Apple’s iPhone 17 got here and went and whereas we actually love the iPhone 17 Pro and its vibrant cosmic orange shade, I can not assist however be disenchanted that the long-rumored foldable iPhone Flip wasn’t a part of the corporate’s September launch occasion. Most Android phone-makers, including Samsung, Google, Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Honor are a number of generations into their very own folding telephone lineups, and it is starting to really feel like Apple is late to the occasion. That is perhaps an issue. 

Apple dominates within the premium telephone class, however foldables — which match into the premium area by way of value — are already nipping at its heels, with Motorola telling CNET that 20% of shoppers shopping for its Razr foldable jumped ship from Apple. In the meantime, Samsung is within the seventh technology of its Flip and Fold collection. As Lisa Eadicicco found throughout a go to to Seoul, “foldables are everywhere” in Samsung’s house nation of South Korea.

With practically each main Android phone-maker coming into the foldable market, Apple dangers shedding potential clients. It additionally runs the chance of letting a rival like Samsung change into the go-to identify for foldables, which might make it more durable for Apple to make an influence if it will definitely launches its personal gadget. Moreover, early adopters drawn to foldable tech could also be too entrenched within the Android ecosystem by the point Apple’s telephone arrives to wish to swap to iOS.

Apple is unlikely to be apprehensive. It is estimated that round 20 million foldables from all producers have been bought worldwide in 2023, whereas Apple reportedly bought 26.5 million iPhone 14 Professional Max handsets within the first half of that yr alone. In 2024, foldable gross sales have been flat — and 2025 is not fairing a lot better, in line with analysts at CounterPoint Research, though Samsung did report record numbers of preorders for its newest foldable. Clearly, Apple feels it has but to overlook the boat.

Apple has all the time discovered success in biding its time, observing the trade and launching its personal tackle a product when it is prepared. Apple did not invent telephones, tablets, smartwatches or computer systems, but it surely discovered methods to take present merchandise and make them extra helpful, extra precious in day-to-day life and — dare I say — extra thrilling. It is why the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac traces dominate the market at the moment. 

For me, I have to see Apple’s tackle the foldable telephone. I’ve written earlier than about how disappointed I am in foldables. I have been a cell reporter for over 14 years and telephones have change into more and more boring as they’ve converged to change into slight variations on the identical rectangular slab. 

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Foldables promised something new, one thing revolutionary, one thing that briefly sparked some pleasure in me, however a number of years in, that pleasure has dwindled to the purpose of being extinguished. They’re superb merchandise and whereas I just like the novelty of a display that bends, they are not a revolution in how we work together with our telephones. Not in the way in which that the arrival of the touchscreen was after we have been nonetheless pushing buttons to sort out texts. 

I did hope that Google’s Pixel Fold could be the phone to catapult the foldable forward, and whereas the latest Pixel 10 Professional Fold — the second technology of Google’s foldable — does provide some nice updates, it nonetheless would not provide any sort of revolution. As a substitute, it feels extra like a “me too” transfer from Google. Ditto for the OnePlus Open. So I am left as an alternative to look towards Apple, an organization with a observe document for product revolutions, to create a brand new tackle the style that genuinely drives ahead how we use our telephones. 

That innovation will not simply come from the product design. Apple works carefully with its third-party software program builders, and it is that enter that will assist a folding iPhone change into genuinely helpful. My largest criticism round foldables proper now could be that whereas the {hardware} is first rate, the gadgets are basically simply operating customary variations of Android with a handful of UI tweaks thrown in. They’re common telephones that simply occur to bend. 

Few Android builders are embracing the folding format, and it isn’t troublesome to see why; the customers aren’t there in adequate numbers but to justify the time and expense to adapt their software program throughout a wide range of display sizes. The a number of folding codecs already accessible imply Android foldables face the identical fragmentation problem that has plagued the platform because the starting. Android-based foldables are merely a tougher platform for builders to construct for than common telephones. Apple would have the ability to change that, because it proved with the iPhone and iPad. 

Given Apple’s shut relationships with top-tier builders — to not point out its personal huge developer workforce — I anticipate an eventual Apple foldable to supply improvements that make it extra than simply an iPhone that folds in half. 

And I actually hope it does. I wish to stay up for tech launches once more. I wish to really feel excited to get a brand new gadget in my palms and really feel that “wow” second as I do one thing transformative for the primary time.

Briefly, I do not wish to be bored by know-how anymore. Apple, it is over to you.