Whether you’re a fan of folding phones or not, it’s more than clear that Apple has been working on this concept for a long time. Now it seems that the coming year 2021 could bring, or at least reveal, the first folding iPhone.
Various reports on the development of the folding iPhone have been leaking to the public since about 2016. Even after four years, we did not see a real product, although many competitors already have flexible display phones in their offer and clearly dominated this segment by Samsung, which last year sold almost 3 million devices with flexible display.
Apple has traditionally been wary of new technologies and seems to be trying to learn from the mistakes of its competitors, which they encountered when developing folding phones, especially from the beginning. So let’s hope that when Apple comes up with the revolutionary iPhone, it will be a tuned device without “birth pains”.
Although we may have noticed a few over the last year patents for flexible displays from Apple, crucial information came in November when it became clear that Apple was already ordering first samples of products for testing at their suppliers.
The goal was to create a technology (OLED or Micro LED) that can handle 100,000 compositions without any damage. For comparison, we can say that ordinary laptops are built on 20 – 30 thousand compositions. Premium products can then handle up to 50,000 compositions. However, the phone is a different product and will need to be folded much more often.
What is the situation now?
According to recent reports, Foxconn’s tests in Shenzhen, China, now appear to be successful. Apple is working on two variants of the folding mechanism. In the first case, it is a device with two displays similar to the model Surface Duo from Microsoft. In the second case, it is a uniform display that bends in the same way as Motorola RAZR or Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.
The tested prototypes are still a long way from real iPhones. These are rather mock-ups of telephones with basic functions and the main emphasis is placed on the display mechanism. Apple focuses primarily on choosing a technology with a longer lifespan, and because only one variant will go into production, it must choose the right one.
Recognized leaker Jon Prosser believes the variant with two displays, whose the prototype is said to have seen. Recent news from Apple suppliers, however, speaks more of a variant with a single flexible OLED display modeled on Samsung or Motorola.
Although according to Economic Daily News the prototype tests turned out great, the arrival of folding iPhones can last until 2022 or 2023. Nevertheless, there is still a chance that Apple will delay development and introduce the phone later this year.
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