Apple is reportedly testing two different folding iPhone designs. But only one of them has a flexible screen. If one of the prototypes successfully passes testing, it could become the first foldable iOS handset.
Apple is working on a solution for the biggest drawback of folding displays. The first generation of foldable handsets made by rival companies develop a crease where the screen bends, but Apple engineers want to put a bendable display that includes a self-healing material in a folding iPhone.
When Apple gets into the foldable phone market, as arch-rival Samsung has already done, its first model might well look much like the iPhone 12 Flip. But for now, this is only a concept design.
Watch a video of it now:
Apple has undoubtedly been investigating a folding iPhone for years because it keeps patenting designs. Including one awarded on Tuesday for an iPhone that folds closed while leaving a portion of the screen exposed to display status updates.
It would be easier to make a foldable iPhone or iPad if it could include a flexible battery. Apple is investigating these as a power source, and was granted a patent on the technology on Tuesday.
In recent years, the company received many patents related to computers built around folding displays. They’re proof that Apple is actively exploring using these in future products.
It’s not yet clear whether foldable phones are a temporary gimmick or the future of mobile devices. But Apple’s certainly interested — and in a newly published patent, it describes its approach to solving one of the most often-raised problems with folding phones.
That problem? How to ensure that a foldable device doesn’t become creased or damaged when it folds. Early folding phones, such as Samsung’s troubled Galaxy Fold, have been plagued by this problem. But Apple engineers developed a solution that could help.
Samsung’s demonstration on the dangers of letting one’s reach exceed one’s grasp is almost over. The Galaxy Fold, the first mass-market phone with a foldable display, will reach US customers’ hands on Friday, many months after first scheduled.
Despite well-publicized problems, this company is already hard at work on a more affordable version. And rivals, including Apple, are also considering flexible screen handsets.
Samsung isn’t yet ready to commit to a release date for its troubled Galaxy Fold. Information leaking out last month had indicated the delayed folding handset might be out before July. However, Samsung said today that it isn’t prepared to commit to a timeframe.
Deciding now that an folding iPhone is a terrible idea is premature. There just isn’t enough information yet to judge whether any such device is something you’ll want. And it’s betting against Apple’s history of success in areas where others have failed.
While the first foldable devices from other companies have serious flaws, that in no way means any eventual Apple device with a flexible screen will be equally bad. There’s actually plenty of reason to think it won’t.
Apple is at least exploring the possibility of making a folding iPhone, and artists have been playing around with designs as well.
Today we have a concept video showing a flexible iOS model that also includes some of the features that are expected to be in this fall’s iPhone XI.
Watch it now:
Forget what you think you know about glass. Rather than being an utterly rigid material, Corning is close to producing a type of glass flexible enough to go in a future folding iPhone.
This material will be inherently superior to the plastic screens going into handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
After being one of the first out of the gate with a folding smartphone, Samsung is trying to entice competitors — including Apple — to join the foldable future.
Samsung, which debuted the Galaxy Fold at its Unpacked event on Feb. 20, has reportedly sent some foldable display panel samples to Cupertino in hopes of attracting Apple as a client.
The co-founder of Apple, and its original tech guru, can’t wait to get his hands on a folding iPhone. The first generation of folding devices from Samsung, Huawei, and others have met with skepticism from some quarters, but not Steve Wozniak.
He thinks Apple should get a handset with a folding display on the market soon.
Samsung showed off its foldable smartphone this week, and while it’s clearly a first-generation model, it’s got a lot of people excited. Foldable phones have the potential to combine our phones and tablets in a way that offers a big display and a pocket-size form factor, all in one.
What would a foldable iPhone look like? With help from industrial designer Roy Gilsing, the folks over at Foldable.News have taken a swing at showing us.
The future’s promise to give us folding smartphone-tablet hybrids like the ones found on Westworld has already arrived.
Apple fans will have to wait until 2020 at the earliest for a folding iPhone, but an Android manufacturer called Royole just debuted its folding smartphone and while it doesn’t look that incredible, it’s an amazing sign that the sci-fi tech might finally be ready for mass-market devices.
Take a look:
The first foldable smartphones launch later this year. These will all run Android, but Apple has been researching a bendable iPhone. It received another patent today for a mobile device with a flexible screen.
This describes various possible hinge mechanisms, likely the trickiest part of a flexible phone.
There’s a race on to introduce the world’s first folding smartphone, and Samsung appears committed to winning. The head of its mobile division says his company will unveil a foldable phone before the end of this year.
Other companies racing to introduce rival foldable devices include Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo. Apple is being more deliberative.
At least four big smartphone makers are reportedly prepping foldable models for 2019. This radical new design could reinvigorate the slowing phone market, hence the widespread interest.
But Apple is a notable holdout. This means it could end up being the only top 5 phone maker not releasing a foldable phone next year.
Don’t expect to see the rumored folding Windows computer any time soon. In fact, Microsoft might have cancelled the device code named Andromeda.
This would have been small enough to be pocketable, but then unfold to become a tablet about the size of an iPad mini.
The next dramatic shift in smartphone design is expected to be folding displays. An industry source in Asia says that Apple is developing a foldable iPhone but it won’t be out before 2020 and possibly even later.
This means Samsung could beat Apple to the punch. The foldable Galaxy X is rumored for release in the first half of 2019.
The iPhone might be about to get some fresh competition from Apple’s oldest rival in the tech scene.
Microsoft has reportedly been working on a mysterious new Surface device codenamed Andromeda. The device has supposedly been in development for the last two years and features a dual-display design that can fold to fit into your pocket.