Latest news with #creasefree
Phone Arena
18 hours ago
- Phone Arena
Apple iPhone Fold - the first foldable I would actually buy
Foldable phones have now been around for more than five years. Back in 2019, when Royole showed the FlexPai (technically, the first foldable smartphone), we kind of thought the revolution would happen overnight. But it's been a long and thorny road, from the first Galaxy Fold to the latest super-thin foldables from the Far East. One thing doesn't add up, though. Where's the foldable iPhone ? Apple, a company that people associate with innovation and setting trends, seems to be holding back when it comes to foldable phones . The company is biding its time, but I can tell you this. The iPhone Fold is coming, and it will most likely be the first foldable I would consider buying. Let me explain. The iPhone Fold will be crease-free The first creaseless foldable on the market? The latest reports on the iPhone Fold say that Apple is working on a revolutionary crease-free design, which will incorporate liquid metal with special properties in order to do so. The company is keen to provide the best experience and launch its first foldable with no compromises. "Apple has decided to eliminate the crease at all costs, regardless of price, to differentiate its foldable phone from existing models," an industry insider told our colleagues at ETNews. "It is believed that a new material property has been developed to make the crease disappear." When the first generation of foldables hit the market, the crease was pretty substantial, both visually and to the touch. Little has changed since, to be honest. Samsung tried to minimize the crease and make it less visible in the Fold series, but even in the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it's still there. We have kind of gotten used to it and forgotten how this imperfection in the screen annoyed us in the beginning. When the iPhone Fold launches, and if Apple does manage to remove the crease altogether, it will very quickly give an upper edge to the phone. Especially when put side-by-side with other crease-ridden foldables. This might seem like a small thing, but I've tried several folding phones and never got over the crease. Even if I manage to trick my eyes to not pay attention to it, my fingers feel it, and I can't trick them. A creaseless foldable is absolutely a selling point for me, and I think that many people would feel the same way. The iPhone Fold will be extremely durable The iPhone Fold will use a special hinge made of titanium, stainless steel, and liquid metal The number one concern with foldables is durability. When you pay around $2000 for a phone, you don't want the added anxiety of the thing breaking at any moment. Other manufacturers have made big steps forward in that department, but still, the horror stories with screens failing and hinges getting loose and breaking still linger on many people's minds. The iPhone Fold will allegedly use a titanium design, both for the frame and the hinge. The latter will use other high-quality and durable materials such as stainless steel and liquid metal. I won't throw names here, but several flip and fold phones I've tried over the years started to feel squeaky and loose after a couple of months. It's not a nice feeling when you start to feel the two wings of a foldable moving around and the hinge making strange noises. So, if Apple manages to make the iPhone Fold airtight in terms of durability, this could be another very strong selling point and advantage compared to the competition. Especially if Apple does its marketing magic, which we all know it will. Welcome to the foldable ecosystem Get ready for some cool software tricks and seamless connectivity Say what you want about Apple, but the way the company has built its ecosystem is quite impressive. Android devices are still struggling to emulate this seamless connectivity between different devices, and foldables are a prime example. The iPhone Fold will make use of that smooth ecosystem experience in ways that many competitors can't, even today. Features such as Handoff and Universal Clipboard will be perfect on a foldable. Apple has always been focused on user experience and providing the smoothest and most trouble-free ride you can get. I imagine Apple is already working on the software side of things, making sure iOS 27 (which is the rumored OS for the iPhone Fold ) is optimized for the specific aspect ratio and foldable design. I expect multi-window and multitasking to be polished and useful on the iPhone Fold , and I bet the interface will look pretty as well. The most powerful foldable on the market Sporting the 2nm A20 chip inside, the iPhone Fold will be the most powerful foldable It should come as no surprise that the iPhone Fold will fight for (and most likely win) the "most powerful foldable" title. Rumor has it that the device will use Apple's A20 chipset, manufactured on a 2 nm node and said to be 15% faster and up to 30% more power efficient than the A19 chips we're getting in the iPhone 17 later this year. That 30% boost in efficiency is another key spec, as most modern foldables have battery life woes, mainly due to their huge main screens and thermal issues tied to the thin design. Speaking of battery life, another piece of exciting info about the iPhone Fold concerns its battery. Industry insiders expect Apple to use new, high-density batteries in all of the iPhone 18 range, including the iPhone Fold . Under-screen camera for a seamless display experience Samsung abandoned the UDC concept but Apple could make it work Under-display cameras aren't new; ZTE pioneered the tech a couple of years ago, and Samsung used it in the Z Fold 4 and Fold 5. However, Samsung ditched the UDC in the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and opted for a regular 10-megapixel selfie camera on the inner display. The iPhone Fold will reportedly use an under-display camera, and this might seem like a long shot and speculation, but I believe the technology is already mature enough to get the job done without compromises (meaning crappy selfie photos and blurry videos). Touch ID will make a return on the iPhone Fold Many people feel nostalgic about Touch ID. Don't get me wrong, Face ID is quite