Is the Foldable iPhone Something Anyone Really Needs?
One of Apple’s key tenets has been the company’s desire to keep evolving and expanding. When the company launched the first iPhone in 2007, it paved the way for a revolution in the mobile phone industry, leading the way to the touchscreens that most of us use every single day.
The fact that the company all but killed off its own product in the iPod by creating a device that could do the same as that and so much more didn’t hold them back, continuing to evolve the iPhone with each new iteration.
The iPhone Fold looks like it will be the next one out of the blocks, but is it something that anyone is actually asking for?
What it Could Be
When it comes to Apple, the company almost likes to ‘soft launch’ its new products by leaking information about them to some trusted sources. That is why we know a reasonably good amount about the iPhone Fold, even though it hasn’t actually been confirmed yet.
The handset has been being talked about for quite a long time now, almost from the moment that the first foldable smartphone was released and everyone just assumed that it was a road that Apple would inevitably go down. One thing you can say about the Steve Jobs-created company is that they like to take their time to make sure they get things right.
That is why the iPhone Fold, which is only an unofficial name, hasn’t been rushed onto the market. Many associated with the company might well have felt that the technology wasn’t there yet to be delivered with the level of quality that Apple customers have come to expect.
The likelihood is that it won’t be a phone as much as it will be something of a hybrid, being a phone in first appearance before changing to become tablet-like once it’s opened up. It won’t be amazing at both things, because that would kill off the iPhone and the iPad market at the same time, but it’s likely to be very, very good at each of them, hence its existence.
A Hybrid Device
The rumour mill is busy suggesting that the iPhone Fold will look and behave much like a standard iPhone when you’ve got it closed over, yet when it is opened up, the real fun can start. At the moment that you unfold the device, you will start to be able to engage in side-by-side multitasking, in much the same way that you currently can with the iPad.
In other words, if you’re heading somewhere where you’d like to have your iPad with you but you don’t want to have to actually take it for some reason, you can simply open up the iPhone Fold and start your work, having multiple apps open at the same time to be as productive as possible.
— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) March 9, 2026
The Samsung Galaxy Foldó already offers something similar, which is probably why Apple have decided to make the move in that direction; after all, the company won’t want people heading over to Android for something that Apple can offer themselves. How you actually interact with the device will likely depend entirely on how you’re using it, with the phone part of it requiring one approach and the tablet part needing you to work in another way.
The fact that the interface is going to be so different is a radical departure for a company that has tried to keep things as similar as possible from the moment the first iPhone launched.
Who it’s For
Obviously, the Apple fans and those that always need the latest tech will be quick to buy a foldable device from the company irrespective of whether they actually need one or not. For everyone else, there will be a degree of soul-searching to discover whether the change from an iPhone is one that you actually need to make.
The iPad mini is rumoured to be a good guide for the size of the iPhone Fold, meaning that it will boast an inner screen of about 7.8 inches. Are you someone who likes to work on the go but finds the iPhone screen just a touch too small for your needs? You might be exactly who can make use of this.
It is also likely that people who would like an iPhone and an iPad but who can’t afford both might be able to opt for this instead, using it for each device as and when they need to. There is little doubt that business people will almost certainly find the phone incredibly useful, but outside of that market it is difficult to see why other people would want to spend the money on it.
Students aren’t going to be able to work on it in the same way as they could a MacBook Neo, for example, whilst everyone else might well struggle to imagine a time in their everyday lives when they would need to unfold it and make use of it. Until it’s officially launched, that remains unclear.