vs screen size is a critical factor. It's one of the reasons why flip-phones became so popular: a full size phone that fit into a pocket better and that was better protected with a hard outside shell.
Comments
AR glasses will get there. They might have (or not) solved this already, but I'm not sure whether users will get fatigued or not wrt shifting focus/distance to refocus eyes/sight.
Back to sales / future sales / market share:
Apple silicon will most likely change the dynamics of the 2nd hand market for some time. Used intel machines are a lot less interesting at "normal prices" as Apple silicon provides decent performance at lower price points. Those normally considering well specced and relatively expensive 2nd hand will buy new Apple silicon instead thus 2nd hand prices will drop more than normal, which in turn may cause some to keep their old Mac a tad longer, or not. I believe it will increase sales of new Apple silicon Macs.