Tag Archives: folding smartphone

Samsung triple foldable phone rumor hints at a 2024 launch

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Foldable smartphones are an attempt at solving an old problem with two diametrically opposed goals. On the one hand, people want large screens that give them enough space for their content, from videos to social media to even work. On the other hand, they still want a device they can conveniently carry around, especially inside their pockets. Today’s generation of foldable phones similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold deliver a phone that does transform into a tablet, but the latter is admittedly still a small piece of screen real estate, even smaller than the iPad mini. Having a regular tablet-sized display requires drastically changing the design and construction of a foldable phone, which isn’t exactly easy to pull off, judging by the current state of foldables. That’s not to say that manufacturers haven’t been working on a feasible solution, and Samsung itself might be ready to unveil its answer this year to beat one of its rivals to the punch.

Designer: Samsung (via @Tech_Reve)

The current design of foldable phones has never been the endgame. If you reference Samsung’s concept video back in 2013, you will realize its ambitions go beyond this simple foldable design. A phone that unfolds into a tablet would definitely need more than just one fold, and the company’s display manufacturing arm has been working on such a screen for years now. In fact, it demonstrated in 2022 how close it was to an actually usable form, suggesting that such a device is not only plausible but might even be just around the corner.

A new rumor adds fuel to speculations that Samsung might, in fact, announce this “Flex S” triple foldable phone this year, maybe even alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6. Samsung might be in a rush to push out this revolutionary new device due to rumors that long-time rival Huawei also has a tri-fold phone that it will be launching in the second half of 2024. Unsurprisingly, Samsung wouldn’t want Huawei to claim the title of “first,” even if the Chinese brand has extremely limited market reach these days.

A triple folding phone, under the prototype name of “Flex S,” will drastically change the game when it comes to foldables. Not only will it offer a much larger screen in tablet form, it also allows the collapsed phone form to retain a wider aspect ratio, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold designs so far. At the same time, it also offers new modes of use for the device, from a tent-like stand mode to a unique laptop mode that’s like having a mini dual-screen laptop.

That said, haste always makes waste and Samsung should have already learned its lesson five years ago. Even after years of R&D, the first Samsung Galaxy Fold (no “Z” in the name yet) was plagued with problems, especially when it came to reliability. Given how a new tri-fold design will once again test the durability of flexible screens, there will be even more risks and costs this time around. And with Huawei’s limited presence in global markets, Samsung has no need to be afraid of not being the first, but that has never stopped any company from rushing out a product launch anyway.

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Wider, more ergonomic Samsung foldable phone might be in the works

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Samsung might be one of the pioneers of the whole foldable phone craze, but the disadvantage of being the first is that you risk getting things wrong the first time around. In contrast, hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and many of its competitors have used that advantage to catch up and even overtake Samsung at its own game. Of course, the tech giant isn’t content to just sit around while others outrun it, and it has been catching up with “innovations” like a hinge that lets the phone fold flat. Now it seems that Samsung will be catching up in another aspect, with a Galaxy Z Fold that’s a little bit wider when folded and, therefore, easier to use as a regular phone.

Designer: Samsung (via Pigtou and David Kowalski/xleaks7)

To be fair, Samsung was sailing on uncharted waters, so it was bound to miss a few marks. For its inaugural foldable phone, Samsung aimed for a tablet that was like a mini iPad mini or, closer to home, a smaller Galaxy Tab A, which meant it adopted a vertical or portrait format when unfolded. That meant it would have an extremely narrow phone when folded, which was heavily criticized for being awkward to hold and nearly unusable as a regular “candy bar” smartphone.

In contrast, foldable phones like the OPPO Find N and the Google Pixel Fold aimed for a more “traditional” horizontal or landscape tablet design, which had a few direct benefits in terms of consuming content like videos or even books. More importantly, however, it also meant that the folded form of the phone more closely resembles regular smartphones with a wider and sometimes shorter design. In over five generations, Samsung has never changed its design on that front, but that might not be the case with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 or later models.

