Apple will give iPad the foldable phone treatment, says analyst

Apple produces some of the best smartphones you can buy. With their current generation, the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max offer something for almost every user.

One thing Apple has never produced is a foldable phone. It's a space dominated by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Motorola Razr 5G.

While rumours have floated around and renders have been created, we've never seen anything concrete direct from Apple. Now, a report from analyst firm CCS Insights suggests we may never see a foldable iPhone.

In an interview with CNBC, Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insights, said, "A folding iPhone will be super high risk for Apple. It would have to be incredibly expensive in order to not cannibalize the existing iPhones."

Wood went on to suggest that a foldable iPhone would have to be priced around $2,500, in order to avoid unnecessary competition with the current iPhone range.

Instead, he suggested that Apple will take their first steps into foldable technology with an iPad, which could be released as early as 2024. That links with information from market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, which suggested that Apple was working on a 20-inch foldable display.

A device of that size could be designed to fold like a laptop with a capacitive keyboard, or fold out into a giant touchscreen display – perfect for artists and graphic designers.

Elsewhere, CCS predicted that Apple will begin to manufacture its own 5G modems, possibly integrating it into other Apple Silicon chips to create a single-chip solution. This is expected around 2025.

Apple acquired the modem side of Intel in 2019, and have been working on solutions to bring another outsourced part of their manufacturing process in-house. It's not expected to be ready for their 2023 handsets though, with suggestions that Apple will continue to use the Qualcomm modem chips next year.