Apple is a fantastic tech company that is, perhaps, not having its best moment. It failed to deliver the AI Siri update we were promised, it’s being pestered by the EU to open its secret sauce to competitors, its iPhone 16e failed to inspire, and it hasn’t had a major category splash in a while.
I want Apple to step out of its comfort zone and show us what it’s working on, specifically in the folding space. This might be the best way for it to reclaim the conversation and, perhaps, inspire a new legion of future Apple customers.
It’s not that the work on Siri isn’t important or worth pursuing. I desperately want a better Siri, but I think what I miss is Apple delivering FOMO-inducing products.
A new vision
Those who insist that Vision Pro, unveiled almost two years ago, was it, a reminder that Apple could do big things, they’re right, in a way. The Vision Pro remains an almost unmatched piece of engineering but has not moved the consumer needle.
This is partly because it’s so expensive but also because of the fundamental limits of what people are willing to wear on their faces for extended periods of time.
Apple’s steady stream of new utility apps and services, like Journal, Sports, and News+ Food, are not it and I won’t even bother to argue the point.
You might counsel me to be patient. After all, that promised Siri update is now, possibly back on track thanks to rumored new leadership in the person of Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell. I happen to agree with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber that the real news here is Apple Senior Vice President Software Engineering Craig Federighi is now in charge of the Siri project (Rockwell reports to him).
The delivery of a Siri that can dig into your phone and use your data to help you live a better digital life is good but also just a fulfillment of a promise made at WWDC2024. It’s not something new and not the reset Apple needs.
Similarly, excellent iPhones, MacBooks, Apple Watches, AirPods, and iPad updates are not it – though I welcome all of them.
Let’s get folding
A folding iPhone, however, comes very close to a new product category since there’s nothing else quite like it in the Apple product corral. It’ll potentially be a true hybrid between a smartphone and a small tablet.
Current rumors have it launching in 2026 (a larger folding iPad could follow in 2027). That’s not soon enough. Apple needs something this year.
My hope is that Apple will tease its first folding device at WWDC 2025. It’s something of a necessity to distract from what Apple has failed to deliver: a Siri that knows your screen as well as it does you and can act on all that information.
Apple will have to address Siri and make fresh iOS 19 promises, ones it has a better chance of delivering with this rumored new leadership. But it’ll still feel mostly like a mop-up.
Apple can essentially wave its hands and point in the direction of this new folding device, completely distracting consumers and media from the less-than-sunny Siri story.
I’m not suggesting Apple launch the phone in June, but a brief video and even Apple CEO Tim Cook standing on stage at Apple Park with a prototype could be a game changer.
As much as I’d like to see it, I still don’t expect Apple to unveil the foldable in September along with the iPhone 17 lineup, but that should not stop them from doing something extraordinary, like teasing an upcoming smartphone design breakthrough.
You might argue that this is not Apple’s way, and you’d be right, but Apple hasn’t necessarily been itself lately.
It has yet to address the true state of the Vision Pro. It failed to deliver a true AI Siri and fully enter the AI race, and even its efforts to update its “budget” iPhone with the iPhone 16e left many confused.
It’s time for Apple to return to surprising people with one more eye-popping thing
Apple has in recent years, done extremely well with services and has had a cultural phenomenon hit on its hands with Severance, but content and annuity-based services are not, I’d argue, what drives Apple or its consumers.
It’s time for Apple to return to surprising people with one more eye-popping thing and the folding iPhone would be perfect. We know it’s hidden somewhere at Apple Park, where engineers try to make it perfect, perhaps the best folding smartphone ever.
That’s fine, keep at it, but give us something at WWDC to keep customers inspired and remind everyone that Apple is still very good at being Apple.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