OPPO Find N3

OPPO Find N2

Vivo X Fold 2

Google Pixel Fold

A recent patent filed by Samsung reveals a foldable design that is significantly different from its status quo in more ways than one. First, it is noticeably wider when folded, giving it a shape that will feel more natural to use compared to the recent crop of Galaxy Z Fold models. Additionally, it’s also significantly thinner, both folded and opened, which would go a long way in increasing the usability of an otherwise heavy and bulky device. In other words, it would be the foldable that Samsung should have launched in the first place if it had the benefit of hindsight five years ago.

Of course, a patent doesn’t immediately mean it will be implemented, whether in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 or future incarnations. It is at least proof that Samsung is aware of the shortcomings of its current design and is taking steps to correct its course. It would definitely be grand if it could launch such a sleek foldable this year, but such a thin design would also go against calls for bigger batteries or a built-in S Pen. For now, other brands still have an advantage over Samsung in some aspects, including and especially the price of such a premium piece of technology.

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The limited-edition Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Retro is inspired by the classic SGH-E700 flip phone

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The clamshell-like Galaxy Z Flip5 is an interesting device, combining modern smartphone specs and features with a holistic design approach that heavily borrows elements of flip phones from the early 2000s. It’s also the best of its class, thanks in part to very little competition from Apple — but also because of its robust internals, like a primary 1080×2640 AMOLED display (collapsing into a 720×748 front display when closed), a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, and a 3700 mAh battery.

As of October 30, Samsung announced a limited-edition version of the Galaxy Z Flip5, called the Galaxy Z Flip5 Retro, and it looks peculiarly like 20-year-old SGH-E700, which launched around the same time as (and was ultimately overshadowed by) the behemoth Nokia 1100. Still, as Samsung’s first mobile phone containing an antenna, the SGH-E700 was a triumph in cellphone design for its time, and it’s celebrated in the stylized Galaxy Z Flip5 Retro, which sports the original SGH-E700’s indigo blue and silver color scheme.

Designer: Samsung

The tributary Flip5 Retro also comes with an interface makeover which itself is a throwback to the SGH-E700’s stock interface, complete with the blue lettering on the Flex Window that you can even show off alongside a pixel-art animation of a city skyline punctuated by shooting stars streaming across the night sky. It’s awfully pretty looking, and it’s certainly reminiscent of 16-bit screen savers and mobile games that were playable on cell phones in the early 2000s.

It sounds like the Flip5 Retro is shipped in a package containing several extra goodies, including: “three Flipsuit cards featuring logos from different eras of Samsung’s history, a Flipsuit case and a collector card engraved with a unique serial number that will add to the product’s collectible value for purchasing customers.”

Unfortunately for those of us in the United States, there is no planned launch window for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Retro over here. It’s also not exactly clear how “limited” the limited edition release will be, as Samsung has yet to disclose how many will be produced. You may still be lucky enough to nab one for yourself from the Samsung online store at the Flip5 Retro’s MSRP (roughly $1,240) if you’re in the UK or Australia, where shipments are set to go out on November 1 — or, if you’re in Spain, Germany, or Korea, where shipments are set to go out on November 2.

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Top foldable smartphone designs in 2023

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Flippable and foldable smartphones are taking mobile phones where no mobile phone has gone… since the year 2007, when flip phones were still in vogue, and owning an iPhone was considered an unimaginable luxury for normal, tech unsavvy people. In 2023, things are coming full circle and we’re now seeing smartphones that mimic flip phones or double as foldable tablets.

Folding smartphones are more stylish than the conventional brick-shaped smartphone design, and even though they’re relatively new to the market, there are already a few great options as more manufacturers enter the foldable smartphone race – if you’re an Android user, that is. News about iPhone Flip is still slim, but you don’t have to wait to upgrade. Here are the top foldable smartphone designs you can find in 2023.

