Photo Credit: Forbes

Apple’s Taking the Folding iPhone in a Whole New Direction

The Target Demographic is Not What You’d Expect

Henry
Published in
3 min readFeb 9, 2021

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New reports have been coming in on what to expect from Apple’s folding iPhone! The new reports include some new info on what kind of market Apple could be targeted on with the foldables.

What We Already Knew

Before we jump in, let’s catch up on what we’ve already known about the phones.

The Two Prototypes

When it comes to folding phones, the biggest hurdle is obviously having the screen fold with the hinge while still keeping it durable. Jon Prosser shared a bit ago that Apple had two prototypes, one book-style and one clamshell-style, that they were testing. Other reports claimed that the prototypes passed the testing.

As Early as 2022?

Then Economic Daily News and the Verifier, both with mediocre track records, gave us some (questionable) insight into perhaps that we could be seeing the foldable iPhones releasing in 2022. But I wouldn’t give my hopes up on that since that’s almost certainly false.

What’s New

Jon Prosser is now back, claiming his sources now have new info on the foldable iPhones. And the new info gives us some big insight into what Apple’s cooking up behind closed doors.

Clamshell for the Win

Prosser’s sources say that Apple has been leaning more on the clamshell design. They don’t have any concrete reason as to why, however. My guess is that Apple feels the clamshell phone is more ergonomic in one hand, while the book-style one is turning into more of a tablet. But that’s just my own guess.

“Fun” Colors

Sources also say that the foldables will probably come in fun, poppy, colors. Think of how the regular iPhone 12 comes in some bright colors, contrasting from the Pro line’s darker, finished, colors.

Images from Apple.com

What this Means

At first thought, you might feel that this news is underwhelming. And while you can’t expect too much since the foldables are just prototypes right now, the color news tells us something big: Apple’s targeting the “fun crowd”.

Originally, many believed that this new foldable iPhone was going to be a more Pro focused phone, trying to give the Pros the most screen real estate they could cram in their pockets. But with the pop colors and clamshell design, it looks like Apple’s, instead, going to be targeting the everyday consumer. Perhaps this iPhone will be more for the “cool factor”. We’ll just need to see how affordable they can make it.

My Thoughts

Personally, I don’t care too much. Foldable phones, in my opinion, are a fad. I wouldn’t be surprised if this phone never makes it to market. These are early prototypes, not polished products going through final revisions. Because honestly, who cares? It folds. That’s it.

If it does come out, I will be very surprised. I’ve already discussed in a whole separate article why I think the folding iPhone (and folding phones in general) are just a bad idea. But who knows.

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