According to a new report from Digitimes, Apple’s first product with a foldable display is likely to be a MacBook or an iPad instead of an iPhone.
Digitimes:
Apple has been developing foldables for the past five years, and its first foldable product will not be a smartphone. It will instead be a larger device…
The company has already been developing a larger, non-phone foldable device for at least five years, and recent rumors note that design efforts are converging, a sign that mass production is near…
Dennis Sellers for Apple World Today:
DigiTimes says a larger foldable iPad or MacBook could launch as early as 2025, though this may be pushed back to 2026.
These aren’t the first reports of a foldable iPad or MacBook. There have been numerous rumors about a foldable iPad. As far back as January 2023, a series of tweets by the usually-accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple will release a foldable iPad with a carbon fiber kickstand in 2024. He said a carbon fiber kickstand will enable it to be lighter and more durable. Kuo thinks a foldable iPad will boost shipments and improve the product mix.
As for a foldable Mac, a July 2023 report from Business Korea says that Apple is working on a foldable Mac laptop that it will preview in 2025 and have for sale in 2026.
The report says a foldable laptop could form a new product category. If it arrives, it could be a dual-use product: able to work as a notebook with a full-size on-screen keyboard when folded and as a monitor when unfolded and used with an external keyboard. The foldable could also allow for 4K resolutions or higher at the size Apple is investigating.
MacDailyNews Take: It makes more sense to use foldable displays in an iPad or MacBook product than it does for iPhone.
“Too thick when folded” is why it makes perfect sense for Apple to do a foldable display first with iPad, a device that is not carried in pockets and where thickness when folded is therefore not an issue. – MacDailyNews, February 17, 2020
Foldable displays make far more sense for tablets than for smartphones. – MacDailyNews, January 30, 2023
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Something that size begs the question….will it be rollable?
MacBooks have long been foldable?
Ty HANK… I was thinking the same thing….and with the Magic Keyboard, the iPad suddenly becomes ‘foldable’ too.
And let’s quit the bullshit… non of these so called foldable devices are actually foldable, they’re just clamshell devices, just like the old clamshell dumb-phones of the past, but with bigger screens and more power. Show me foldable glass that doesn’t break or retain a permanent crease and then I’ll call it a foldable device.
Creases are inherent to folding genius 😅
I would love a foldable all screen MacBook that has an iPhone style keyboard when you need it or maybe a huge trackpad.