1. Galaxy Z Fold 5

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is widely considered the most powerful, feature-rich foldable smartphone on the market. It ties with the Google Pixel Fold for being the most expensive at $1799.99, but its 6.2 inch cover AMOLED 2x display (and 7.6 inch tablet display) are rated for brightness levels of up to 1750 nits at resolutions of 904 x 2316 and 1812 x 2176, respectively. That’s all possible because of its internal Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU and 4400 mAh battery. Much like other leading Samsung smartphones, it comes with support for the S Pen stylus that makes multitasking and precise interactions far simpler.

It also packs in 12 gigs of RAM, up to 1 TB of storage space (via the Samsung website), and a triple rear camera system with a 50 megapixel main sensor, 12 megapixel ultrawide, and a 10 megapixel telephoto lens.

Buy it now on Amazon

2. Google Pixel Fold

If you’re specifically looking for a powerful smartphone that also doubles as a tablet – but you aren’t sold on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 – you should also consider the Google Pixel Fold. It uses OLED displays, but it’s a little more compact than the former with a cover display size of 5.8 inches (2092×1080 resolution) and a tablet display size of 7.6 inches (2208×1840 resolution). It’s darker than the Z Fold 5, given that its peak brightness is 1450 nits, however, it has a slightly more powerful 4821 mAh battery to keep it powered longer. This is useful in Extreme Battery Saver mode, which supposedly lets you keep your Pixel Fold awake for up to 72 hours on a single charge.

Its Google Tensor G2 processor and 12 GB RAM make it similar in power to its immediate competitor, but it features a cleaner implementation of Android which makes it feel more buttery smooth in action. Unfortunately, its MSRP of $1919 makes it the least affordable of the bunch.

Buy it now on Amazon

3. Galaxy Z Flip 5

Flippable smartphones are more approachable to the average user, both in cost effectiveness and portability. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 phone is the best flippable smartphone around, thanks to its robust feature set and immaculate build quality. Both its 3.4 inch cover and 6.7 inch portrait display use AMOLED screens with 720×748 and 1080×2640 resolutions, meaning you can do a lot with the tiny cover screen and see it all with excellent sharpness and clarity.

It’s not going to compete in raw power with the foldable phones I talked about earlier, but its compact build size means it doesn’t need to. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 3700 mAh battery, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, and 8 gigs of RAM. It can still be equipped with up to 512 GB of internal storage, and its 12 MP rear cameras produce crisp and clean photos.

Buy it now on Amazon

4. Motorola Razr+

The classic Motorola Razr was one of the most iconic flip phones during the heyday of flip phones, and now it’s returned as the Motorola Razr+ (or Motorola Razr Plus, or Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, depending who you ask). This powerful little smartphone uses a 3.6 inch cover display (1066×1056) and a 6.9 inch pOLED vertical display (2640×1080). It uses a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU and a 3800 mAh battery with 8 gigs of RAM. It can store up to 256 gigs internally, and its selfie camera captures photos at 32 megapixels.

Buy it now on Amazon

5. OPPO Find N3 Fold

The OPPO Find N3 Fold is a powerful foldable smartphone that is especially useful to photographers because of its 48 MP rear camera, 64 MP ultrawide camera, and 64 MP telephoto camera. It sits just shy of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in terms of cost with an MSRP of roughly $1745, but it hits the sweet spot with its 4800 mAh battery that can power its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU. Its 7.8 inch main AMOLED display is impressive with a resolution of 2240×2268, which looks great with games and action-heavy videos like live sports with its 120 Hz refresh rate.

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OnePlus Open is a foldable smartphone with a cinematic display, but it’ll cost you

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Foldable smartphones (like the OPPO Find N3, which we loved) are filtering into the high-end smartphone marketplace, tying together the best parts of mobile computing. When you buy a foldable phone in lieu of a regular smartphone, you’re essentially getting two devices in one: a smartphone that can instantly double its screen space, and a tablet that can instantly halve its size to fit in your pocket.

OnePlus is the latest smartphone maker to release its own foldable smartphone, called the OnePlus Open. Reviewers seem to agree that it comes with a good collection of attention-grabbing features… tied to a less exciting $1699.99 price point and several unfortunate shortcomings. But it’s still accurate to say the OnePlus Open represents another step forward, further solidifying an industry-wide push toward foldable phones – a step which even Apple hasn’t taken yet, given that its rumored iPhone Flip still doesn’t have a concrete release window.

