Once again, it is the Taiwanese researcher Ming-Chi Kuo who is at the origin of the rumour: according to him, Apple is indeed still preparing a folding smartphone. Multiple rumors have already announced it in development for a while, but it has still not seen the light of day. Nothing surprising, however, for connoisseurs of the apple brand, who know that it prefers to wait for positive signals from the market to launch.
Today, we learn that the device could be released in 2025. Either one year later than what some analysts predicted until now, but always with a view to a schedule corresponding to the habits of the manufacturer.
I expected Apple to launch a foldable iPhone as soon as 2024 in my reports last year, but now it’s clear this prediction needs to be revised. I predict Apple may launch its first foldable product in 2025 at the earliest, which may be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad & iPhone. https://t.co/HGIDPFvdar
— Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) April 1, 2022
A hybrid?
Even more interesting: for Kuo, it does not seem wise to speak directly of a foldable iPhone. Indeed, the nomenclature chosen by Apple could also be closer to that of theiPad to match the size of the mobile when its flaps are deployed. In other words, the product would be a kind of cross between the tablet and the smartphone, not only in terms of technique but also on the brand side. This is what offers Samsung with its Galaxy Z Fold 3.
In the end and still according to the same source, users would be entitled to a slab with a diagonal of nine inches. Then and only then would Apple choose to produce a larger model before finishing with a smaller one.
The Apple computer of the millennium?
Adding a hint of credence to its assumptions, the Asian newspaper The Elec assumes for its part that it is to LG that Cupertino will outsource the manufacture of its hinged screens. A partnership far from trivial for the Korean, since it has largely lost market share to the benefit of the competition in recent times.
Here, we are talking about an OLED component with a template corresponding more to an iPad or a Mac. HP is already a customer of it, with seventeen-inch orders, which suggests that the displays have long since passed the mere concept stage. And multiple patents filed by Apple already tell us what an amazing and devilishly practical foldable MacBook might look like 100% tactile…
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Par : Keleops AG
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