- A well-known leaker has said Apple’s 18.8-inch foldable is still inbound possibly as early as 2027
- Amazon also has a ‘similar’ large foldable in the pipeline, though
- With Huawei recently airing a foldable laptop, Apple may feel it’s falling behind rivals – and we still don’t even know the exact nature of its device
Apple’s rumored big foldable device – which might be a MacBook that’s all-screen and no physical keyboard, or a huge iPad tablet – has popped up on the grapevine once again with a claim that it could be here in 2027. However, Amazon might beat Apple to the shelves here, we’re told.
As Wccftech noticed, renowned Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X to let us know that Apple’s 18.8-inch foldable is still set to go into mass production in either late 2027 or 2028 (a timeframe he’s previously mentioned, and I’ll return to that point later).
Apple’s competitors in the large-sized foldable device market may not be limited to Huawei. My research indicates that Amazon is also internally developing a similar product, which has not yet officially kicked off. If development progresses as planned, it is projected to enter…May 20, 2025
This comment came after Huawei revealed its MateBook Fold laptop at Computex 2025 earlier this week, which is an 18-inch device, so very similar in size to Apple’s theoretical product here. (I should note that both this and the rumored Apple foldable are 18 to 19-inches when fully unfolded, so that’s the total size of the device).
Kuo further observed that Amazon is developing a “similar product” which has yet to be made official, but it could be due to hit the production lines in late 2026, or perhaps 2027 (add plenty of seasoning with all of this).
Analysis: Falling behind rivals?
The hint being dropped here, then, is that Apple is falling behind the pacemakers in the giant foldable device arena, with Amazon’s timetable apparently being a year in advance of Apple’s. Although that said, for something which isn’t even officially underway yet, the Amazon device debuting at the close of next year seems like a pretty fast track through development.
The key question, of course, is will Apple be producing an 18.8-inch foldable MacBook or iPad? (Incidentally, if a foldable laptop seems like an odd term – and it is, given that all notebooks fold up – it refers to a folding screen, rather than chassis. This is a notebook that doesn’t have a keyboard, and instead uses a virtual keyboard displayed on one half of the screen).
This is where things get a bit odd as rumors have suggested Apple’s foldable device could be either a laptop or tablet. Kuo comparing it to Amazon’s foldable – which is surely a Fire tablet – would seem to suggest it’s a huge iPad. But then a direct comparison is also made to Huawei’s foldable laptop. Furthermore, the leaker notably uses the neutral term ‘device’ rather than any hint of mentioning a laptop or tablet.
What that suggests to me is that Apple is working through concepts on both sides of the fence, tablet and laptop, and still hasn’t made the decision of which OS to go with, macOS or iPadOS, and what’ll be more useful: a MacBook with a folding screen (and virtual keyboard), or an iPad that can fold out to be a giant display.
Personally I think the MacBook idea is the frontrunner (and rumors about Apple working on a notebook with a virtual keyboard have been around for ages). Although more innovative and attention-grabbing, that is the riskier move, admittedly, in terms of getting Mac fans to accept the ditching of a physical keyboard in favor of a screen-based effort. It’d have to be a very good virtual keyboard, that’s for sure. A big iPad would be a safer avenue to tread when you look at these ideas in that light.
What’s also interesting is that Kuo hasn’t changed the release timeframe for this 18.8-inch foldable since talking about it in mid-2024, which could be read as Apple being on track with its development schedule here. Or Kuo simply hasn’t heard anything else, especially regarding that decision on whether to make the hardware a laptop or tablet.
All in all, that’s a bit of a worry, but if this large foldable device really is coming from Apple, we should receive some firmer hints soon enough. And it’s certainly true that plans from rival laptop (or tablet) makers will help spur Apple’s thought processes and the realization of this product, or I’d imagine so, anyway.
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