Apple's First Foldable Device Won't Be an iPhone, Say Supply Chain Sources

[ry-guy]

Is Apple looking to become the company known for solutions in search of a problem? (see AVP)

Yes. They have mature products in all their categories, just being a follower now. Even if you think of Steve Jobs career, the Mac and the IPhone were truly innovative. They also happened as the convergence of technologies occurred. Obviously there were other computers and phones out there, but they were at the head of the Perfect Storm, so to speak.

Honestly if Apple put Bootcamp on m1 iPads, and allowed you to run both iOS and MacOS with a keyboard, they would reinvigorate a product category that’s still looking for a reason to belong.

 

[mrr]

I still want to see the iPhone Pro Max support the Apple Pencil.

 

[GrayFlannel]

Nothing folded that i have seen yet seems to be a good form factor…

 

[GermanSuplex]

If tablet, great... give me a pocketable iPad Mini (when folded). The one great benefit (again IMO) of iPhone over cellular iPad Mini doubling as phone (with Voip app and buds) is pocket-ability. I'd be quick to buy a cellular iPad Mini Fold.

Not a bad idea, as you could still essentially use it in that way. iPod Touch/iPad Mini, or an iPad Mini/larger tablet would both be pretty cool.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

a foldable notebook? now that would be innovative 🤯

A foldable tablet makes more sense than a foldable laptop. Mostly what a foldable laptop would be would be is a laptop with a worse keyboard, and the keyboard is much of the reason why a laptop is such a good device. Whereas a foldable tablet would be a tablet that can expand. Foldable phones, I honestly don't get them. 99% of the time I want phones to be smaller, not bigger.

 

[jmgregory1]

No company, not even Apple, is going to be able to overcome physics and what happens when any material is folded (and unfolded over and over). Regardless of how thin a clear glass or plastic is, when you fold or bend a screen, you’re pulling / stretching on the outside of the material, while compressing it on the inside within the fold area. These opposing stresses eventually will cause the material to fail. It’s also why you see the indented fold on current folding screen devices. The expansion and contraction differences between the two sides of the screen have to be accounted for somehow, not to mention needing to maintain a sufficient radius of the fold to keep the materials from splitting in two.

 

[dannyyankou]

I think it's clear by now foldables are a fad. Carriers are giving them away and I've yet to see one in public.

 

[fenderbass146]

iPad foldable makes a lot of sense...but I'd still much rather have an iPad that when attached to a pointing device and keyboard becomes full Mac OS

 

[dannyyankou]

If they're going to do a foldable iPad, they have to go big with it. A foldable iPad mini doesn't make sense because you're not going to find a lot of people who want to carry both a phone and tablet in their pocket. But a 17 inch tablet that you can easily throw in a backpack makes sense. But it would still have the crease issue.

 

[spartan1967]

Yeah, No. Ask your research team how this comes before a foldable iPhone, Apple. Then again, this is just a rumor so the supply chain source needs to be checked out as well.

 

[ThaGoochiestMane]

Yes, but if you want Mac app (power) you want to use this with a Mac computer. In other words, the use I described lets the Mac apply Mac horsepower in Mac apps to a super-sized virtual Mac screen.

If iPad app (power) is good enough, then yes, a much cheaper & smaller option would be using BT keyboard and track pad... and there are some pretty-well-rated ones that can fold down to a relatively small package in support of this mobile laptop concept... like this one...

View attachment 2352007

IMO: the bottom half of something like a 13" MBair with Vpro seems to be a "have your cake and eat it too" compromise for portability and power within this concept.

The way people are already getting it is buying damaged screen MBs for cheap and removing the lids. Then it "just works" as I've described.

I get what you mean in theory, but doesn't Vision Pro's hardware handle all of the actual "computing" done on the device?

If you're just talking about viewing the screenless-MBP's desktop on the Vision Pro that makes sense...but it also just made me think that Microsoft's rumored idea of streaming a full-fledged desktop OS to other devices isn't so crazy... In that scenario, you might not even need the screenless-MBP if you can still run against similar hardware remotely
(and have reliable/fast internet connection).

 

[ThaGoochiestMane]

Yeah, No. Ask your research team how this comes before a foldable iPhone, Apple. Then again, this is just a rumor so the supply chain source needs to be checked out as well.

I'm calling it now: the "not-a-phone" remark will be the same as with the Surface Duo. I assume the device will be a pocketable-formfactor, with the naming convention changing just so that they can:

1. Differentiate it from the more mature, iPhone product-line
2. Charge more because it's an entirely new category of device, as opposed to just a more expensive "phone"

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I get what you mean in theory, but doesn't Vision Pro's hardware handle all of the actual "computing" done on the device?

Not in this context. If you want to run Mac apps with Mac horses, Vpro needs you to use a Mac. You get one Mac screen unless you either use Spaces (still one Vpro screen but upwards of MANY Mac Apps running in several Spaces) on that Mac or a beta Vpro app that offers the potential to add a SECOND Mac screen. On that one screen is the full power and speed of Mac apps.

