A foldable iPhone. It’s something that has happen at some point given how iPhone owners offer admiring glances at what Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and others are doing in the Android world. But Apple doesn’t seem in a hurry. And it may not be the only one.
While iPhone owners might want to see what a foldable model might look like and the kinds of features it might offer, there is a group of people who are perhaps most vital to knowing whether such a thing is extremely popular – or dead on arrival.
This group of people is made up of application developers. And not all of them are sold on the prospect of a foldable iPhone or their apps running on one.
The next big thing
With Apple already late to the foldable party, we are left to point out a fact that has come up countless times before. Apple is rarely the first to release a new product category, but it usually succeeds once it finally gets on board.
Apple wasn’t the first to make a smartwatch, but the Apple Watch is the best in the world. It wasn’t the first to make a smartphone, but the iPhone changed the way people stay connected. It’s the same story with the best iPads and tablets too. There’s an argument to be made about smart speakers and the HomePodsure, but there’s enough history to discern a pattern – and we can be fairly confident that a foldable iPhone will learn from the mistakes of others and improve upon them accordingly.
But even if we assume a foldable iPhone would be a technological marvel, with an impressive hinge and no sign of a screen crease to be found, there’s still a problem. It needs apps that use this new foldable form factor.
form factor
Foldable phones come in two forms. The flip case, like the flip phones of yesteryear, and tablet-turned-phone devices that many in the Android world seem to favor. The first takes a standard phone screen and folds it in half to make it more compact. The latter goes in another direction by taking a small tablet and folding it into a phone. A big, often bulky phone. But a phone that fits in your pocket regardless. Try putting an iPad mini in your jeans pocket and you’ll immediately understand why that’s a desirable approach.
It is still unclear in which direction Apple would go and they both have their advantages.
“The form factor itself is a big question,” says Ben McCarthy, developer of the popular Obscure (opens in a new tab) camera app.
“Will we see more devices like the Samsung Flip, taking a smartphone form factor and folding it in half, or will the category be dominated by smartphone-sized devices that fold out to become mini tablets. This, more than anything, will determine how developers build their apps, they say.
And that’s the key point here. Not all foldable phones are created equal, and the path Apple takes will impact how developers revamp their apps to take full advantage of the situation. And it’s not just about capitalizing on change – it’s about fundamentally changing the way apps work.
“The smartphone’s aspect ratio has dictated a lot of how it’s used and how apps are designed,” McCarthy says. So many apps are designed around the principle of a navigation bar at the top, maybe a tab bar at the bottom, and a vertically scrolling list of content in between. The question? “Does it still make sense if your device is twice as wide as it was a moment ago?”
Probably not. But McCarthy hopes a flip-phone-like iPhone might have some benefits, perhaps specifically for apps like theirs. “There are unique opportunities that such a device could provide. Folded at 90 degrees, they could work perfectly as a desk clock or as a stand for taking pictures.” Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices already offer a similar photography feature and it looks pretty good.
But if Apple goes the Galaxy Z Fold route – a tablet that folds into a phone – McCarthy isn’t sure users will embrace it. “When the iPad was launched it was criticized as ‘just a big iPhone’. I’m not entirely convinced that what users are asking for is an iPhone that can fold up to be ‘just a smaller iPad’ , they note.
It’s something that Martin Pilkington, developer of the idea-mapping app Coppice (opens in a new tab), also wonders. “I think it ultimately comes down to how Apple sees a foldable iPhone,” he told iMore. “Is it just a ‘big iPhone’ or is it an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad mini?”
Pilkington thinks Apple will capitalize on the possible multitasking benefits of such a large display over the cramped screens of traditional iPhones – even the larger ones. iPhone 14 Pro Max.
But things could get interesting if Apple digs into the idea of giving developers an iPad-like display to work on. This last case is much more interesting because, especially if it is combined with a apple pencilit opens up a whole new class of powerful apps,” says Pilkington. on a single screen. just don’t make sense on something as small as an iPhone,” he says.
Either way, and whatever APIs Apple might add to iOS to help developers support a foldable screen, things are going to get tricky.
“Every developer will tell you that the more devices you have to support, the more problematic development, testing and publishing will become,” stresses Andriy Kachalo, developer of the task manager. task heat (opens in a new tab). It also points out something we used to hear about Android phones: fragmentation.
“My biggest concern is fragmentation,” he says. “What I mean by that is that not all apps manage to deliver the best experience on every form factor.” A foldable iPhone could be two form factors in one, adding an extra complication to the development process. And then there’s also iPad and Mac to be supported independently.
A decision to make
To date, most foldable iPhone concepts have gone down the flip phone route, with very few assuming that Apple will give users (and developers) more screen real estate when it finally makes the leap into the foldable market.
In fact, rumor has it that Apple is considering creating a foldableiPad first, maybe even a foldable mac. But whichever approach it takes, Apple has decisions to make and, just as important, it needs to find ways to engage developers and give them the tools they need to turn the device into a customer something. need in their lives.
After all, it was the App store and its apps that made the iPhone so compelling in the first place.
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