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Left to right: iPhone Air, Field Notes and pen, iPhone Fold mock-up, iPhone 17 Pro.<\/p>\nLeft to right: iPhone Air, Field Notes and pen, iPhone Fold mock-up, iPhone 17 Pro.<\/p>\n
If many years-long rumors are true, 2026 will be the year when Apple\u2019s long-gestating folding iPhone becomes a reality. But there are a lot of different approaches to folding phones out there, and there\u2019s no guarantee that the folding iPhone you imagine is the one that Apple is imagining.<\/p>\n
Leaks from Apple\u2019s supply chain have begun to strongly suggest the shape and size<\/a> of the product we\u2019ll call, for lack of a better name, the iPhone Fold. And since it\u2019s likely going to be nine months before anyone holds one of these things in their hands, this seems like as good a time as any to consider the story Apple is likely to tell when it\u2019s selling this device.<\/p>\n Not your usual iPhone First, a disclaimer: Nobody knows anything, except the people who do. We\u2019re left to go on rumors and extrapolation. That said, many people have spent time doing the math required to extrapolate the shape of the new iPhone<\/a> based on rumored specs<\/a>, and even building a 3D printing template<\/a> so you can build one and hold it in the real world.<\/p>\n If these mock-ups are real, this folding iPhone is not going to be what you may have pictured in your head: a modern iPhone, roughly the shape of an iPhone Pro, that folds open to reveal a larger screen inside.<\/p>\n Instead, Apple may be making a device that\u2019s much wider and squatter than existing iPhones when it\u2019s folded up. The mock-ups people are printing show a phone that\u2019s squatter than an iPhone mini and wider than an iPhone Pro Max! If that shape is right, the iPhone Fold will look a bit more like a mini notebook when it\u2019s folded, unlike any iPhone that has ever existed.<\/p>\n The shape makes sense, however, when you imagine what that phone looks like when it\u2019s unfolded: a screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, the shape of an old-school television and\u2014more importantly\u2014an old-school iPad. In fact, this rumored design would make the unfolded iPhone the shape of an iPad, just slightly smaller than the iPad mini. (The iPad mini\u2019s screen is 8.3 inches when measured diagonally, while this screen is rumored to be 7.76 inches.)<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s sales pitch? Apple\u2019s taking a real risk if the new folding iPhone doesn\u2019t look like an iPhone. If people read it as looking weird or lesser in some way, that may turn them off\u2014even if they were otherwise willing to buy a $2000+ phone. So why would they do it?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my guess at Apple\u2019s thought process: If what you really want is an iPhone that looks like an iPhone, literally all the other iPhone models will deliver on that. The iPhone Fold is designed around what it provides when it\u2019s unfolded. Yes, when it\u2019s folded, it will work like a normal, albeit squat, iPhone. But it comes alive and is unique when it\u2019s open.<\/p>\n When it\u2019s open, it\u2019s an iPad.<\/p>\n The battle between iOS and Android rages on in the smartphone world. Apple leads in some markets, Android in others. It\u2019s a duopoly, and both companies are making a lot of money and wielding a lot of power based on their successes in that market. But in the tablet market, the truth is that the iPad is successful, and every other tablet out there is not. Not only in terms of sales and profits, but in terms of functionality.<\/p>\n Over the years, Google has rededicated itself multiple times to the idea that Android is going to be a better operating system for tablets, and that Android tablet apps are going to get better. And yet every time I use an Android tablet, I\u2019m struck by just how awful the experience is compared to an iPad. Even now, most apps just feel like phone apps wearing clothes several sizes too large.<\/p>\n This is Apple\u2019s big advantage when it comes to a phone that can open up to become something much larger: That larger thing can be an iPad, with apps that make sense in that size and shape. Apple has separated iOS and iPadOS, but they are essentially the same operating system, with some differentiated features based on what hardware is involved. Apple can bring as much or as little of iPadOS to the iPhone Fold experience as it wants to.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure what will make the move across. Will full-on windowed multitasking be offered, or will Apple limit it to some basic tiling? Will the iPhone Fold be the first iPhone to support the Apple Pencil? Will the iPhone Fold drive an external display? It\u2019s all for Apple to decide.<\/p>\n But after looking at these 3D-printed mock-ups and seeing a squat, paper-notepad-shaped iPhone that unfolds into a small iPad, it seems pretty clear to me: If this is the shape of the iPhone Fold to come, Apple is focusing on it being an iPad you can fold up and stick in your pocket, not as an iPhone that unfolds into two iPhones placed side by side.<\/p>\n [Thanks to Stephen Hackett for the photos.]<\/p>\n
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