good, arguably the best facial recognition system on the smartphone market, but putting all the necessary sensors inside a foldable might be a tall order. According to the latest rumors, the iPhone Fold will use a side-mounted Touch ID system, which will be the first appearance of the biometric feature since 2022 and the iPhone SE (2022). It will be interesting to see the implementation, and for me personally, the physical fingerprint scanner has always been the better way of authentication. iPhone Fold pricing and market demand Unlike Vision Pro, the iPhone Fold will be a much more affordable device that people actually want to buy I think Apple has learned its lesson from the Vision Pro and won't make the same mistake with the iPhone Fold . In fact, there are speculations that the iPhone Fold launch has been postponed after the Vision Pro fiasco in order to offer a more competitively priced device. Whether or not these rumors are true, the expected price for the iPhone Fold is believed to be around $1,999, which is not that bad, all things considered. The price tag of the iPhone Fold mimics the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 , and given all the advantages mentioned above, it should be a straight win for the iPhone. Granted, there will be another Z Fold iteration between now and the launch of the iPhone Fold , so Samsung could perfect and polish some things with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Still, if Apple really manages to keep the price under $2000, this will help sales. Which brings us to the market demand. It's been huge ever since the first rumors about a folding iPhone. People are hyped, and I'm pretty sure it will sell well. Apple aficionados and die-hard fans are done with Samsung teasing them and making fun of the fact that there's no foldable iPhone in the lineup. Conclusion. Will the iPhone Fold be that good? The iPhone Fold won't be revolutionary but it will offer the perfect package of features that actually matter It may look like I'm greasing up the iPhone Fold quite a bit with this article. The devil is in the details. I don't believe the iPhone Fold will be a revolutionary device in the sense the Vision Pro was. But all those years of lagging behind in the foldable department have given Apple the chance to polish and perfect the idea of a foldable iPhone . It's the complete package that counts in the end, and I believe the iPhone Fold will be an integral part of the iPhone portfolio. It won't feel like an appendix or a novelty just for the sake of it. What do you think about it? Are you excited about the iPhone Fold and would you buy it at $1,999?
GSM Arena
15-07-2025
- Business
- GSM Arena
iPhone Fold's crease-free folding screen to be made by Samsung Display
Once again, a new rumor claims Apple's first foldable iPhone will use a crease-free folding screen made by Samsung Display. In fact, Apple had no input into the panel's design, it's all Samsung on this one - and this is notable because of how rarely it happens, as Apple generally likes to customize every single part it uses in its devices. Not this time, though, and the reason is allegedly to "ensure stable mass production" of the foldable iPhone, planned to arrive in the second half of next year. A custom display solution may not have achieved the same yields as what Samsung Display can offer with its own design. Apple's decision to go all-in with Samsung Display's crease-free solution will benefit the latter's suppliers, including Fine M-Tec, a key provider of internal hinges, which has emerged as the leading beneficiary according to Ming-Chi Kuo, a renowned source of Apple-related information from the supply chains. According to him, Fine M-Tec will have an 80% share (or more) of the supply of this part. The internal hinge is a key part of a crease-free folding screen, as this metal plate helps distribute and control bending stress, preventing the display material from exceeding its elastic limit. And that's how the likelihood of creasing is minimized, Kuo explains. For all of this to work, the metal plate must be highly integrated with the display design, and that's exactly what Samsung Display and Fine M-Tec have achieved. For Apple's folding iPhone, laser drilling will be used to create microstructures that better guide stress distribution and enhance crease resistance. Fine M-Tec should start shipping display metal plates for the foldable iPhone in the first quarter of next year, with unit prices apparently being in the $30-35 range. Shipments are reportedly expected to reach 13-15 million units in 2026, but those aren't the projected sales numbers for the iPhone Fold - they will be lower, more such plates need to be produced than actual iPhone Folds shipped due to yield losses and repair stock requirements. Source
Phone Arena
28-06-2025
- Phone Arena
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 sold me on foldables before the foldable iPhone could
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, coming out next month on the 9th, has changed that. The crease on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. | Image credit — PhoneArena So, why don't I like foldable phones? Simple: the crease. I've always said that a display should be free of any distractions, and I will never forgive Apple for popularizing the notch. Yes, yes, I know they didn't do it first, but you bet everyone rushed to copy them when the iPhone added it. foldable phone Fold 7 The thing that really sold me, however, is when I found out that the Fold 7 is only 8.9 mm when folded. Honor's Magic V5, currently the slimmest foldable in the world, is 8.8 mm when folded. Yeah, there's barely a difference of 0.1 mm here. If Samsung has improved that much over the 12.1 mm of the Galaxy Z Fold 6, then I think that it's finally time to give the company's foldable flagships a try. Because now it really feels like Samsung has pulled all the stops and made a phone worth considering. A leaked render of the Fold 7, showing off its slim side profile. | Image credit — Evan Blass I'd completely abandoned hope of Samsung making a worthy foldable smartphone. All bets were now on Apple, who, despite their many recent goofs, might just deliver a crease-free foldable iPhone . Fold 7 foldable iPhone
