Lovers of Apple products should expect to see a 20-inch foldable screen device, rumoured to be an “iPad / MacBook hybrid”.
According to the source, Mark Gurman, Apple might be developing a foldable device that sports a huge display — one measuring “roughly” 20-inches across.
In support of Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO and analyst Ross Young, Gurman argues that Apple is really looking at the possibilities of a folding tablet. Apple’s alleged ambitions to produce a gadget with a huge, foldable screen was first brought to light by Young last week, and now Gurman has added some more context to the story.
There will be no keyboard or trackpad on the device because it will have a dual-screen display that relies solely on touch input. Gurman quotes Young’s estimate of 2026, which is approximately the same time Apple’s speculated car is expected to be released.
This technology isn’t new though, as Lenovo is spotted to have launched a similar device, which is its ThinkPad X1 Fold laptop, which has a 13-inch screen that folds in the middle to become a touchscreen laptop. Samsung, too, has made many different versions of its Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold phones. The latter is more like a smartphone and tablet hybrid. Razr is the name of Motorola’s clamshell-style foldable phone that looks like a flip phone.
In addition to the Apple Car and the AR/VR headsets (slated to hit the market by the end of 2022 or early in 2023), the company has a number of other major products it seems to be developing. Assuming Apple’s rumoured foldable tablet or laptop does come to fruition, it’s impossible to predict how it will fit into the company’s current and future product lineups. A foldable smartphone might appear very different from what’s being rumoured, and it’s totally feasible that the company will reject the current concept and come up with a whole new design.
Apple may already be preparing for a future where foldable products are commonplace and in high demand. It then has a lot of time to get things right if the foldable device ever comes to fruition, which could be in 2026.
