Rumours of Apple building a foldable iPhone have been swirling around on the internet for a year or two now. Now, a new report by DigiTimes, a Taiwanese media house, has added some more details to the purported foldable iPhone. The display of the foldable iPhone will reportedly be developed by LG.
At present, Apple relies heavily on Samsung for the OLED panels for its iPhones. However, the company has been looking for other options and BOE Technology Inc. was said to also make displays for the iPhone in the near future. For the foldable iPhone, LG is reportedly working with Apple on a prototype folding phone.
Foldable iPhone in 2023
The report adds that it’s unclear whether Apple will stick with LG for the production ready displays as well or move to another manufacturer after the prototyping phase. Apple is said to be planning to release the foldable iPhone sometime in 2023, multiple reports have suggested. The noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities has also suggested a similar timeline.
Apple will be late to the foldable smartphone market but it will very likely offer a better quality product. Samsung is one of the only companies offering a high quality and actually usable foldable. Other companies such as Huawei and Motorola are also selling their foldable phones. Microsoft also created a foldable phone named Surface Duo but it does actually/technically have a folding display but rather uses two displays connected with a hinge.
Reports have also suggested that the foldable iPhone will also support input from Apple Pencil. Apple currently allows the iPad devices to be used with its Apple Pencil but the scenario could change once the foldable iPhone is released.
For this year, Apple is reportedly planning to release an iPhone with a smaller notch and 120Hz high-refresh rate display.
