Apple’s future iPads may not fold, this insider’s been told

We've been hearing reports of a folding iPad for a couple of years now, and earlier this year a leaked roadmap suggested that it might hit the shelves of your local Apple Store in 2027. But a new report by well-connected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman suggests that a folding iPad isn't likely to arrive so soon – and it might never arrive at all.

Writing in his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that "Apple engineers are exploring the prospect of foldable iPads" – language that's considerably more cautious than previous reports of folding Apple tablets, which suggested that it was a case of "if", not "when". Now, it seems, it's a case of "if".

What's going on with folding iPads?

According to Gurman, an actual folding iPad is about as close to production as I am to marrying Taylor Swift. "Work on this initiative is in its early stages and the company has yet to figure out a way to create foldable screens without the crease seen on similar devices" such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and similar flexible products. 

The crease appears to be a deal-breaker for Apple. "I've been warned that if Apple is unable to solve that problem it could decide to ditch the foldable concept altogether," Gurman says.

It's interesting to compare Gurman's report with one by another well-connected analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo. Early last year Kuo was predicting the arrival of the folding iPad as soon as 2024, with other reports indicating a 20-inch display when unfolded but also suggesting more conservative timescales: display analyst Ross Young's money was on a 2026 launch. 

What I think we're seeing here is expectations meeting reality: I'm sure Apple did indeed hope to make a folding iPad with an anticipated launch in the next two or three years, but it seems that the creation of such a device is proving much more difficult. And if you look at rival firms' devices, you can see why: for example as we said in our review of the Google Pixel Fold, there are tons of compromises in current folding tech and current generation models feel more like trailers of what's to come than the main event.