Foldables have curved out a product category of their own, much like tablets and later wearables did back then. Out of the major tech giants of today, Apple is one of the notable companies that don’t offer a folding device. However, new reports indicate Apple is working on, not one but two, foldable iPhone models.
In its attempt to catch up with the burgeoning foldable market, Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team have been looking into the matter. A new report from The Information cites an unnamed source with direct knowledge of Apple’s efforts that the Cupertino, California company has two prototypes currently going through tests. They are clamshell-type devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, which unfolds vertically. At the same time, the company has been working on a foldable iPad.
The folding iPad is expected to launch first then the folding iPhone will come later, at least two years from now according to the report. The company paused work on a foldable iPhone in 2020 but kicked it back into gear more recently including filling for patents last year.
Developing the foldables has not been easy, Apple team is apparently very concerned about their fragility. The team is aiming for an extremely thin device that doesn’t take much pocket space when collapsed. That in turn requires minimizing the size of battery and display components which is a challenging task.
Interestingly, Tim Cook had reportedly approached Apple engineers as early as 2018 about the possibility of foldables. That was back when foldable screens came into the industry and companies were experimenting with them, two years later, Samsung brought their first Galaxy Z Flip to market. We can only imagine how things would have turned out if Apple has gone into foldables development back when Samsung did. As of now, Apple is still trying to discover more “compelling features” that would put an Apple foldable on the map.