Home Mobiles Apple working on two flip-style foldable iPhones and a folding iPad: report

Apple working on two flip-style foldable iPhones and a folding iPad: report

By G.S Vasan -

Published On: February 8, 2024

Highlights

Apple's first foldable iPhone could look like a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 in form factor.
It doesn't have plans to mass-produce it till 2025.
It is simultaneously working on a folding iPad with goal of a flat display with no crease.

Folding phones are one area in the current smartphone landscape which challenges phone makers to engineer interesting designs. Apple engineers have been rumoured to work on various folding designs since 2016. The latest scoop is that the company is experimenting with two flip-style foldable iPhone prototypes. There is also the rumour that it is parallelly working on a folding iPad. Here are more details:

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Apple's folding iPhone prototype: iPhone Flip?

As we mentioned above, Apple has been testing the waters since 2016. We have come across multiple patents showcasing the various ways Apple could take for its folding iPhone. According to The Information finding, the most plausible design seems to be like a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. The publication has learned this from someone with direct knowledge of the project.

However, these two prototypes are in the early stages of development and are not in Apple's mass-production plans for 2024 and 2025. Perhaps, a flipping iPhone could hit the production floor in 2026. Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo also share a similar timeline. But, nothing can be said for sure and worse, if the designs are not up to the mark, Apple could even shelve the project.

It has reportedly done so before in 2020. That one apparently had a screen on the outside like a Huawei Mate X but picture it in a flip-style design.

Over the last few years, we have seen various Apple patents and rumours about the folding iPhone project like a crack-resistant Ceramic Shield for display with self-healing properties, e-ink properties, etc. But the uncertainty of these features making it to a folding iPhone still persists.

A folding iPad before a foldable iPhone?

The Information report as well as industry experts like Ben Wood claim a folding iPad could come out before a foldable iPhone.

The rumour is that Apple switched tracks in 2020 when it stopped working on the flip-style Mate X-like iPhone. Now it is being said that the Cupertino engineers are working on the foldable iPad in tandem with the newly rumoured folding iPhone.

Their prime focus is apparently to remove the crease on the display and for that, they are designing the hinge in a way the screen lies flat whence unfolded.

They must be working closely with their display partner which could be either Samsung or LG. Again no confirmation about who it is.

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