Foldables are becoming a permanent part of the smartphone landscape, but it looks like Apple isn’t joining the ‘fold’ anytime soon. In a report from the DigiTimes seen by iMore, “A supply chain source revealed it has been developing foldable iPhones with Apple for years but has yet to start mass production. It added that the chances of launching a foldable iPhone in 2024 are slim.”
The report goes on further to say that iPhones are unlikely to be the first devices to feature a foldable screen, with the two most likely to be the iPad and MacBook lines. that factors in pretty well to what we’ve heard already, but in the face of Samsung’s latest product launch today it feels disappointing that Apple is so far behind in the space.
No foldables?
Apple’s most important device is the iPhone. DigiTimes report says that the device accounts for 54% of total revenue, and has been 50% of the company’s revenue since 2012. Those are some big numbers for any device, so you can see why Apple might be reluctant to completely change the way that it works.
Alas, that means that the iPhone 15 is going to stay foldless, instead having more incremental updates over the iPhone 14 that came before. It’s likely because Apple wants to make sure that the tech is ready, in its eyes at least, for release. At the moment, there are key issues with foldable that make them not quite up to scratch.
Deep crevasses along fold lines, unreliability in the thin glass that covers the display, and breakable hinges are all creases that Apple will want to iron out before it puts the tech on anything, whether that be a new MacBook, iPad or even iPhone. Until then, however, we’ll be stuck with plain, non-folding Apple tech.