Apple has reportedly abandoned the plan for a small flip-style Flip phone because most people inside felt it was “unnecessary.” It didn’t create any new “must-use” scenarios, and its biggest selling point was simply that it could be folded up and stuffed into the pocket of skinny jeans. “It doesn’t hit the sweet spot for Apple’s current hardware development at all.”
Meanwhile, the hinge forcibly divides the internal space of the small folding body into two parts, further reducing the space for the battery and camera module. In response, the blogger believes that “if it’s just about making the phone smaller, Apple would rather streamline its current candybar models.”
Previously, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the iPhone Flip would be released later than Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the Fold, which is expected to launch in September of this year.
Gurman stated at the time, “Apple is betting that its first foldable iPhone will be successful enough to truly drive market demand for this product category, and that consumers will want more form factors and sizes, just as their demand for traditional candybar iPhones has changed in the past.” However, he also mentioned that whether this flip iPhone will ultimately be released remains highly uncertain.
Industry insiders generally believe that Apple’s entry into the foldable phone market will be a significant catalyst for increasing industry penetration. TrendForce predicts that with the release of Apple’s first foldable device, the iPhone Fold, in the second half of this year, the global penetration rate of foldable phones will increase from 1.6% in 2025 to over 3% in 2027.
