We May Soon See 20-Inch Macbooks with Foldable Screens

Two Apple industry analysts today said LG is working to lay the groundwork to start mass production of 20.2-inch or 18.8-inch foldable screens for a MacBook as soon as the fourth quarter of 2025.

In a post on Medium earlier today, Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple is developing foldable screens that will be “as crease-free as possible.” Kuo says the new foldable devices will require the use of high-cost components. The price of the components could result in the retail price of a foldable screen MacBook being close to the less-than-budget-friendly price of Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset. Currently, the 16-inch MacBook Pro lineup has a base price of $2,499.

Kuo said an 18.8-inch MacBook would be similar in size to a traditional 13-inch or 14-inch MacBook when folded.

Kuo says his estimates indicate that Apple will ship over one million foldable MacBooks in 2026, meaning we can reasonably expect to see the new laptop launch around two years from now.

He expects the new foldable screen MacBooks to be powered by Apple’s yet-to-be-announced next-generation M5 chip. However, so far, we haven’t seen any information on the fabrication process or the number of CPU and GPU cores we can expect in the M5.

Close to two hours after Kuo posted his comments on Medium, display industry analyst Ross Young chimed in, posting on X, saying the foldable MacBook will feature a screen measuring 18.8 inches.

Young said he expects the smaller 18.76-inch display rather than a 20.25-inch display, due to “cost reasons.” Kuo also said an 18.8-inch MacBook would be similar in size to a traditional 13-inch or 14-inch MacBook when it is folded.

Many observers believe the foldable-screen MacBook will sport an all-screen design with a virtual keyboard. As yet, we haven’t seen any information about the device’s exact design details.

In February 2022, Young said Apple was redirecting its foldable screen efforts away from the much-rumored iPhone and was instead concentrating on a foldable display MacBook.

Young had indicated that the new foldable might not be called a “MacBook,” and it certainly wouldn’t be a traditional MacBook as we currently know it. Young suggested that the device could result in an entirely new product category for Apple that would complement, not replace, the company’s existing MacBook lineup.

Young has said the laptop would be equipped with a full-sized touchscreen keyboard on the “lower half” of the device to allow it to be used as a traditional notebook. However, that is not the only way it could be used.

Young said users could also use the device completely unfolded, allowing it to be used as a portable 20-inch display with an external keyboard. The display should easily deliver 4K resolutions or higher.

It should be noted that although several Apple fans have long expressed the hope that Apple would release a touchscreen Mac. However, Apple has always been reluctant to offer such a device.

Apple executives have traditionally hailed the iPad and Mac as “best-in-class” devices while arguing that a hybrid touch device like a MacBook would require too many compromises.

It seems that any new foldable MacBook is still a few years away from hitting shelves, so we’ll likely be seeing more rumors about the new laptop, so stay tuned.

[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.]