Apple Aiming to Release Its First Foldable iPad By 2028
Credit: AstroPad / Elijah Fox
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It’s no secret that Apple has been investing a fair bit of research and development into creating foldable devices. The only questions are when all of this work will bear fruit and what direction the company will take when it does.
Foldable smartphones are all the rage right now, but it’s possible Apple may start with a foldable Mac-iPad hybrid instead.
The popularity of the iPhone left many to assume that an “iPhone Flip” would be Apple’s first attempt at such a device. However, Apple has reportedly been on the fence over the years about whether the whole thing is just a passing fad. After all, phones like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 and OnePlus’ Open get a lot of attention for their unique designs, but they’re not as popular in consumers’ hands as the hype may lead you to believe.
In an analyst report last month, IDC pointed out that foldables “grab headlines despite the low volumes in the market.” They’re shiny and cool but still very pricey and don’t perform as well as traditional flagships that often sell for even less.
While we’ve heard several reports this year that an “iPhone Flip” is still in the works, with some suggestions that the first one could appear by 2026, we remain skeptical. Rumors of a folding iPhone go back to 2016, and among the analysts now pointing to 2026 are those who also predicted Apple would release a folding iPhone in 2021 and sell 20 million foldables by the end of 2023.
The market for foldable and flippable smartphones is somewhat volatile right now, and we can’t see Apple being in any hurry to enter the fray. While this may work well for companies like Samsung, which offer smartphones in all shapes and sizes, Apple has always preferred to keep its smartphone lineup lean and mean.
That wouldn’t rule out an “iPhone Flip” on its own — Google and OnePlus have similarly focused lineups — but recent rumors suggest Apple is putting its design and engineering resources into something entirely different with a more premium and ultra-thin “iPhone 17 Slim” or “iPhone 17 Air” replacing the iPhone Plus. It’s hard to imagine Apple tackling that and an “iPhone Flip” in parallel.
Apple’s ‘Next Breakthrough Device’
This logic doesn’t necessarily apply to Apple’s tablets and laptops. The iPhone is the company’s bread and butter, accounting for half its annual revenue. It’s unlikely to risk upsetting that applecart (no pun intended), but it’s already shown more willingness to experiment with its MacBooks and iPads over the years.
A rumor surfaced in 2019 that Apple was working on a MacBook-sized folding iPad with 5G technology. The design was said to be similar to a laptop but with a display on both sides of the clamshell instead of a keyboard.
At the time, this seemed like a very long-term project. Folding screen technology in 2019 wasn’t at anywhere near the level necessary to create a device this ambitious; Samsung had just released the ill-fated Galaxy Fold, which served to do little more than prove how far the tech still needed to go. Samsung did a commendable job of fixing those early problems in later releases. Still, it arguably took until the Galaxy Z Fold 4 came along before it was ready for prime time.
Then there’s the fact that this alleged folding iPad was expected to have 5G technology. That was a year before Apple released its first 5G iPhone and two years before the first 5G iPad.
Other than an early 2022 report by display analyst Ross Young, things were pretty quiet on this front for a while until this year, when Ming-Chi Kuo and Young chimed in to share that suppliers were gearing up to product displays for an “18.8-inch MacBook” that would fold down to the size of a current 13- or 14-inch model. Kuo estimates that Apple will ship over one million of these foldable MacBooks in 2026, but we’ve been taking that one with the usual healthy dose of salt; after all, Kuo also once predicted Apple would have sold millions of foldable iPhones by the end of 2023.
Nevertheless, there’s been enough smoke around this particular fire to suggest that Apple is working on something. Now, Mark Gurman is weighing in with what seems like a much more realistic timeframe.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman notes that Apple wants to “beat the traditional form factors” of phones, laptops, and tablets with something different that “could become its next breakthrough device.”
Apple designers are developing something akin to a giant iPad that unfolds into the size of two iPad Pros side-by-side. The Cupertino, California-based company has been honing the product for a couple of years now and is aiming to bring something to market around 2028, I’m told.
Mark Gurman
Apple’s primary goal for this new device is to eliminate the crease in the folding screen. No other company has yet been able to crack that nut entirely. OnePlus has gotten the closest, but the crease is still there. Samsung hasn’t made any significant progress in this area.
This is likely one of the issues holding back the “iPhone Flip.” Apple has reportedly been testing folding displays since at least 2020. After at least four years, Gurman says Apple now has prototypes of this foldable iPad that “have a nearly invisible crease,” but the company is on a mission to eliminate it entirely.
As for the software, Gurman predicts this won’t be a true Mac-iPad hybrid. Think of it as more of a large-screened iPad than a touchscreen MacBook.
I don’t believe it will be a true iPad-Mac hybrid, but the device will have elements of both. By the time 2028 rolls around, iPadOS should be advanced enough to run macOS apps, but it also makes sense to support iPad accessories like the Apple Pencil.
Mark Gurman
That’s largely because Apple wants to sell as many different devices to each of its customers as possible. The iPad and the Mac have remained distinct not only because they suit different needs, but because Apple ideally wants people to buy both. The “iPad Fold” isn’t likely to be any more of a MacBook replacement than the current M4 iPad Pro.
The company’s perfect customer right now is one who has both an iPad and Mac, in addition to mobile devices like the iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods.
Mark Gurman
What About a Folding iPhone?
Just because Apple is working on an 18.8-inch folding tablet doesn’t mean it can’t also be developing a folding iPhone in parallel. In fact, the very things it’s trying to crack in building the larger folding device, such as a creaseless screen, can also be applied to an “iPhone Flip.”
Gurman says that most of Apple’s efforts are focused on the larger and higher-end device, likely because it believes those will make a much more significant impact. Apple continues to explore the idea of a foldable iPhone, but Gurman doesn’t seem to have any specifics about what it’s doing in that area. Apple may be the only major smartphone brand that hasn’t joined the foldable party, but it doesn’t seem to be in any hurry. Gurman says we shouldn’t expect a foldable iPhone before 2026 “at the earliest” but makes no predictions that it will show up even that soon.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
