Rumors have circulated for years that Apple is considering a foldable iPhone, and even folks who don’t follow every smartphone rumor have become curious enough to ask me about it.
‘Is Apple really making a foldable iPhone?’ was the most common phone question I got over the holidays, and the answer had me thinking. Apple doesn’t need to make a foldable phone. The rumors about Apple’s foldable phone are doing a good enough job of beating the competition.
Still, it seems like a very Apple complaint, doesn’t it? By leaking rumors that it won’t build a foldable phone that has a noticeable crease, Apple directly calls attention to the biggest apparent flaw in all of its competition.
I say “apparent” because it’s only a flaw if you’ve seen a foldable phone but you’ve never used one. The crease is no bother, but it is visible, so Apple can highlight the issue for its own fans, who will never realize it’s not a problem for foldable owners.
It’s a little bit genius, and a little mean-spirited. Apple gets to float along on the rumors that it wouldn’t deign to create a foldable phone. Foldable phones have an inherent flaw, and by implication, Apple only creates flawless phones. It gets to win at the foldable phone game by calling the game stupid, packing up its ball, and going home alone.
When I’m wrong about Apple’s foldable, send me this story
Will Apple ever make a foldable phone? I’m less convinced than ever. If the rumors are true, Apple is holding out for a material that is as strong as glass, but can fold in half without revealing a crease. I don’t see how this is possible (please send me this story in five years when I’m proven wrong!).
I think there will always be enough of a crease in the glass that Apple will have an excuse to never make a foldable phone. Then it will always be able to let the rumors do the work of implying the competition made a flawed product with a crease.
It makes more sense for Apple to skip foldable phones than to actually make a foldable. Foldable phones are not very popular, especially not in the US, where Apple is most dominant. Foldable phones are also very expensive.
It costs much more to buy a foldable tablet phone than it costs to buy a comparable phone and a mini tablet separately. And Apple is one of the only tablet makers that sells mini tablets.
You can buy an iPhone 17 ($799 in the US) and an iPad mini ($499 in the US) for just over half the price of a Galaxy Z Fold 7 ($1,999 in the US).
Foldable rumors are a helpful distraction while Apple works on… everything else
When will Apple release an iPhone Fold? I’m not sure that will ever happen. Apple has plenty of other great products that are already on the market, ready to mature into something even greater.
Apple Vision Pro is just the start of Apple’s head-mounted wearable computers. We could see smaller goggles or even smart glasses before the iPhone Fold. Apple Watch gets more advanced health tracking and communication features with every generation. Even accessories like AirPods are getting more robust features with every generation, including live translation and health tracking, making them much more than the simple earbuds from which they originated.
I’m giving up hope on an iPhone Fold, and I’m chalking up the rumors to competition. The iPhone Fold is a red herring – it’s a distraction that is more successful as a rumor than it would be as an actual product. Apple doesn’t need to sell an iPhone Fold to beat the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. It just needs to feed the rumors that foldable phones aren’t good enough for Apple.
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philip.berne@futurenet.com (Philip Berne)