Yes, Vpro has a M2 which implies that it could be a "whole Mac on your face" but it is more like an "M2 iPad Pro on your face" It DOES run multiple iPad apps itself... but not Mac apps. When Vpro owner needs Mac app power, they need a Mac.

If you're just talking about viewing the screenless-MBP's desktop on the Vision Pro that makes sense...but it also just made me think that Microsoft's rumored idea of streaming a full-fledged desktop OS to other devices isn't so crazy... In that scenario, you might not even need the screenless-MBP if you can still run against similar hardware remotely
(and have reliable/fast internet connection).

Yes, conceptually one could log in and stream a remote Mac screen to a Vpro virtual screen and then use a Bluetooth keyboard for keyboard controls and trackpad as mouse. I presume that would work but haven't tried it nor have I seen anything of someone else trying it. I don't know if Vpro software supports it. If it does/could, I would guess latency would be an issue but that's purely a guess- I don't know.

 

[Ralfi]

I would LOVE a folding iPad - it’ll be so handy at home to switch between the front & internal screens.

I think it would be a perfect device to bring to light how a folding iPhone would work, to those who are very dismissive of such a device.

 

[RaphaZ]

A watch would probably be useful if foldable.

 

[Thomas Davie]

If notebook, IMO it must have traditional keys for touch typing. If one can't feel the keys, they can't touch type very effectively. I'm getting Flashbacks to the Atari 400...

View attachment 2351976​

If tablet, great... give me a pocketable iPad Mini (when folded). The one great benefit (again IMO) of iPhone over cellular iPad Mini doubling as phone (with Voip app and buds) is pocket-ability. I'd be quick to buy a cellular iPad Mini Fold.

I had one of these and the 64kb ram expansion was about $460 cdn. Just for a game called Eastern Front by Chris Crawford. One of my buddies had the same - and he still found out how to cheat by taping plastic acetate sheets over the TV, mapping out the initial positions of both Soviet and German sides, removing the sheet, allowing the Russians to make turn 1 moves, repeating with a new sheet, removing that and then overlaying the sheets and figuring out his plan of attack.

But yeah, the keyboard sucked.

Tom

 

[Wanted797]

If notebook, IMO it must have traditional keys for touch typing. If one can't feel the keys, they can't touch type very effectively. I'm getting Flashbacks to the Atari 400...

View attachment 2351976​

If tablet, great... give me a pocketable iPad Mini (when folded). The one great benefit (again IMO) of iPhone over cellular iPad Mini doubling as phone (with Voip app and buds) is pocket-ability. I'd be quick to buy a cellular iPad Mini Fold.

I used to have the original 12.9” iPad and typing on the display was actually very easy to touché type because it was a full screen keyboard and was at a normal size.

All smaller iPads feel a bit weird. So I wouldn’t write off a full sized display keyboard.

 

[seek3r]

I think it's clear by now foldables are a fad. Carriers are giving them away and I've yet to see one in public.

I see them all the time....

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I used to have the original 12.9” iPad and typing on the display was actually very easy to touché type because it was a full screen keyboard and was at a normal size.

All smaller iPads feel a bit weird. So I wouldn’t write off a full sized display keyboard.

Interesting. How did your touch typing not drift left/right/up/down without a lot of looking to correct and no buttons to feel?

Even with an actual keyboard, my touch typing can drift. I would guess you used an arm rest to basically lock your hands in a very specific spot to keep them directly over the keys. Else, you had to look a LOT to correct drift?

 

[DFZD]

Apple is innovating so hard and winning global acclaim for the Vision Pro.. why on earth do they want to kill their buzz by launching this monstrosity?

 

[Saturn007]

This foldable whatever will definitely sell far more than the Apple Vision Pro!

Then, there's this excellent insight...

Apple, you dont have to follow the trend and make it better...if something is nonsense and fragile already, focus on something else

Good advice! But if they had listened to you/us there'd be no Vision Pro...

And, that might have been a good thing! 😎

 

[dannyyankou]

I see them all the time....

I think 15 million of them sold worldwide in 2023, which is dwarfish compared to the 1.5 billion smartphones sold per year. And yes, that includes cheap phones, but it's still tiny compared to the 232 million iPhones sold worldwide in 2023. Also, in 2019 the forecast was 30 million by 2023. So demand is half of what was expected.

 

[Portavoz]

Always nice to see Apple try something new - I just hope it doesn’t run iPadOS with its current limitations

 

[N47H]

I don’t get the obsession with foldables - I understand the problem they’re solving, but they are not the solution.

Oppo found the perfect solution with the Oppo X 2021, expanding and shrinking phone with a screen that rolls rather than folds. Looks much nicer, far more elegant a solution and most importantly… no crease!

 

[Ifti]

Whatever it is, I'll stay away from the 1st gen.