Designer: OnePlus

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The most striking feature of the new OnePlus Open folding smartphone is its dual 2k 120 Hz fluid AMOLED ProXDR displays. The cover display alone measures up to 6.31 inches and uses a 20:9 aspect ratio, but opening up the cover display and deploying OnePlus Open’s tablet mode reveals a much larger 7.82 inch form factor when the two displays sit side-by-side.

What’s impressive here, however, is the phone’s max brightness of 2800 nits, paired with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos integration. That makes the OnePlus Open a portable home theatre that rivals many modern high-end televisions in every way but size.

The entire thing seems sturdily built, with ceramic guard shielding surrounding the cover display. When the device is fully deployed in tablet mode, it’s protected by “Ultra-Thin Glass that sits above the flexi OLED, a layer TPU for shielding against physical impact, and an anti-reflection screen protector to reduce everyday wear and tear.”

The Hasselblad triple-camera system is packed full of sensors, including a primary 48 megapixel SONY LYTIA-T808, a 64 megapixel telephoto camera with 6x lossless optical zoom, and a 48 megapixel ultra-wide sensor. There are also two front cameras: a 20 MP selfie cam in tablet mode and a 32 MP selfie cam on the cover display. Hasselblad Portrait Mode seems like a major draw for photographers working in low light conditions, and according to OnePlus, “the revolutionary cameras work in tandem to deliver DSLR-level depth-tracking, bokeh and flare effects captured by Hasselblad cameras fitted with XCD 3,5/30, 2,8/65 and 2,5/90V lenses.”

That’s a lot of gear to keep protected from the elements, which is why it’s disappointing that the device’s water resistance rating of IPX4 means it is unprotected from full immersion in water, and is less dust resistant than other devices with a higher rating. That makes it slightly less competitive with other foldable smartphones like the Google Pixel Fold.

The OnePlus Open is now available for pre-order in the United States and Canada via the official OnePlus website, Amazon, and Best Buy, with phones officially shipping out on October 26. It starts in two colors: Voyager Black and Emerald Dusk, and you can now pre-order it for $1699.99 USD or $2299.99 CAD, though OnePlus offers an additional $200 trade-in discount.

Click Here to Buy Now

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OnePlus Open foldable phone renders paint a better, more realistic picture

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Last month’s big Samsung event attempted to remind people that foldable phones are here to stay. While the fancy and hip Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the one making headlines, large foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 are still the first thing that comes to mind when people talk about this kind of form factor. Of course, Samsung is no longer the only game in town either, and OnePlus even boldly made that fact known right at the start of Samsung’s device launch with an equally bold name. While most brands, Google included, focused on how these devices fold down, OnePlus might have chosen the name “Open” to send a very different message. That said, the OnePlus One’s design might not be completely different from what we’ve seen before, but it seems that there will be some big changes that will set this phone apart, at least visually.

Designer: Steve Hemmerstoffer/OnLeaks (via SmartPrix)

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard or even seen what is allegedly the OnePlus foldable, with inklings and leaks already trickling down for months. Back then, it was christened the OnePlus V Fold, more in line with the naming convention of foldable phones. It also had a fairly typical tall design, with a circular camera bump that’s becoming a norm on foldables other than Samsung. In all honesty, the images felt more like a rehash than the daring character that OnePlus often paints for itself. Fortunately, that’s not going to be the case it seems.

A fresh batch of renders shows a design that diverges from the older ones in important ways. The biggest difference is the aspect ratio, now wider when folded and more horizontal when unfolded. This puts its closer to the design of the OPPO Find N2, but these cousins are far from being twins. The OnePlus Open, should that be truly its name, has very flat edges, though its outer rounded corners are more pronounced. Although the inner corners near the hinge are still angular, the screen and back cover are cut to be curved, giving the illusion of rounded corners that make the entire design more symmetrical.

