WWDC 2026: Apple is Folding

I think discussion here are missing that most people do not own a PC/laptop and if they do barely ever opens one, and not because they can't afford it, but it just didn't fit into their daily lives. This is obviously entirely different from the HN crowd.

And in that case, a folding phone is huge! Having played with one that my parent use, it's such an upgrade for reading/scrolling experience. When we all are spending so much time on the phone (that's a separate discussion, but it is the reality).

> On the other side of the pond, Android foldable owners have spent seven years discovering which of their apps work and which ones don’t.

Funny how this thing isn't even announced yet and the fanpeople are already glazing Apple over it :p

I daily a Surface Duo 2 as my car-relegated phone, running Android 12 (which I kinda regret upgrading from 10) and loaded with offline maps and plenty of cached music, and it has never been an issue when an app doesn't gracefully handle being stretched across both panes. Some of them aren't ideal to use that way with the bezel in the middle if they put interactable UI elements there, which is what the SDK support update is surely about, but I have never ever seen an app fail to work like this blurb is worded to claim.

There's a toggle in the application manager for whether or not an app should open dual-pane, and single-pane is the default anyway because why wouldn't one want to multitask?

> The hardware picture has been clear for months. The iPhone Ultra, the apparent name for this new form factor iPhone, is a book-style foldable, reportedly featuring a 7.7- to 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.3- to 5.5-inch cover screen, unfolding to a 4:3 ratio closer to an iPad mini than a widescreen display.

Excellent. Now that you have a supply chain for small screens again, please use that same cover screen to make an updated mini phone! I've sat in patient silence waiting for this exact moment!

I've been dailying a pixel fold 9 pro for a while now and love the thing. Seeing Apple finally join in is exciting as heck. I wouldn't hold your breath for a non visible crease though, nor for it to necessarily be class leading in its screen tech. I doubt any of it matters though, the Pixel Folds aren't exactly class leading in these regards either and the fold is just not a concern at all once you're using it. it's practically invisible from head on, and the "plastic screen protector" worries are really not an issue either. The durability of the inner screen is actually much better than you'd expect since it spends most of its pocketed life protected from external scratches. Mines still in great shape, even though I do not use a case nor any other form of protector.

Where apple has a significant opportunity here is the software side though. Google unfortunately doesn't seem to be too interested in exploring UI concepts with the Fold, leaving that to OnePlus and Samsung, both of which have imo better multitasking experiences than the Pixel Fold. Apple making an iPhone that becomes an iPad would probably be enough for them to win significant marketshare, but I hope they use this opportunity to do some interesting things with UI beyond what the iPad can do.

I instead see these sort of things (add the AppleVision Pro as well) as Apple feeling obliged to respond to "the public" (shareholders?).

"Samsung has this cool foldable phone—they seem to be taking the design mantle away from Apple these days."

"I hear this VR thing is the future of computing. Why isn't Apple in this space?"

I suspect even in the Jobs-era you might point to the iPad as Apple being pressured into responding with a product in the tablet space.

The Apple Watch a reaction to the Pebble?

How timely, I'm writing this from a Pixel 10 Pro Fold I bought in January.

Last night I opened it to find the inside screen having dead pixels in the center by the bend.

I love foldable phones. I use it all the time in both modes, but now I'm currently procrastinating looking up my best buy warranty plan specifics.

For a small percentage of mobile superusers, I really do believe foldables are the future. Having the ability to use desktop mode by default, or multitask, is huge.

I've gone all the way around and came back. The Samsung Fold was awesome and convenient. But carrying an ipad mini and a phone is not that big a deal. It's quite nice that the ipad mini does not have whatsapp or SMS plugged into it, so I can use it exclusively for reading books or playing music.

The cost of the iPad Mini + my phone was like $600 and the folds - even the 6th gen and above - are super unreliable, so right now that seems like the best play.

