Samsung’s recently released Galaxy Z Flip 6 has won praise from reviewers for its design, which folds a smartphone with 6.7-inch screen in half. Now Apple is reportedly preparing a competitor.
Apple is working on a “clamshell” design iPhone, similar to the Galaxy Z Flip series, according to a report Tuesday from The Information. The new design, which could be ready as early as 2026, will coincide with Apple’s plans to also release newly improved camera technologies, including a variable aperture, the report added. This feature would allow iPhone camera users to change the amount of light and potential detail the lens captures. The result would create different effects, such as a natural “bokeh” blurred background.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Wonderful, but Complicated to Recommend
The report marks the latest sign that Apple is planning dramatic changes for its iPhones over the next couple of years. The tech giant’s signature device is already one of the most popular consumer products ever made. In recent years, however, reviewers have criticized Apple’s more incremental upgrades, such as the added “action” button on the iPhone 15 Pro and the Dynamic Island selfie-camera and sensor cutout at the top of the screen.
By comparison, the clamshell folding iPhone that’s reportedly planned would offer a dramatic change. Apple is also working on a “significantly skinnier” iPhone for next year’s launch, according to another report earlier this summer. The thinner design would reportedly kick off “a new class” of Apple devices, including thinner and lighter Apple Watches, MacBook Pro laptops and iPad tablets.
Apple has already drawn attention for its newly redesigned $999 iPad Pro, released earlier this year with the company’s thinnest product design, which Apple noted was smaller than its then-shockingly small iPod Nano from nearly two decades ago.
It isn’t clear what’s kept Apple from releasing a folding iPhone in the past few years. The company has reportedly been working on folding iPhone designs since at least 2019, which saw the release of Motorola’s Razr smartphone, which revived the two-decade-old clamshell cell phone brand as a full-size smartphone that folds in half.
As other companies have released their own takes on the design, one of the biggest challenges they’ve faced is the cost. The first Razr smartphone sold for $1,500 when it was released in 2020. This year’s Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6, announced earlier this month, costs $1,100. And even though prices for folding phones are broadly trending downward, they’re still much higher than the typical $800 starting price for a flagship iPhone 15 or Galaxy S24.
Another challenge has been the screen itself. Folding screens typically show a crease where they fold. Apple had reportedly delayed releasing its own take on the technology because of its struggles to resolve the unsightly look. Whether Apple has resolved the screen crease issue, or reduced the overall cost, is still unclear.
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