WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding • Hacker News Board

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#31

Post by MisterTea » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:44 PM UTC

nsbk wrote: post #7

nemomarx wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if they can get the hinge working better it might improve the category at least. You'd expect Apple to do well at manufacturing for that kinda stuff

Agree, their "innovations" usually involve taking an existing concept or idea and executing it better. Hopefully they can pull that off and raise the bar for foldable electronics

They also buy a lot of their innovations. See Intrinsity, a fabless semi company Apple bought which lead to their Mobile Arm chips and eventually the M series.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#32

Post by csande17 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

jitl wrote: post #22

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gives me a headache. How could anyone look at it and think it doesn't need to change?

current view transition stack on ios was built for static transition between two well know layouts, like portrait to landscape rotation change. i would like live reflow too but i suspect 99% of existing apps aren’t ready to reflow at 120hz when they’ve been written around tween(start layout, end layout) style for decades

UIKit apps can already resize fluidly on Mac Catalyst and iPadOS. I suspect the issue here is more related to the video encoding / streaming used for iPhone Mirroring.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#33

Post by m463 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

baal80spam wrote: post #6

Holy mother of clickbait titles.

I think OP might want to change title of article:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#34

Post by ge96 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

drcongo wrote: post #5

I can't imagine they'd release a crappy folding thing like the Samsung, I think it's more likely to be effectively dual-screen that can be unfurled into something where the two screens are side by side.

The triple folding phone is interesting to me but I still am not at the point where I feel comfortable having a $2K phone. Where you can get a Motorolla with 12GB of RAM for $80

I mention RAM as Android with 4GB of ram is almost unusable.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#35

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:48 PM UTC

mohsen1 wrote: post #30

A foldable iPhone will definitely solve one of the biggest problems at Apple. Foldable phones won't last 5-10 years. I can see Apple making all iPhone offerings foldable down the road

[deleted]

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#36

Post by afavour » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

rjh29 wrote: post #10

I've gone all the way around and came back. The Samsung Fold was awesome and convenient. But carrying an ipad mini and a phone is not that big a deal. It's quite nice that the ipad mini does not have whatsapp or SMS plugged into it, so I can use it exclusively for reading books or playing music. The cost of the iPad Mini + my phone was like $600 and the folds - even the 6th gen and above - are super unreliable, so ri…

> It's quite nice that the ipad mini does not have whatsapp or SMS plugged into it, so I can use it exclusively for reading books or playing music.

Eh, iOS has profiles that let you disable whatever apps you wish to. Better than a whole other piece of hardware, IMO

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#37

Post by m463 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

nemomarx wrote: post #3

nsbk wrote: post #2

Peak Apple "innovation" incoming!

Hey, if they can get the hinge working better it might improve the category at least. You'd expect Apple to do well at manufacturing for that kinda stuff

folding butterfly keyboard on a folding phone would be a real comeback.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#38

Post by rafram » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #18

rafram wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current foldables are fragile, require a built-in plastic screen protector, and have a visible crease. Apple is very unlikely to be willing to accept those compromises. We'll see, but I think their entry into the field will change things.

15 years ago, I would agree that Apple might not have been willing to accept those kinds of issues. I'm not sure about the Apple of today. That is not a slight against any Apple leadership, but I do feel that, for a variety of reasons, the level of minimum QC has notched back a bit in the pursuit of marketshare.

Sure this isn't just nostalgia / rose-tinted glasses speaking? In the 2010s, Apple shipped MacBooks with GPUs that fried themselves to death, and iPhones that bent in your pocket and lost cell signal if you held them wrong. Today's Apple does have some software quality issues, but their hardware is the best it's ever been.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#39

Post by tom1337 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

I don't think I get foldable phones. When is the extra space necessary? I mean most of them turn from a somewhat 9:16 aspect ratio to 1:1. You don't earn anything in space to consume media content. The only real improvement might be for multitasking?

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#40

Post by game_the0ry » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 2:51 PM UTC

Not a fan of foldables, if I am honest. Just a personal opinion. I do not like the it feels in the pocket bc the device needs to double its thickness when folding over.

When a mobile device manufacturer (samsung, hauwei, now apple) makes a foldable, I get the impression they're running out of ideas with the "slate" form factor and are trying to stimulate sales.

Personally, I would want that R&D spend and innovation to go to more sustainable materials, longer lasting devices, and easily repairable parts to extend the devices useful life.