Apple’s iPhone 17 got here and went and whereas we definitely love the iPhone 17 Pro and its vibrant cosmic orange coloration, I am unable to assist however be dissatisfied that the long-rumored foldable iPhone Flip wasn’t a part of the corporate’s September launch occasion. Most Android phone-makers, including Samsung, Google, Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Honor are a number of generations into their very own folding cellphone lineups, and it is starting to really feel like Apple is late to the celebration. That is likely to be an issue.
Apple dominates within the premium cellphone class, however foldables — which match into the premium house when it comes to value — are already nipping at its heels, with Motorola telling CNET that 20% of shoppers shopping for its Razr foldable jumped ship from Apple. In the meantime, Samsung is within the seventh technology of its Flip and Fold sequence. As Lisa Eadicicco found throughout a go to to Seoul, “foldables are everywhere” in Samsung’s residence nation of South Korea.
Would Apple go along with a smaller format just like the Galaxy Z Flip sequence?
With almost each main Android phone-maker getting into the foldable market, Apple dangers dropping potential prospects. It additionally runs the chance of letting a rival like Samsung turn out to be the go-to identify for foldables, which may make it more durable for Apple to make an affect if it will definitely launches its personal gadget. Moreover, early adopters drawn to foldable tech could also be too entrenched within the Android ecosystem by the point Apple’s cellphone arrives to need to change to iOS.
Apple is unlikely to be frightened. It is estimated that round 20 million foldables from all producers have been bought worldwide in 2023, whereas Apple reportedly bought 26.5 million iPhone 14 Professional Max handsets within the first half of that 12 months alone. In 2024, foldable gross sales have been flat — and 2025 is not fairing a lot better, in accordance with analysts at CounterPoint Research, though Samsung did report record numbers of preorders for its newest foldable. Clearly, Apple feels it has but to overlook the boat.
The iPhone 15 Professional Max is an excellent cellphone. However what if it may bend?
Apple has all the time discovered success in biding its time, observing the trade and launching its personal tackle a product when it is prepared. Apple did not invent telephones, tablets, smartwatches or computer systems, however it discovered methods to take current merchandise and make them extra helpful, extra priceless in day-to-day life and — dare I say — extra thrilling. It is why the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac traces dominate the market at present.
For me, I have to see Apple’s tackle the foldable cellphone. I’ve written earlier than about how disappointed I am in foldables. I have been a cellular reporter for over 14 years and telephones have turn out to be more and more boring as they’ve converged to turn out to be slight variations on the identical rectangular slab.
Learn extra: Best Flip Phone for 2025
Foldables promised something new, one thing revolutionary, one thing that briefly sparked some pleasure in me, however a number of years in, that pleasure has dwindled to the purpose of being extinguished. They’re advantageous merchandise and whereas I just like the novelty of a display that bends, they are not a revolution in how we work together with our telephones. Not in the way in which that the arrival of the touchscreen was once we have been nonetheless pushing buttons to kind out texts.
I did hope that Google’s Pixel Fold can be the phone to catapult the foldable forward, and whereas the current Pixel 10 Professional Fold — the second technology of Google’s foldable — does provide some nice updates, it nonetheless would not provide any form of revolution. As an alternative, it feels extra like a “me too” transfer from Google. Ditto for the OnePlus Open. So I am left as an alternative to look towards Apple, an organization with a monitor file for product revolutions, to create a brand new tackle the style that genuinely drives ahead how we use our telephones.
Google’s Pixel Fold is an honest cellphone, however it would not drive the class ahead in any significant approach.
That innovation will not simply come from the product design. Apple works intently with its third-party software program builders, and it is that enter that may assist a folding iPhone turn out to be genuinely helpful. My largest grievance round foldables proper now’s that whereas the {hardware} is first rate, the units are basically simply operating customary variations of Android with a handful of UI tweaks thrown in. They’re common telephones that simply occur to bend.
Few Android builders are embracing the folding format, and it isn’t tough to see why; the customers aren’t there in adequate numbers but to justify the time and expense to adapt their software program throughout a wide range of display sizes. The a number of folding codecs already out there imply Android foldables face the identical fragmentation subject that has plagued the platform for the reason that starting. Android-based foldables are merely a tougher platform for builders to construct for than common telephones. Apple would have the ability to change that, because it proved with the iPhone and iPad.
Apple did not invent pill computer systems, however its iPad line revolutionized the class.
Given Apple’s shut relationships with top-tier builders — to not point out its personal huge developer workforce — I count on an eventual Apple foldable to supply improvements that make it extra than simply an iPhone that folds in half.
And I actually hope it does. I need to look ahead to tech launches once more. I need to really feel excited to get a brand new gadget in my fingers and really feel that “wow” second as I do one thing transformative for the primary time.
Briefly, I do not need to be bored by expertise anymore. Apple, it is over to you.
