I’ve generally ignored reports that Apple is quietly working on a folding iPhone, because, well, why wouldn’t they be? The form factor is clearly popular with many people—Samsung’s foldables are now onto their sixth generation—and the R&D department at a company of Apple’s size will naturally be playing with a lot of speculative ideas at any given time. Many won’t go anywhere.
But now it does seem like the folding iPhone will be a thing. The Information reported yesterday that the idea has an internal codename (“V68”) and is in “development with suppliers,” with a view to a potential launch in 2026. Apparently Apple is still trying to make its design thinner, and to flatten the crease in the folding screen.
DigiTimes reports a similar timeline, citing Korean media as saying the device will fold top-down like an old-school flip-phone, rather than sideways like, say, the Google Pixel Fold.
Speaking as someone who once scoffed at the idea of folding smartphones, before grudgingly relenting on the basis of demonstrable consumer demand, I’m pretty interested to see what Apple comes up with here.
The design seems to be particularly popular in China, which is a key market for Apple, but also the home country of many rivals in this space. Brands like Honor and Xiaomi are racing to bring out ever-slimmer takes on the category, in the process eating into Samsung’s market share. Their foldables are getting cheaper, too, so Apple will have to deliver something pretty special as a late entrant.
Mostly, I’m just keen to see more innovation from Apple. Perhaps there’s only so much you can do with a glass rectangle, but the iPhone design hasn’t seen any big changes since the iPhone X came out in 2017, getting rid of the decade-old physical home button. Adding fancy AI features this year will be a meaningful change to iOS, but let’s see what’s possible on the hardware side, shall we? Hopefully it won’t just be an us-too entry into a field that’s already getting fairly crowded.
Apple didn't respond to a request for comment on this week's reports.
Meanwhile, in other Apple news, the Spanish Competition Authority just opened a probe into the allegedly “unfair trading conditions” that Apple imposes on developers who want to get apps into its App Store.
The antitrust regulator is pretty vague about its specific concerns, and Apple says it would like to understand what the problem is. But I’d be surprised if we’re not talking about similar issues to those being investigated by the European Commission—namely, developers’ inability to freely steer customers from iOS to external platforms where they can offer cheaper deals, and the new fees that Apple is demanding if developers want to offer their apps through third-party iOS app stores.
Just like the Commission, the Spanish regulator could hit Apple with a fine of up to 10% of global annual revenue if it decides the company is egregiously breaking competition law, so it’s probably worth keeping an eye on this case.
More news below.
David Meyer
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