New reports regarding Apple’s push into the foldable market have surfaced. Chief among the findings of these reports is the notion that Apple is pushing back its foldable iPhone to 2025. In the meantime, though, the company may also be working on a 20-inch foldable device. Early reports from DSCC analyst Ross Young point towards a foldable MacBook. In his most recent Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says that it might actually be a foldable MacBook hybrid.
Apple may be working on a foldable MacBook hybrid
Previously, Young shared that suppliers were in talks with Apple to create a 20-inch foldable of some kind. The idea would be to bring together the usefulness of a notebook with a singular display like you might see on the iPad. Young even went so far as to say that the foldable MacBook hybrid could serve as a true dual-use product. It could act as a notebook with a full-size keyboard, while also being viable as a standalone monitor when not folded or used with an external keyboard. Young also says that the device could possibly offer up to 4K resolution or higher.
In the most recent issue of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman corroborates Young’s reports. Gurman says that the company may very well go with a foldable 20-inch screen that uses a physical keyboard or a virtual keyboard on one side of the folding display. Gurman says that he has been told that Apple is exploring a dual-screen setup. That could make the foldable MacBook hybrid more akin to Microsoft’s Surface Duo or Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3.
Reputable sources
This new foldable MacBook hybrid is still likely to be years away – even further away than a foldable iPhone. However, it would be good news for the foldable space in general. If Apple makes a concerted push towards developing and releasing a foldable, it will bring even more credence to the foldable market than Samsung and others have managed to bring so far. It would also give users within the Apple ecosystem a way to get into the foldable market without having to change from the ecosystem they prefer.
Both Gurman and Young have proven extremely reliable in their reports in the past. Young himself works for Display Supply Chain Consultants. As such, Young’s reports are normally based on what he is seeing in the actual supply chain. Normally when things move to this point, developers and manufacturers are actually weighing just how viable creating something like a foldable MacBook hybrid may be.
Now, that isn’t to say that this is 100 percent happening. Even if it does, it’s bound to be several years before we see anything official from Apple about it. However, seeing reports from two strong sources in the market does give us reason to believe that Apple could in fact be working on a foldable MacBook hybrid that blends specs from the iPad and MacBook lineup.
