Sketchy rumor claims Apple has given up on folding iPhone
A muddled and entirely unverifiable rumor claims that Apple has been testing other manufacturer's folding phones and decided to put the iPhone Fold on hold.
The 'iPhone Fold' is expected to take design cues from existing Apple products
Following reports that Apple is working on two prototype ideas for a foldable iPhone, a new claim says it isn't. The claim from a leaker on Chinese social media site Weibo says both that Apple is accelerating its research, and that it has also given up for now.
Weibo user Fixed Focus Digital, explains that Apple has bought several existing folding phones to test. Perhaps the report is unclear because of machine translation, but it seems to say that at least one of these rival phones broke within a few days of Apple buying it for testing.
Fixed Focus Digital goes on to say that Samsung's folding screen isn't able to meet Apple's requirements. It's not clear whether this is still in a rival folding phone or another part of Apple testing.
It's no surprise that a folding phone will fail under testing, because they will specifically be tested to the point of failure. That Apple would conclude it wasn't worth pursuing the idea if Samsung, for instance, can't make an unbreakable folding phone seems less likely.
Nothing in the report can be verified and Fixed Focus Digital does not appear to have any track record in Apple leaks.
Separately, Apple has a history of patents regarding aspects of a folding iPhone, including one regarding a screen that will not crease in use.
It's now almost five years since Samsung launched its Galaxy Fold phone, although initial reviews concentrated on how the screen was fragile. Apple has arguably been under pressure to compete ever since, and Samsung has improved its designs.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted a 2024 launch for the iPhone fold, but other sources predict it being announced in 2025. It's also possible that Apple is instead looking to replace the iPad mini with a folding iPad.
Rumor Score: Possible
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I'm not sure today's phone becomes magical because it folds. It's still going to have the same battery life issues, it's still going to be the same weight. The next major phone revision will harken back to yesteryear with a really small phone that has a very small scree because most of our interaction with the phone will be voice enabled. It will give many mobile users want. The Halcyonic days of getting your first V Series Motorola and how it disappeared in your pocket.
It would be wise of Apple to skate to where the puck is going and not expend engineering effort on a stop gap solution.
Why would that be any different with the foldable display nowadays which inherently has more failure modes even under regular usage?
Apple doesn't chase "me too" bells and whistles, particularly when the risk/reward calculation would be this dire.
If a folding screen comes out of Cupertino, it will be on an iPad, where the portability advantage would be real, software bloat for extra/nonstandard screens would be unnecessary, and risk of damage from wear or mechanical failure much lower, because iPads are a much less fiddly device that would be folded and unfolded by users a small fraction of the number of times compared to a phone.
Apple might be better advised to adopt a different idea, one that'd allow them to offer a larger-screen option—either folding or not—to all their latest model iPhones. The larger screen be a wireless extension of the existing screen much like people add an additional display to a MacBook. The usual UI would work with it just like on the iPhone itself, so the learning curve would be easy.
On the flip side, the exterior screen is more for glancing and quick interactions and the flipped out option is for regular use.
I currently have the option of the wireless connection to a tablet (fixed size) where a tap of phone-to-tablet using NFC connects the two.
I used it yesterday for a mobile Google Meet session where the other party had to share a laptop screen with me. Better to view on the tablet.
I thought the same functionality was available on an iPhone/iPad combo so that's another reason I think I may be misunderstanding you.
What I did yesterday got me out of a pickle but I needed two devices. A folding phone would have allowed me to do the same in a far smaller package.
The downside, today, is that it would cost me twice as much as the phone/tablet combo.
Folding phones are already almost on par with regular phones for thickness.
While the color and black level were good, the screen itself was not perfectly flat -- it was a bit "ripply" looking. The hinge area was very prominent even when opened all the way. The additional screen real estate was kinda nice, but when folded, it was really thick too. Maybe there are good folding phones out there, but this certainly wasn't one of them. Overall, I did not like it.
As others have suggested, I do think a folding screen makes more sense on tablets or laptops, but execution is key and cost should be kept in check before I would consider one.
As far as what use a folding phone would be, It depends on the user. I think for some it would bridge the gap between an iPhone and an iPad, but that's very user dependent. It also very much depends on how well it's designed and how well iOS takes advantage of the larger screen.
Now there's a good use! /s