Homemade folding iPhone shows Apple how foldable phones are done

If you're up to date with the best foldable phones, you'll know that one brand is notably absent from the conversation: Apple. While rumours have persisted of a foldable iPhone and even a foldable iPad, nothing has been officially revealed, or even leaked from a truly reputable source.

That hasn't stopped the online rumour mill from turning, though. Fans of Apple are keen to see what the Cupertino-based company can muster up. And with good reason. The iPhone – from the vanilla iPhone 14 up to the iPhone 14 Pro Max – is widely regarded as one of the best phones you can buy.

Now, one Chinese YouTuber has put together the first foldable iPhone found in the wild. It uses the Motorola Razr as a base, stripping it out to add the iPhone's screen and internal components.

iPhone 折叠全球首发！「科技美学」iPhoneV first iPhone foldable iPhone fold iPhone flip iPhone folding@KJMX - YouTube

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They call it the iPhone V, and the video ends with it working well. They even manage to adapt the operating system to account for some of the foibles of a foldable device, such as how the camera looks at 90°.

It's a hugely primitive design – the sides of the screen don't even meet up with the chassis, leaving a wide gap when folded – but the ingenuity has to be applauded. In the video, the designer talks through some of the issues and limitations of the design, and how they overcame them. Those issues range from breaking screens, to having to create a smaller battery to fit the thinness of the case.

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How Apple will enter the world of foldable devices remains to be seen, but this will certainly pique the interest of fans. It's popular too. The YouTube channel who posted it routinely see around 3-5k views per video, with a few anomalies around 10-20k. Just two days after this was released, it's already hit 175k views and climbing.

Such is the popularity of Apple and of their impending venture into foldable devices. For now though, it's China 1 - 0 Cupertino.