The camera design has also shifted, both inside and outside. The internal selfie camera moved from the left corner to the right corner, a more natural spot for it, while the circular camera bump is now larger and thicker. The latter could hint at an upgrade in specs, especially with an unknown sensor sitting below the Hasselblad “H” logo, speculated to be a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor. There’s still a faux leather cover on that side, though it’s unknown whether there will be other options without this material.

Internally, the OnePlus Open is expected to have the staple high-end components, so it will be battling Samsung and other brands in terms of design, overall experience, and camera performance. OnePlus will surely play up the “Open” name, but it remains to be seen if its first foldable phone will have the same groundbreaking impact that the OnePlus One had which catapulted the brand into stardom.

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OnePlus V Fold leaked renders show a large foldable phone with a Hasselblad camera system

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With a launch date set for sometime this year, OnePlus might just be the last major Android brand jumping into the foldable space… but like they say, it’s more important to do it right than to do it first.

OnePlus isn’t one to shy from innovation. They’ve made phones with electrochromic glass, they even designed a fluid cooling system into the OnePlus 11 Concept which debuted at MWC this year, and the phone maker is now ready to debut their first foldable, allegedly dubbed the OnePlus V Fold. Set for a launch sometime this year, the V Fold features the same book-like folding style of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, the Oppo Find N2, and the Google Pixel Fold. Thanks to these rendered images based on leaks provided to Smartprix and OnLeaks, we have a pretty detailed look at the upcoming foldable, along with a few strong speculations on the hardware front too.

Designers: OnLeaks & Smartprix

Based on the phone’s folding format, it will feature a primary folding screen and a full-size secondary screen on the front, prompting folded as well as unfolded use. As has been the case with a lot of OnePlus phones in the past, this device will have a camera system powered in collaboration with Hasselblad, and even though the circular camera bump feels a lot like the one on the OnePlus 11, there’s a slight deviation in the form of an offset flash module that sits on the top left corner. The camera setup is rumored to include a 50MP main camera and a telephoto lens for periscope zoom functionality. The phone is speculated to have two selfie cameras, both rumored at 32MP each. The back looks to be made from faux leather, giving the phone a premium touch along with that extra bit of grip needed to hold the hefty device. After all, nobody likes dropping their phone, especially when it’s an expensive foldable.

Based on credible rumors, the V Fold will sport a 2K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a triple-speaker setup for stereo audio. The phone itself is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or an upgraded Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset, alongside a 4800mAh battery with 100W SuperVOOC charging.

Given OnePlus’ close association with OPPO, the phone is also expected to sport the Flexion metal hinge seen in OPPO’s Find N2. This unique hinge helped the smartphone have a smaller, slimmer design and it’s speculated that the OnePlus V Fold will benefit from that bit of innovation too. While the faux leather back seems to be a pretty distinct part of the phone, the V Fold will probably come with regular glass variants too (yet another design detail taken from the OPPO playbook).

A close look at OnLeaks’ renders shows the reappearance of the beloved alert slider, whose disappearance in the OnePlus 10 created quite an uproar in the community. While the alert slider makes its way back to the phone, the power button is also expected to have a fingerprint sensor built into it, circumventing the need for a fingerprint sensor underneath the display. Whether this is accepted by the OnePlus fan base is yet to be determined.

The OnePlus V Fold is expected to launch in Q3 this year, with a focus on sales in India, China, and the US. The price, meanwhile, is yet to be determined, although given the OPPO Find N2’s $1050 price tag upon launch, expect the OnePlus V Fold to start in the $1,000 ballpark.

Image Credits: OnLeaks & Smartprix

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Pixel Fold officially announced by Google with a 10th May launch date

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Fold is Gold!