Not a fan of foldables, if I am honest. Just a personal opinion. I do not like the it feels in the pocket bc the device needs to double its thickness when folding over.

When a mobile device manufacturer (samsung, hauwei, now apple) makes a foldable, I get the impression they're running out of ideas with the "slate" form factor and are trying to stimulate sales.

Personally, I would want that R&D spend and innovation to go to more sustainable materials, longer lasting devices, and easily repairable parts to extend the devices useful life.

A foldable iPhone will definitely solve one of the biggest problems at Apple. Foldable phones won't last 5-10 years. I can see Apple making all iPhone offerings foldable down the road

For me at least the screen size isn’t the limiting factor the lack of a keyboard is. I don’t know why I’d choose this device over a Neo or Air + non-folding phone.

I love the little showmanship touches Apple does like this. Seeing a trillion dollar company going "wink wink nudge nudge" is just funny.

I don't think I get foldable phones. When is the extra space necessary? I mean most of them turn from a somewhat 9:16 aspect ratio to 1:1. You don't earn anything in space to consume media content. The only real improvement might be for multitasking?

Foldables are life changing - everyone I know who's got one, doesn't go back.

It's all the benefits of a tablet with the weight/thickness of a cell.

Example: maps shows both the map and listing detail.

Example: messaging/email apps show the message/channel list and the current message

Example: virtual keyboard has plenty of space for punctuation, emojis, etc.

Example: games and multimedia are perfectly pleasant to view, even for hours.

Example: I used the remote-control app to take photos from my Sony and Fuji cameras, and the live preview was large enough to easily check for tack-sharpness, which is hard even in the camera viewfinder.

Everyone I know over 70 would love something that works like a phone when folded but like a tablet unfolded -- big enough for text to be big, small enough to carry, and without fiddly interface -- and at a reasonable price for those anchored in 1980 prices.

(If those under 17 got attached to foldables, it would be an enduring franchise.)

For those of us in between, I'd love it if my foldable when unfolded were finally the OS of choice - iPadOS or iOS or even macOS. It would be the hub for hub-and-spoke devices...

It's an impossible ask, but perhaps....

> stop thinking about creating software for a specific piece of hardware. Design software to be adaptable across a range of screen sizes and aspect ratios

This is right, of course, and pretty obvious I think. But a part of me also thinks that we're still not good at it (or are not good at it anymore). At the very least, the tradeoff is a huge increase in UI complexity. It was so, so easy to design UIs with Hypercard when you knew it was going to run on a 512×342 display.

The thing I liked most about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 I had for a while was that I met a lot of interesting people because of it.

It broke like four times under warranty because the crease got gummed up with their glue strips in the summer or it got brittle when I travelled to Greenland because of the cold in the winter, it felt uncomfortable and often moved in the pocket you put it into in a way that would annoy you every time you sat down somewhere.

But once you pull it out, something magical happens. Foldables are still one of those items you will rarely see in the wild, and it peaks the curiosity of people in a way that will make them come over and ask questions.

You see them touch it really carefully and open it really, really slowly because they are afraid they might break it, and suddenly you have this magical, foldable screen right in front of you that turns this heavy slab into a form factor known by anyone who ever held a book in their life.

When it snaps open or shut with the satisfying noise and haptic feedback, it makes them genuinely happy and smile, and watching different people having the same experience over and over again is kind of satisfying and in a way justified the price for me alone.

I am sure the Apple foldable will have its downsides and is heavily overpriced, and if you buy it in the EU, you won’t be able to use half the features, but I am still going to get one because I will have a lot of joy watching people interact with new technology for the first time when I travel, and I love listening to how they think it could improve their life or how and for what they would get one themselves.

> Starting price reportedly around $2,000.

I'll guess it won't be a Vision Pro level disaster, but most people will skip this device unless the price drops substantially.

I can't see myself paying for foldables, but I think they are incredibly neat. I spend a ton of time on my phone, and the idea that the screen could get much bigger really tempts!

