20.5-inch MacBook Pro with foldable display rumored for 2025, no folding iPad in 2024

A folding-display notebook may release before a folding iPhone

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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.

💬 13 Comments

tht

said about 1 month ago

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.

thrang

said about 1 month ago

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...

AppleZulu

said about 1 month ago

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.

jdw

said about 1 month ago

"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.