After over a decade quietly exploring the idea, Apple may finally be entering the foldable phone market in 2026.
A foldable iPad is also rumored to be in development, as well.
The long-awaited competitor to Samsung‘s Galaxy Z, Motorola’s Razr Plus, and Google‘s Pixel Fold now even has a working title, insiders said: the iPhone Flip.
Apple’s design team has had ambitious goals for their entry into the crowded, niche market for old-school folding mobile devices, according to these sources, including a high-resolution, but sturdy display that faces outside when folded.
Reports this year indicate that the Cupertino-based tech giant, has already reached out to at least one components manufacturer in Asia to source parts for two sizes of the iPhone Flip, although no plans exist to mass produce the device in 2024 or 2025.
Insiders say Apple’s long-rumored competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Z, Motorola’s Razr Plus, and Google’s Pixel Fold now has a working title: the iPhone Flip. Above, a render by YouTuber ConceptsiPhone, who has been experimenting with foldable iPhone designs for years
Reports this year indicate that Apple has already reached out to at least one components manufacturer in Asia to source parts for two sizes of the ‘iPhone Flip,’ though no plans exist to mass produce the device in 2024 or 2025. Above, another recent render by ConceptsiPhone
Sources also suggested that Apple considers a foldable iPad to be an easier engineering feat and a less risky entry into the market, given iPhone’s sales slump.
The company sees an ‘iPad Flip’ as a novelty item that could gauge customer interest in its new designs before battling multiple flip-phone rivals on their home turf.
‘Apple will only release the product once they are sure, since they can’t afford to lose clients due to an average-device,’ according to Kaushik Bose, an executive at Green Tiger Mobility who has been watching the foldables space closely.
‘Manufacturers are unsure about the longevity of foldable screens,’ Bose noted in public comments on Quora.
‘No one knows if these will actually last more than 1–2 years,’ the executive said, ‘since lines seem to be appearing in some of the old foldable devices (1st gen).’
But one new Apple patent, published Thursday, indicates that the company is still hoping to make good on its dreams for a unique and quintessentially Apple breakthrough in foldable mobile tech: a touchscreen outside of the fold.
The May 2, 2024 patent, entitled ‘Electronic Device with Display and Touch Sensor Structures,’ proposed that the new device will have a ‘flexible transparent wall portion’ as well as ‘opaque walls’ that can both be interacted with as ‘touch layers.’
The result might possibly echo early generations of the iPod.
Sources also suggested that Apple considers a foldable iPad to be an easier engineering feat and a less risky first entry into the market. Above, another recent render by ConceptsiPhone
But one new Apple patent, published Thursday, indicates that the company is still hoping to make good on its dreams for a unique, quintessentially Apple breakthrough in foldable mobile tech – a touchscreen outside of the fold
The May 2, 2024 patent, titled ‘Electronic Device with Display and Touch Sensor Structures’ propose that the device will have a ‘flexible transparent wall portion’ as well as ‘ opaque walls’ that can both be interacted with as ‘touch layers,’ possibly like early generations of the iPod
This latest patent lends credence to anonymous insider claims made to tech news site The Information, alleging that Apple has been secretly working with South Korean flat screen display-maker LG and Samsung to prototype their foldable iPad.
According their current and former Apple sources, the company’s industrial design team want a true ‘razor’ thinness for iPhone Flip, half as thick as today’s iPhones.
Limitations with scaling down battery sizes and internal touch-screen display components, however, have undermined these grand ambitions for years, they said.
Similarly, Apple has struggled in secret to design a foldable phone with an external-facing screen that’s tough enough for everyday use.
One former Apple employee told the site that Apple hardware engineers found that prototypes with an outward-facing screen were ‘prone to breaking when dropped.’
An Apple’s patent, titled ‘Flexible Display Devices,’ filed on October 12th, 2018, showed off what appears to be a folding phone. In the patent, a device can be seen folding closed, similar to a flip phone, via a hinge in the middle (above)
In one form factor, the screen is shown in a triangle position, where presumably people seated on either side of the display could view the same content simultaneously
Apple patents on ‘Flexible display devices’ go back over a decade, with patents filed in 2011 and 2014.
One version of the patent, filed on October 12th, 2018, showed off an gaming or entertainment gimmick in which the screen could be placed on a table in a triangle position — where presumably people seated on either side of the display could view the same content simultaneously.
The patent notes that such a device would use a flexible organic LED display.
‘Flexible displays may be mounted onto [case] overlapping the hinges,’ the patent states.
‘When the housing portions in a device are rotated relative to each other, the flexible display may bend.’
‘The hinge may be configured to allow the flexible display to be placed in a front-to-front configuration in which an active side of the display faces itself or a back-to-back configuration.’
As with any patent, it’s unclear whether Apple actually plans to develop a device with this feature.
An Apple spokesperson did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment on either its most recent foldable patents or for comment on the February reporting by The Information.
In the early days of Apple’s flip-phone rumors, Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight, voiced the common opinion that there is ‘really no need’ for Apple to move into the foldable market.
‘You can be sure that it has had flexible display technology in its labs for the last decade,’ Wood told MailOnline.
‘But at present there is no commercial imperative for Apple to take the risk of piling into a niche market when the iPhone is so unbelievably successful.’
