Two different folding iPhone prototypes allegedly pass first quality checks

Mockup of a foldable iPhone (Source: William Gallagher)

A new report claims that Foxconn's foldable iPhone testing consisted of two entirely separate designs, and that both have passed the assembler's quality control checking.

Following previous rumors that Foxconn is testing an iPhone that can fold, a new report says that it was in fact testing two competing designs for Apple. The testing took place in Foxconn's Shenzhen factory and is said to have concluded with both designs passing quality control.

According to Money UDN, what was tested was not finished phones but rather the shells of these two folding designs with, presumably, screens. The testing was specifically to gauge durability of the folding mechanism.

One of the designs is said to resemble the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, or the Lenovo Moto RAZR, with a flip-phone style of internal folding screen. The other is claimed to be a dual-screen model, more like an open book like the Samsung Galaxy Fold.

Money UDN speculates that Apple will further evaluate both models, and then abandon one.

Apple's testing of foldable iPhone designs follows both many years of rumors, and very many patent applications on the topic. Previous reports about Foxconn's testing have included claims that Apple will release a folding iPhone in September 2022.

UDN has a decent track record as it pertains to Apple's supply chain. It has a notably poorer one in predicting Apple's future product plans. Thursday's report is a hybrid of the two.

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34 Comments

Xed

said about 3 years ago

If anyone can find a solution that is viable for the market, instead of just saying "we've put all this R&D into it let's ship something to get back some of the expense," it's Apple.

I still don't see a reason for a hinged iPhone, but if Apple can make it work while keeping it durable then I'm open to it. Personally, I see foldable displays more useful as curved stationary devices, like a contoured form of a car's dashboard, than the literally folding smartphone, but maybe I just don't have the imagination for what could be.

radarthekat

said about 3 years ago

Two separate screens with a hinge that retracts at the last second to allow the screens to come perfectly together. It would require a Herculean feat of engineering to accomplish, with special materials to sweep the screen edges of debris before the screens are allowed to come together, and to further prevent debris from entering the folding mechanism when the phone is subsequently folded shut. Only this allows the phone to use hard glass screens. Anything that simply folds the glass, to my thinking, is a fail. I’d love to be proven wrong, to be shown glass that can fold flat like a folded sheet of paper. I just don’t see that coming down the pike anytime soon.

Hmm, maybe two separate sheets with interleaved edges, like woodwork joinery. That might work, but it’d need nanoscopic precision to construct those edges. And some cool programming to present data across them.

crowley

said about 3 years ago

AppleInsider said:

Money UDN speculates that Apple will further evaluate both models, and then abandon one.
I
speculate that if Apple ever evaluate any such models they will abandon all of them.

androidkiller

said about 3 years ago

I don’t know if I’d want a foldable iPhone. Maybe it would grow on me like most everything else Apple does or changes but if they ever do I hope they still always have these current flat screen phones as an option. I wouldn’t be ready right away.