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.