Most smartphone companies try to keep their flagship products (or any product really) under wraps in the hopes of a big reveal on the day of its launch. Not Google. If you politely ask them, they’ll just leak their own design to you like they did with the Pixel 4 back in 2019. Or maybe they’ll pre-emptively announce phones 6 months too soon like they did with the Pixel 7’s design during last year’s I/O. This time, it seems Google didn’t even WAIT for I/O, and decided to just casually drop the Pixel Fold announcement on Twitter. Set for a May 10 release, the Fold is Google’s first foray into the foldables market, following mostly Asian companies like Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Motorola. The design is exactly what we’re expecting, following the book-shaped folding format seen on the Galaxy Z Fold series from Samsung. There’s no official word on any of the details and specs, although this short 8-second video tells us a lot about what to expect. It’s got over 200K views so far, although whether that translates to sales is an entirely different argument.

Designer: Google

Images of the Pixel Fold leaked earlier this week as prominent leakster Evan Blass shared them on Twitter. While these renders gave a pretty detailed view of the Pixel Fold’s design and even its screen layout and software elements, the confirmation finally came from Google’s team today as they shared the most comprehensive look at the phone yet. The 8-second video above shows a stunning-looking foldable with a dual-screen, 3-lens camera bump, and what feels like the slimmest hinge on any foldable yet.

The Pixel Fold’s interior screen features a slim black bezel, rather than an edge-to-edge display. The folding screen appears to have Android widgets and user interface elements that have been optimized for the larger screen size. It’s likely that the adaptive Android elements will be showcased during the Pixel Fold’s reveal.

It’s important to note, however, that foldable phones typically come with a higher price point than traditional smartphones. While Google has yet to release any official information on the price or specs of this device, it’s safe to assume that it will be significantly more expensive than their non-folding Pixel models.

While the public response to foldables in general has been incredibly tepid globally (folding phones seem to have only truly breached Asian markets), the reactions on Twitter seem overwhelmingly positive, as users are falling in love with the short snippet. Fair warning, though… rendered videos are never an indication of what a product will actually look like. The Pixel 7, although glamorous online, has shown signs of wear and tear with parts of the metallic casing of the camera bump being subject to scuffs, scratches, and even dents. At the end of 2022, some Pixel 7 users also reported that the glass in front of their camera lens randomly shattered without any warning. We’re yet to see what the Pixel Fold turns out like – so far we have no details aside from a launch date and a sign-up page on Google’s store webfront.

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Actual prototype unit confirms exactly what the upcoming Google Pixel Fold will look like

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YouTuber Dave2D got his hands on a dummy unit of the alleged Pixel Fold and here’s everything we know… and feel.

First off, this isn’t even scandalous anymore, given that Google has perhaps the worst track record when it comes to keeping upcoming smartphones a secret. Last year, the company prematurely revealed what the Pixel 7 would look like just for kicks, months before the phone actually launched… so when I see a YouTuber talking about ‘credible leaks’ of Google’s next product, my best bet is that they’re as credible as it comes! Anyway, earlier last year Jon Prosser debuted renders of the highly-anticipated Pixel Fold device, and it seems like Dave2D’s latest video confirms everything we know. Google IS indeed working on a folding Pixel smartphone with an inward-facing foldable display. Although just a 3D-printed dummy unit, Dave2D’s prototype is surprisingly slim, and has a shorter, stouter form factor, similar to Oppo’s Find N2 device.

Designer: Google

The dummy unit doesn’t really reveal much apart from the bare-bones design of the phone, but it’s enough to piece together a fair bit of information. When placed alongside the Pixel 7 Pro, the Pixel Fold is relatively shorter, making it easier to hold and operate with a single hand. When compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, the Pixel Fold is MUCH more ergonomic, letting your thumb reach parts of the screen that you couldn’t with Samsung’s foldable. The device also has a new camera bump design, going for something more pronounced like the iPhone’s camera bump, unlike the Pixel’s curved bumper design. All indications show that the Pixel Fold will have the same 3-lens camera unit like the 7 Pro, although the flashlight seems to have migrated to the left of the lenses for some odd reason.

Perhaps the most interesting detail here is the screen, which Dave2D mocked up in post-production to reveal what the Pixel Fold’s actual screen sizes and resolutions will most likely be. The outer screen is expected to have a hole-punch camera, while the insides reveal thicker bezels on the top and bottom, and a camera built right into the upper bezel.

