Maybe Apple Will Never Make a Folding iPhone

 

Maybe Apple Will Never Make a Folding iPhone

Perhaps they won’t need to

Anthony Lawrence

Technology

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

You know the song: Apple waits for a market to mature and then snatches the major profit with their own version. That’s what most prognosticators are saying will happen with folding phones. Right now, these gadgets are too niche, too expensive, too plagued with problems. Let Samsung and others stub their toes, but when the time is right, Apple will pounce.

Yeah, maybe. Or maybe Apple is hunting other game.

Why would you want a folding phone?

Well, duh, big screen but not so big in your pocket or purse, right? Who wouldn’t want that? Maybe not right now because of the price and the problems, but when that changes, yeah, bring it on!

So yes, Apple is going to make a folding phone. That’s inevitable.

Or maybe not

Ultra cautious Mark Gurman says Apple will soon put out a VR headset. I say that Mark is cautious because he’s not known for wild speculation and has a high rating at the Appletrack website which scores the accuracy of those who predict Apple moves.

This headset, like the gold Apple watches, isn’t expected to sell well, but it will help Apple plan its AR/VR glasses. Most rumors say that it will be well engineered but expensive even by Apple standards. Mark Gurman and others think that the purpose of this VR foray is to help Apple learn more about the product they really want to release: AR/VR glasses.

Well, that’s been done!

Yep, it sure has. And you might even say the market is starting to mature. If you doubt that, consider that I was able to Google for “Best A/R smart glasses” this morning and found multiple results!

That’s slightly different than Googling for “Best Home Fusion Reactors and “Best Antigravity Vehicles”, isn’t it? A/R glasses are real, right now, right here.

But pricey, sometimes ugly, cumbersome, and nothing at all like you might expect Apple to do. Maybe sleek and powerful just isn’t possible yet.

But when it is

That’s when Apple will enter that market. Three years from now? Five? Ten? I don’t know. Ask Mark Gurman, though when he’s ready to tell you, it will be a much better guess than I could make. He has connections and sources, while I only have imagination.

Well, imagination and a lifetime of watching computing tech evolve. So what I see is this:

Yes, somewhat clumsy and limited VR first, with some AR spicing it up. Training wheels, you might say. And then Apple’s first AR mixed reality product. Maybe still too expensive, maybe not as slick as Apple would like, but something that will give some sleepless nights to everyone making smart glasses now.

And then it changes everything

Those first iterations will be driven by your phone. That’s obvious. But as the Apple Super Smart Glasses improve, you’ll be taking your phone out of your pocket less and less. The interface will be smooth and intuitive. Like they say, it just works.

Whales used to have legs

You probably knew that. Whales were land mammals, they went back to the ocean, evolution eventually took away their legs because they didn’t need things to walk on.

If you have a sky-sized screen in front of your eyes, why would you need a screen on your phone?

There will be a phone-like device to drive the glasses, but it won’t need a display because the glasses are the display. Not in the first iteration, of course, but later.

Maybe it will be something the size of an Airpods case.

Maybe it could be your watch — but why would you need a watch when you have that AR display with its easy interface?

Is this where Apple is headed?

I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t want to. People say that eventually it won’t be glasses either, just contact lenses. Or way off after I am dust, a mind-machine implant!

But phones as we know them now? Probably something some of our children’s grandchildren might collect as antiques and the rest won’t recognize at all.

So, an Apple folding phone? Maybe. Maybe not.

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