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Iphone Cellphones Apple

A Folding iPhone Could Be Coming In 2023 (theverge.com) 40

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple could be launching a folding iPhone in 2023, and that the phone could have a screen between 7.5 and eight inches. The Verge reports: There have been numerous reports about Apple prototyping a folding iPhone, but according to MacRumors, Kuo says that the product has "not yet officially kicked off." According to Kuo, the screen will be iPad Mini-sized when folded out, so it seems as if Apple is going for the Galaxy Fold approach of having a regular-sized phone that folds out into a small tablet, rather than the Z Flip or Razr approach of having a compact folding phone. (This is a bummer to me, but it seems like the folding phablet approach is the most popular at the moment.) It's unclear who would be making those folding displays -- there have been rumors of Apple working with both LG and Samsung.

While the rumors of a prototype and this report from Kuo indicate that Apple is indeed working on a folding phone, it's not something to wait around for just yet. Kuo's 2023 launch date is dependent on Apple being able to figure out "key technology and mass production issues." As we've seen, folding phones can be hard to get right. If Apple can do it, though, it could be in the position to do what it does best: adopt a technology after other companies have figured out the bugs and pitfalls, and release a product that seems polished in comparison.

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A Folding iPhone Could Be Coming In 2023

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  • Meh. Why bother? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @06:03PM (#61117592) Homepage Journal

    You know what I want in my next phone? A headphone jack and USB-C. If I want a tablet, I'll carry a tablet.

    • This is crazy talk. Next you'll be asking for Touch ID
    • You know what I want in my next phone? A headphone jack and USB-C.

      Yes, but the real danger is having the courage to also want a removable battery... Which leads to wanting root access and the obvious pandemonium incarnate necessarily brought forth when one dabbles in such things. Yes, Umm hmm, sireee, status quo is the place to be.

      • You know what I want in my next phone? A headphone jack and USB-C.

        Yes, but the real danger is having the courage to also want a removable battery... Which leads to wanting root access and the obvious pandemonium incarnate necessarily brought forth when one dabbles in such things. Yes, Umm hmm, sireee, status quo is the place to be.

        It's reminiscent of the minute innovations in technology they have to make in other industries to sell you a new shiny when your old one still carries battery life throughout the day.

        Look, the new phone folds, just like Scully's and Mulder's, back when opening a phone with a wrist flip was still cool AF.

        On another timeline, look what's back in fashion! Where are my high-waisted jeans?

        I hope yoga pants stay fashionable as long as jeans, by the way.

      • by yagmot ( 7519124 )

        If Apple would make the battery removable, and in doing so also make the case thicker so that the camera bump is no more, I'd be one happy camper.

        I get the feeling that as the right to repair laws gain traction elsewhere in the world, we'll see removable batteries again before too long.

    • I like gadgets too... but I'm not too hot for a folding phone.
    • The headphone jack is for 2027.
    • Add to that a fingerprint feature... with a bit of luck, the new iPhone will be the 6s...
      • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Yeah, fair. I forgot they had dropped the fingerprint reader. Face ID is kind of useless right now. :-)

    • I want room-filling surround sound on my next phone.

  • ...in the back-pocket of a non-stretch jeans and it will fold like a cheap suit.

    • A phone is not a wallet and doesn't belong in your back pocket. Maybe you could wear a sports jacket and keep it in the inside pocket.

  • by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @06:12PM (#61117626)
    You're bending it wrong excuses in 3..2..1
  • It's amazing how they continue to invent things that already exist. I fully expect them to invent some new thing like VR goggles any day now.

    • It's amazing how they continue to invent things that already exist. I fully expect them to invent some new thing like VR goggles any day now.

      Between TFA and TFS the only place the word "invent" appears is in your useless post.

      • Lighten up, Frances. I was mainly commenting on how dumb Apple fans are and they are the ones who don't know something exists until Apple "invents" the shit out of it.

        As much as the dorky dweeb tech dinosaurs on this site hate Microsoft, I hate Apple so settle down.

    • It's amazing how they continue to invent things that already exist

      It's amazing how Apple Haters claim *Apple claims* they invented things, which they never do (unless they did).

      What Apple does is refine ideas until they work really well, before they release them. Then Apple claims to make the best implementation, which at that point is genially correct as they spent many years thinking about and refining ideas based on experimental products from other companies.

      That is all Apple does, yet Apple Haters will

      • I like Apple, Mac IIx, lightning fast at 16Mhz...

        However, we should give Apple credit for inventing real lockdown on home computing. Nobody does it better

      • It's not necessarily Apple who makes the claims, it's their numb-nuts fanboys who don't know any better until Apple comes out with it.
        • Where are these hypothetical fanboys? The only place I ever see them make an appearance is in Slashdot comments complaining about their hypothetical reaction to a (sometimes also hypothetical) Apple product release.
      • Ah yes, sloppy Ken Doll. Getting things wrong since 1990.
        Apple has been claiming they invented things they didn't since the 80's

        I was an Apple apologist right up until they trotted out the iPhone and the "walled garden"tm

        Now you couldn't pay me to purchase/use their products.
        I'd try to correct you but your comment history tells me you are pigheaded and arrogant so I'll save myself the trouble.
    • Where are you seeing the claim they invited this? They didn’t invent the mp3 player either but look at the success of the iPod.

    • "It's amazing how they continue to invent things that already exist. I fully expect them to invent some new thing like VR goggles any day now."

      Pssst, don't tell anybody, they are going to invent the car!

  • I'm holding onto my 6S through multiple battery replacements until it dies (or more likely, until Apple forcefully obsoletes it).
    • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      You, me, and about 12% of iOS users, between that and the 6s Plus.

    • I don't blame you. What will kill your phone though is when they retire 4G cell towers. I was perfectly happy with a cheap plastic clamshell phone that was 2G, but they killed all the 2G towers so I had to change. Then that phone, which was 3G, was no longer going to be useful, so I had to change it yet again. The current cheap clamshell phone is 4G, but the same applies to me: when they kill off the 4G towers for 5G, it'll be obsolete again. That's where they really get you.
  • It is the latest in a line of gimmicks that causes way more issues than it attempts to solve.
  • Because they all curve eventually in my back pocket. A slightly concaved screen can also be held right up to your eyes while you cross the road totally oblivious to the outside world.
  • Twisting, bending and stretching. That would be cool.

  • Folding screen? Gimme a real f’in rental display with a grid of electrodes surgically implanted directly onto my optic disk. The surgery would be as painless as it is useful, though probably best done young so you can grow into it. Apple is really sitting on the pot when it comes to crafting a black mirroresque dystopia.
  • I would totally give people a hard time for carrying a Fruit Roll Up.

  • Can you fold it more than 7 times?
  • When you fold something, anything, the material bunches and when you unfold, it leaves a crease/seam. If someone could come up with a screen which is semi-liquid so it "flows" into a flat surface suitable for touching but doesn't leave a seam once folded, that will be the breakthrough.

  • All the exciting stuff that matters abotu who Apple sin;t going to make a car with and now the hot news for nerds about phones that may possibly be produced in 2 yearsthat will fold just like other phones did 2 years ago.

    Editors, we are truly blessed.

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