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WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

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121–130 of 277 posts

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#121
post #95

> Starting price reportedly around $2,000. I'll guess it won't be a Vision Pro level disaster, but most people will skip this device unless the price drops substantially.

That’s the same MSRP as the Samsung foldable.

That's not exactly flying off the shelves. To be honest I'm not even sure if Samsung is making any money on the entire foldable lineup.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#122
Everyone I know over 70 would love something that works like a phone when folded but like a tablet unfolded -- big enough for text to be big, small enough to carry, and without fiddly interface -- and at a reasonable price for those anchored in 1980 prices.

(If those under 17 got attached to foldables, it would be an enduring franchise.)

For those of us in between, I'd love it if my foldable when unfolded were finally the OS of choice - iPadOS or iOS or even macOS. It would be the hub for hub-and-spoke devices...

It's an impossible ask, but perhaps....

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#123

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 t…

Careful what you wish for. Making devices easily repairable increases thickness.

Not neccesarily: https://www.ifixit.com/News/113171/iphone-air-teardown

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#124

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 t…

Opposite opinion. I have the Huawei trifold, and it's by far my favorite phone I've ever used. I'm typing this on that phone right now, half-unfolded to square mode.

I don't care that it is a few mm thicker than other phones when it's in my pocket. It's so much better than a regular phone for everything from reading books to writing email to watching YouTube, and it's also a slightly thicker regular phone. It also has a pretty good UI for moving apps to side-by-side mode, which I use so often that I'm 100% sure I will never go back to a regular phone.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#125
post #38
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Could be nostalgia for sure, but the issues you are describing were not anticipated or immediately obvious on initial launch (at least as far as I recall).

From what I have seen of folding screens today, they come with some significant trade offs (creases, wear, etc). Over time, I expect these to be solved, but I don't think folding screens are a luxury item today as much as they are a tech novelty. But, the cell phone market has kind of stagnated in terms of hardware, and it looks like folding screens might be the thing to drive some upgrade purchases. During the peak iphone growth phase I believe Apple would have labelled these screens as not ready yet, but today I think they risk losing market share and are potentially somewhat forced to build a folding iphone.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#126

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 t…

I guess a foldable phone that unfolds to be that large kind of competes/kills the market for iPad, so this kind of user probably expects to store the device in a bag instead of pocket, and use bluetooth / smartwatch / siri to interact hands free instead of pulling the phone out all the time.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#127
post #122

Everyone I know over 70 would love something that works like a phone when folded but like a tablet unfolded -- big enough for text to be big, small enough to carry, and without fiddly interface -- and at a reasonable price for those anchored in 1980 prices. (If those under 17 got attached to foldables, it would be an enduring franchise.) For those of us in between, I'd love it if my foldable when unfolded were finall…

The OS of choice may be an “impossible” ask from Apple. However with the Neo running on the A18 I don’t think we’re far from seeing something along those lines.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But carrying an ipad mini and a phone is not that big a deal. For you maybe, but for most it is, or we'd all be doing it.

Or not. Some of us are okay with phones the size they are so we are not tempted to stare at them even more.

Some of us wish minis were still be made.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#129

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 t…

It's definitely not due to running out of ideas. I have a Galaxy Fold and love it. I owned it for about two months before my wife went out and bought one for herself. And everywhere I go people want to look at it and play with it - quite remarkable. I haven't encountered any issues with apps not supporting the wider aspect ratio. It's one of those cases in which Android's up-front investment in more flexible software…

Think it'll last 5 years? I don't strongly care one way or the other about the form factor, but if it's more expensive, less durable, and has a worse camera, then I'm perfectly happy to have a one-piece phone.

Re: WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

#130

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 t…

It's definitely not due to running out of ideas. I have a Galaxy Fold and love it. I owned it for about two months before my wife went out and bought one for herself. And everywhere I go people want to look at it and play with it - quite remarkable. I haven't encountered any issues with apps not supporting the wider aspect ratio. It's one of those cases in which Android's up-front investment in more flexible software…

Electric car drivers have range anxiety, and I assume foldable phone users have fold anxiety. Do the OS integrate some counter versus Mean Folds to Failure?
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