Foldable iPhone leak reveals two different models have passed testing| Tom's Guide

Foldable iPhone leak reveals ii different models accept passed testing

(Epitome credit: EverythingApplePro)

Rumors of an iPhone Flip have been circulating for some time, but if new leaks by supple chain sources in Asia are true, Apple is seriously considering taking on Samsung and Motorola in the foldable phone game.

According to sources at Taiwanese website United Daily News, Apple has commissioned 2 epitome shells with displays from supplier Foxconn. The ii designs use radically unlike approaches in addressing foldables.

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The offset design is something akin to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or the Motorola Razr. Information technology's a regular candy bar-way slab that folds in one-half. The other is more like to the Microsoft Surface Duo, where ii screens are held together by a hinge, endmost similar a volume. Information technology's unsure if Apple is working on two carve up foldable products, or is simply testing out various ideas for one final foldable iPhone.

To add more intrigue, Apple tree might be working on a foldable concept so radical that it really could completely modify the foldable conversation. A patent filing that was published on Dec. 31 posits a foldable display that tin can fold both inward like the Galaxy Z Flip, merely as well outward like the Huawei Mate Xs. With that much liberty in folding motility, information technology would be like using a digital spiral notepad.

Couple these rumors with other patents filed by Apple, such as one for a self-healing foldable brandish, it could suggest that something is seriously coming down the pipeline.

Of course, for Apple fans waiting for a foldable telephone, the question is when. According to a study from Digitimes, we won't meet a foldable iPhone until 2022 at the earliest.

Remember, these new supply chain leaks do non suggest that something is final from Apple. It'due south clearly even so early days for the concept at Cupertino. Apple might instead want to get with a design similar to the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2, or might motility forward with a unlike strategy entirely. With so much upward in the air, information technology's probably ameliorate to trade in your iPhone 8 for an iPhone 12 until then.

Imad Khan is news editor at Tom's Guide, helping direct the solar day's breaking coverage. Prior to working at the site, Imad was a full-time freelancer, with bylines at the New York Times, the Washington Post and ESPN. Exterior of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Discussion document trying desperately to write the commencement pages of a new book.