Folding all-screen MacBook Pro delayed by technical problems

Technical challenges mean that Apple won't be able to launch a foldable MacBook Pro in 2025 as expected, says Ming-Chi Kuo, and it may not be out until late 2027 or 2028.

It's previously been rumored that Apple was working on an all-screen, foldable MacBook Pro, which would have a 20.3-inch display. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, though, the the project has been delayed by years — and the 20.3-inch version has been dropped.

Foldable MacBook survey update - mass production delayed significantly
1. Final display size spec confirmed at 18.8 inches. Apple has canceled the 20.25-inch design.
2. Due to technical challenges with the display and mechanical, the assembly mass production schedule has been https://t.co/mPviHVeK0x
— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) August 22, 2024

While Kuo says that the final display size has been "confirmed at 18.8 inches," he gives no specific basis for this. He does, though, refer to his supply chain surveys for the rest of his report, in which he casts doubt on a folding iPad.

Kuo previously expected a foldable iPad to be launched in 2024. So did research firm CCS Insight, and seemingly even Samsung was predicting the same.

In his new report, Kuo refers to a prevailing belief that a foldable iPad would launch in 2025. He says there's no indication of that date or of any folding iPad.

He comments that this may "be because some call this foldable MacBook a foldable iPad." That would fit as presumably it will only be the software macOS that will distinguish an all-screen MacBook Pro from an all-screen iPad.

While Apple itself has of course not commented on future products it has filed multiple patents to do with research into folding displays. The most-often rumored result of which, though, is the expected iPhone Fold.

23 Comments

drewsaur 11 comments · 20 Years

About 3 months ago

Wait, I’ve been folding my MacBook Pros for as long as I can remember. Maybe I should get a patent for my idea. /s

Pema 153 comments · 2 Years

About 3 months ago

drewsaur said:

Wait, I’ve been folding my MacBook Pros for as long as I can remember. Maybe I should get a patent for my idea. /s

Too right. I am typing this missive on my MBA M3. Soon as I am done, I will be folding it on the hinge and park it away for the night.

Perhaps the next lateral - not revolutionary but evolutionary - idea from Apple will be a rollable MacBook. You roll it up and tuck it under your arm like a newspaper.

It's strange how Apple is becoming a lot like Google a great deal of $ and a boatful of engineers totally clueless on the next big thing since Jobs passed and Ivy left. One bone-headed pointless idea after another:
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) Foldable Phone
4) Foldable Mac
5) Clothes that interact with the wearer - as long as the wearer is not beset by flatulence - then we have a meltdown.

Actually the best new invention that I have seen is Humane AI Pin. Unfortunately the execution fell a bit short - so short that it's DOA. This is where Apple can step in, buy the company and fold it into Apple Ecosystem and make it a success.

Genius is not learnt but born. And a guy like Jobs happened like a meteor, flew over the Apple heavens and burnt too soon. And now we have a boatful of engineers and a ton of $ and no idea. Google has 253 dead ideas in its graveyard and Apple is not too far behind.

avon b7 8012 comments · 20 Years

About 3 months ago

drewsaur said:

Wait, I’ve been folding my MacBook Pros for as long as I can remember. Maybe I should get a patent for my idea. /s

Sarcasm aside, the problem with that is the half of the device that isn't screen.

A 'foldable' laptop isn't a foldable tablet and as such will cater to different use cases.

At some point macOS and iPad OS will converge to have a best of both worlds solution.