Closeup of the internal single-lens camera setup

Dave2D also speculates that aside from mimicking the Oppo Find N2’s smaller form factor, the Google Pixel Fold will have a similar hinge detail too, that causes the screen to recede inwards when folded shut, causing it to assume a more natural water-drop shape that gives it a longer life while minimizing the crease that tends to form with foldable displays.

A USB-C port on the bottom comes as no surprise, although there isn’t any word on wireless charging capabilities

Although there’s no official word from Google, we could expect the Pixel Fold as early as this year, alongside the Pixel 8 launch, or probably even sooner when Google officially announces the Pixel 7A. The Pixel Fold is also expected to cost an eye-watering $1700, although I’d probably hold my wallet if I were you. Given the company’s track record with axing products and services, we don’t want another Stadia on our hands, do we now?

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The folding iPhone that Apple didn’t announce during the keynote, but probably should have

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In the past year, Apple’s made a case for small phones, citing their convenience, and large phones, mentioning how nice a bigger display is. This Apple iPhone Fold concept gives consumers the ultimate best of both worlds.

Here’s the scoop. We KNOW Apple’s working on folding phones. Multiple patents confirm that they’ve been testing bending screens, new-fangled hinges, and their IP repertoire almost certainly has foldables in it. However, the company is famed for its ‘go hard or go home’ approach, which means they will never attempt anything until it’s absolutely perfect… even if it means being beaten to the punch by companies like Samsung or Huawei.

Designer: Michal Dufka

Although it’s unlikely that Apple will launch a folding iPhone in at least the next 2 years, here’s a look at a concept that does the tough job of living up to the iPhone’s already hallowed reputation of being the best phone on the market. Meet the iPhone iFold, a concept foldable from the mind of Michal Dufka. The iPhone iFold (although Apple would probably call it the iPhone Dynamic Clamshell) follows the format of the MotoRAZR and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, with a clamshell-style folding design that gives you the benefit of a compact iPhone with a generously large screen.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s start with the format itself. It isn’t too different from the Galaxy Z Flip (which is arguably a more popular model than the Z Fold), and for what it’s worth, looks a lot like your standard iPhone too. So for Apple purists, there’s nothing really to dislike here – it’s literally a standard iPhone when open. However, there are two little details that are interesting… (actually maybe more than just two)

For starters… this is the first iPhone to have two displays. With a smaller display located just to the side of the camera bump, the iPhone iFold, you can now access important stats and notifications without opening your phone. Sort of like having the convenience of an Apple Watch, this secondary display gives you the gist of what’s up. Given Apple’s recent advancements in always-on displays, this new iPhone has the perfect setup. Keep the main display off while the phone’s closed, and keep the secondary display on all the time. Also, is it just me or does the secondary display’s concave bezel feel a lot like the Apple Watch Ultra?!

The second detail, however, can be attributed to the fact that this concept was made before the September 7th iPhone event. Scroll up above and look at the display and you’ll notice the presence of a hole-punch camera instead of a “dynamic island”. It isn’t entirely clear how designer Michal Dufka expected the new phone to authenticate users, although maybe future technologies could see facial-recognition tech sitting entirely under the display with just the need for a camera cutout to manifest itself on the screen. Arguably, the primary camera lenses could serve as FaceID scanners too (after all there is a LiDAR scanner in the camera array), although that seems like it would complicate things. If you notice, the iPhone iFold concept also has a SIM tray, which Apple famously did away with the iPhone 14 series.

Will Apple launch a folding phone soon? If I were a betting man, I’d put all my money on NO. The company’s product development cycle is absolutely spy-proof, but word almost always leaks about what’s releasing in the next 1-2 years. From credible leakers, a folding iPhone isn’t one of them.

That isn’t to say that a folding iPhone isn’t a great idea. As I said, this particular folding format offers the best of both worlds, giving you a compact little square puck when you need it, and a large vertical screen when you want it. I wonder where and how you’d mount things like the MagSafe Charger and Wallet, however…

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