That said, I really wonder if this could be a shark jump move. I think one of iOS app's biggest wins is that developers have a relatively narrow set of form factors to target, that making bespoke interface layouts is the obvious choice & that that really allows careful crafting. I'm overselling this case a bit, but it feels like Apple is saying: ok, now make your apps responsive. Add more. Some folks will figure out each layout nicely, but I feel like in many cases, the responsive layouts are going to be less well crafted, not have such thought out intracacies.

I love responsiveness, but it generally pushes layout complexity down, requires simpler / plainer design languages, in my view. This pushes away from bespoke careful craft, and towards mechanized systems, and there's some design loss in this push.

I am not fully convinced that a foldable is really going to be something that most will want, but I think it could find its niche. Given that from another article it seems that in the simulator it is using the iPad view it could be useful for some people.

Though, I have yet to find myself in a situation that I wanted to use an iPad and I was not already in a position to be carrying one. I use mine for work and I am already carrying a laptop, throwing in an iPad is a very small addition to my bag.

Any time I have just been out, was never a situation I felt like I needed something like an iPad. Throw in that this looks like it will be the size of a Mini vs the 13" pro that I use now, it puts it in an awkward position. And I could justify the rumored $2k cost to replace 2 devices that cost more than that combined.

It will be interesting to see how it does in practice, but also what it does to the separation of iOS and iPadOS.

Besides the new form factor, resizable apps are also meant to further bridge the gap between macOS and iOS right?

I wonder how they'll address the crease.

My guess is one of two ways. Not address it at all. Or tell you that you don't see what you really see.

Also, one of the session videos illustrated the content with an app for keeping track of one's fleet of paper airplanes.

Reminds me of a billboard I saw where Apple was touting the alleged privacy of the iPhone with a guy wearing clothes nearly the same color as his skin. I know iPhone isn't really private, and I'd rather not have a phone that isn't repairable, but I can appreciate the clever marketing in both cases.

i’ve been waiting a few years for iphone fold, im excited that they’re releasing it this year.

its both iphone mini (yay!! mini iphone again) and ipad mini (yay!! hueg screen for bedtime youtube) in one device presumably with a cpu powerful enough to run cyberpunk 2077. what a world :)

How about phones that you can attach one to another and have as much of a phone as you want? Buy two phones - simple foldable. 4? That's almost a tablet worth of screen estate. Want more? Only your budget is the limit. Go as far as 85" TV if you want.

Holy mother of clickbait titles.

The software opportunity is what's interesting. Apple making an iPhone that becomes an iPad could finally make multitasking on mobile actually work. Hardware is table stakes, the UI decisions are what will matter.

I can't imagine they'd release a crappy folding thing like the Samsung, I think it's more likely to be effectively dual-screen that can be unfurled into something where the two screens are side by side.

Really intrigued to see what Apple's design chops brings to this form factor. I'd love more screen real estate so I can travel without a damn laptop. The big question is how thick will it be?

Seeing this literally after my foldable full on broke through the axle after not even half a year makes me concerned for Apple

Is that blurry mess on the video seriously how resizing works on iOS or is it just a POC made by some dev?

This will be really cool. iPhone really need change. All versions have same form factor for so long now

I'm happy they finally stop supporting Intel macs as of macOS 27

Foldable gets zero interest from me.

Apple foldable is -100 interest.

WWDC = Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.

can't be only me who thought apple is contributing to folding@home and not a foldable iPhone.

I don’t quite understand this new product strategy.

I usually am a pro Apple consumer but how many high end users actually want this form factor?

> This is the PSOTU’s message, which states clearly and plainly: stop thinking about creating software for a specific piece of hardware. Design software to be adaptable across a range of screen sizes and aspect ratios.

I remember so many Apple developers saying this was why Apple was better than Android. The HN archives are full of such comments.

Not that I care for either company, as they both lord over our lives and limit our freedoms.

foldable screen = new recurring revenue stream