After several years of speculation through patent files and sample orders, HYPEBEAST ZH reported two prototypes for a foldable iPhone, Apple’s internal durability test passed.
According to reports via Economic Daily News, these two models were recently manufactured at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China. The first of these is allegedly a dual-screen model, which is in line with Jon Prosser’s prediction / leak – in July 2020: ‘the current prototype has two separate display panels on a hinge. Round stainless steel edges like the current iPhone 11 design. No notch – a small forehead on the outer screen that contains Face ID, “he said tweet read. This rumored design is also in line with Apple’s own moves: in February 2020, the company filed a patent for ‘electronic devices with flexible screens and hinges’.
The second prototype, à la the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, is a clamshell. According to HYPEBEAST ZH, the model will “be tuned to” the collapsible display samples that Apple allegedly ordered from Samsung in September 2020, according to Apple leaker “Ice Universe.”
Rumors about the tests themselves have also surfaced in recent months. In November, the news came that Apple had sent an iPhone for a series of more than 100,000 wear tests to evaluate its hinge mechanism. These new reports do not elaborate on the differences between the hinge mechanisms in these two prototypes, but it is likely that Apple took this time to see what the pressure of almost innumerable ‘open’ and ‘close’ holds.
However, Apple’s recent patent files for a “self-healing” screen are expecting a few buttons down the road for its devices – and it may learn lessons from Samsung’s sustainability issues with the Galaxy Fold.
Although there were initial hopes that 2021 could be the year, according to these latest reports, Apple’s foldable iPhone will probably only be available in 2022 or 2023. But a mini-LED 12.9-inch iPad Pro is likely to arrive in early 2021.