Wesley Hilliard
Rumors continue to collide over how Apple will roll out a foldable product, with the latest from Ross Young suggesting a folding-display 20.5-inch MacBook Pro is in the works for 2025.
The supply chain seems to be in flux as multiple conflicting reports have come in from reliable leakers. Initial rumors suggested a foldable iPad was coming in 2024, but that has since been challenged.
Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants shared that he's heard about a 20.5-inch foldable notebook for 2025, but not heard anything about a foldable iPad for 2024. This was a tweet response to Gurman's comment on foldables.
Have heard about a 20.5" foldable notebook for 2025, but nothing about a foldable iPad for 2024. Maybe this is just good PR for the hinge company
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 31, 2023
The two agree that Apple isn't planning on releasing a folding iPad mini in 2024, which is in direct contrast to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's earlier report. However, Young takes it a step further, suggesting a larger device was due in 2025.
Apple has been granted patents for a large folding-display laptop like the one Young mentions, so the company is definitely working on such a product. However, rumors have been all over the place about if, when, and how Apple will enter the foldable market.
Of course, there's always the option that Apple never releases a folding product. Samsung's latest quarter delivered its lowest profit in 8 years, and it's primary advertising push has been all about foldables and how Apple doesn't have one.
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13 Comments
Bah!? 2025? No reason to believe anything that far away. The rumormongers are having a hard time with 3 to 6 months let alone 2 to 3 years.
Foldable phones don't make much sense (remember the flip phone? So gone now)... a foldable tablet might, in some cases (certainly makes them more portable, and they are more deliberately used devices than a phone which we use 100 times an hour), making flipping stupid.
A foldable MacBook I presume would mean left/right "wings" that open up for a wider display (not sure how the whole mess closes elegantly) but this could be of interest to a few different segments, creatives being first that comes to mind...
Please note that the quoted source mentions a 20.5" foldable notebook, not a 20.5" notebook with a foldable display.
Every MacBook Pro currently on the market is a "foldable notebook."
I think this is an exercise in Apple Insider staff not reading carefully and therefore not getting the joke.
"Foldable" sounds neat in concept, and rumors tend to make logical sense in light of the fact foldable tech has been on the market for a while now. But I can't help but see this more as a "me too" move than anything else. Foldability would likely increase the cost of the MacBook Pro. Any creases, however slight, would be noticed by Apple product fans and make it less "stunning." A foldable display would also likely make the notebook less durable, and therefore give it the potential to be another tech repeat of the butterfly keyboard fiasco.
I still remember vividly how many people in this very forum sang praises from the highest hill about the butterfly keyboard, and even bashed me when I said I didn't like it and wanted Apple to return to better keyboard tech. Then Apple ditched that "innovative, new and here-to-stay" butterfly keyboard and went back to older but better tech. Now everyone chastises it, and its fans tend to stay in silence as a result.
I agree Apple needs to innovate, but foldable tech carries a lot of big risks for the company.
Seriously. This click-bait is based solely on an AI writer's interpretation that the phrase 20.5" foldable notebook = 20.5-inch MacBook Pro with foldable display.
Every MacBook Pro is a foldable notebook.