'iPhone Fold' ; The design is expected to incorporate design elements from existing Apple products.
14 Facebook x.com Reddit Rumour assessment 🤔 Possible
Confused and a completely unverifiable rumor claims that Apple has been testing foldable phones from other manufacturers and has decided to halt production of the iPhone Fold.
After reports that Apple was working on two foldable iPhone prototypes, a new statement says that is not the case. A statement posted on the Chinese social network Weibo said that Apple is accelerating its research and that it has given up for now.
Weibo user Fix Focus Digital explains that Apple bought several existing foldable phones for testing. The report may be unclear due to machine translation, but it appears to say that at least one of these competing phones broke within days of Apple purchasing it for testing.
Fixed Focus Digital says Samsung's foldable screen doesn't meet Apple's requirements. It's unclear if this is still in the competing foldable phone or if it's just another part of Apple's testing.
It is not surprising that a foldable phone would fail in testing, since it is specifically tested to failure. It seems less likely that Apple will conclude that it's not worth pursuing the idea unless Samsung, for example, can create an unbreakable foldable phone.
Nothing in the report can be verified, and Fix Focus Digital appears to have no experience with Apple leaks.
In addition, Apple has a history of patents covering aspects of the foldable iPhone, including a patent related to a screen that doesn't wrinkle during use.
It's been almost five years since Samsung released its Galaxy Fold phone, although initial reviews focused on the fragility of the screen. Since then, Apple may have been under competitive pressure, while Samsung has improved its design.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted a foldable iPhone launch in 2024, but other sources predict it will be announced in 2025. It's also possible that Apple plans to replace the iPad mini with a foldable iPad instead.
Assessing rumors
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