Apple could be planning to copy Samsung’s foldables after all

Apple has a few new form factors that it has long reported to be working on. The most buzzworthy is the iPhone Fold, which is expected to debut alongside the iPhone 18 later at Apple’s yearly September event. Much before its launch, the iPhone Fold is already shaping trends with its unusual “wider” aspect ratio and driving Android brands to adopt the same. Apple’s next foldable, however, could be far more conventional.

While the first Apple foldable has yet to hit the shelves, the industry is buzzing with speculation about the second. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman notes that Apple has begun considering its second foldable, which will align with what brands like Samsung and Motorola have been doing for over half a decade. Gurman, in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter, says that the next foldable device would be “a square, clamshell-style foldable phone,” rivaling the Galaxy Z Flip and the Motorola Razr.

This supposedly supplants earlier plans for a folding iPad, which was recently reported to have encountered issues. Interestingly, when the first Apple foldable rumors emerged, they pointed toward a clamshell rather than a device that opens sideways, which is what the rumors have since evolved into. Interesting, much before than that, a YouTuber converted a regular iPhone into a flip phone.

Gurman cautions that the square clamshell is “far from guaranteed” to reach the market and that Apple is relying on the first phone foldable to be successful enough to carve out a separate space for foldables — multiple of them.

There’s an equal chance, Gurman adds, of Apple shifting its focus towards developing a book-style foldable with a more traditional aspect ratio identical to the Galaxy Z Fold, inspired by the greater demand for book-style foldables than flip phones. Either way, we are unlikely to witness the second foldable this year.

Based on previous rumors, the first-gen iPhone Fold will feature a 6.5-inch inner screen and a 5.5-inch cover screen. It is expected to be wider than traditional foldables, and you can imagine it to fit your palm, similar to a standard passport. The iPhone Fold is also expected to be powered by Apple’s A18 chip and to feature only two rear cameras, presumably to prevent the camera island from making the phone thicker or heavier. These may change later, as the phone nears production.