Touchscreen Macs, folding iPads to arrive before the end of the decade
Rumors claim foldable Apple products could dominate the second half of the 2020s, leveraging new screen technology to make devices such as the iPad even more portable.
A folding iPad could bring much larger screens to Apple's tablet lineup.
Analyst Jeff Pu has been a leading advocate for a foldable tablet, expecting to see the so-called iPhone Fold debut in late 2026. This would be followed by iPads that use the same screen technology a year or so later.
Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman, however, expects the Fold to appear in 2027, alongside folding iPads. Gurman has previously reported that Apple continues to plan for foldable devices as well as robotic devices to finally begin arriving in the latter half of the 2020s.
Meanwhile, some rumors have suggested that the first popular foldable might actually be a future iPad mini.
These reports believe it is a device that has an outer screen resembling the ones on current iPhones when folded up. Unfolded, the device would boast a larger screen close to the existing iPad mini in size.
Touchscreen and foldable Mac portables
Apple executives have traditionally downplayed the idea of a touchscreen Mac. If it were to ever appear, it would likely take the form of a portable Mac, like the MacBook Pro.
Apple has filed patents suggesting a traditional notebook computer with a touchscreen and how that might work. However, Apple's Senior VP of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, has previously expressed doubt about the ergonomics of a laptop screen a user would touch to activate icons or services.
"We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface," he said in 2018. "Lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do."
That has not stopped the company from filing patents on the technology, however.
Patent illustration of a touchscreen MacBook model.
Some patents cover both a touchscreen display as well as a more advanced version of the existing trackpad currently found on Mac portables. However, Apple executives have traditionally resisted the idea of fusing a touchscreen Mac with an iPad.
Another factor limiting the arrival of foldable Apple devices is cost. Rival folding devices, like the $2,565 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, don't sell in large numbers due to their very high price.
Folding tablets would likely be even more expensive, to say nothing of a foldable MacBook. Until the screen technology needed for folding touchscreens comes down dramatically in cost, Apple is unlikely to debut larger touchscreen devices.
Rumor Score: Possible
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Comments
I’ve seen people use touchscreen laptops, and it’s an ergonomic disaster to behold. Even so, if Apple perceives the lack of it as an impediment to sales, they will implement it.
For folding iPads, I think I’d want it to have a 0-to-360 deg hinge. It can have all modes with that: handheld iPad mode, desktop iPad mode, laptop mode and vertical display mode. It should have hand and eye tracking too.
I never want to type on glass. I think the automotive industry is having second thoughts about the attractiveness of glass cockpits. Every time I see a motor vehicle with what looks like a big iPad glued on the dashboard I just want to hurl - on it. It's ridiculous looking, focus altering, and often impractical. Most humans still have hands and fingers. Until we have computers and devices that we can control with our minds I need the tactile feedback from turning knobs, sliding sliders, pressing keys, and pushing buttons. And for the record, I vastly prefer manual transmissions on motor vehicles. Call me a caveman ...
I would like 2 things:
1. Make the Mac fun again. Colors, shapes, and having a Dogcow show paper orientation. These days Mac is too corporate.
2. Better document handling. Finder was awesome in 1986 when I started using Mac. And then what.... the ability to work while copying a file, spring-loaded folders, search, and views from NeXT. Why can't AI structure my documents, link them in mindmaps, name them better, or take me beyond the desktop metaphor? Disrupt our way of working!
@dewme really nails it in his post. As I get older myself I find myself really enjoying the tactile feeling of physical objects. My wife's Outlander has this nice "thonk" when you engage the turning signal. The feel of a well detented knob is magical. That ultra comfortable keyboard with the perfect concave keys. I've noticed even in Music Production the higher end is moving to hybrid devices which are Analog in feel but with plugins that give you the recall and automation that you need.
Tapping on glass doesn't feel premium. The opportunity here is to uncover a superior input device that leverage modern technology and makes managing the bits and bytes smooth and effortless mated with command and control Siri.
A folding iPhone is a costly gimmick with no decipherable use case.
The only one of these things that makes any sense is a folding iPad. The would be utility to a large screen iPad that can be folded in half for easier portability. Such a device would not require an additional outer screen, and could maintain the same aspect ration for the folding screen as is used by every other iPad. This means iPad OS would require very little additional code to support the folding model. This is also true for iPadOS apps. A folding iPad would also be far less vulnerable to wear and damage from the convulsive, repetitive folding and unfolding that would quickly damage a folding iPhone.
Apple does not make devices to satiate fan-fiction fantasies, and they don't add bells and whistles just because other manufacturers do. The Apple pipeline is not steered by FOMO.