Do we really need a foldable iPhone? Heck yes we do
Yes — if you really need a foldable iPhone for a phone that opens into a near-tablet display, the rumored Apple model makes a strong case. Mashable's Stan Schroeder argues Apple waited until crease and durability tech matured, and a September debut could deliver the first truly different iPhone since 2007's candy-bar slab. That shift matters as much for nostalgia as for specs: the slab Jobs held up has defined a generation of pockets.
Key Takeaways
- Mashable's case for a foldable iPhone rests on form-factor change after nearly two decades of the same rectangular slab.
- Apple is rumored to launch its first non-candy-bar iPhone in September, often called iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold.
- Waiting until foldable hardware matured — fewer ugly creases, less creaking — is framed as Apple's long-game advantage.
- The device is rumored to be pricey, heavy, and hard to get, unfolding into something closer to an iPad mini experience.
- Software on Apple's huge app base could make a foldable iPhone the most popular foldable model if developers lean in.
Why does a foldable iPhone matter right now?
In January 2007, Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld in San Francisco's Moscone Center and introduced Apple's phone. PCs still dominated the story then; Jobs said he'd be happy if Apple took about 1 percent of the mobile market by the end of 2008 — roughly 10 million iPhones a year.
Fast forward, and Mashable notes Apple now sells that many on average roughly every two weeks. The scale is huge. The shape is not. For readers who track how gadgets evolve — including our Nostalgia: Then & Now coverage — the rumored foldable is the first real break from that original silhouette.
According to numerous rumors and reports cited by Mashable's Stan Schroeder, Apple's September lineup may include a phone that looks fairly regular when folded and opens into a large, almost tablet-like inner display. Names floated include iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold. The point is the hinge, not the badge.
Has the iPhone form factor barely changed since 2007?
Yes — and that is the nostalgia hook. The first iPhone was smaller and less powerful than today's models, but Mashable stresses that the form factor stayed a rectangular slab of glass, plastic, metal, and silicon: a large display on one side, almost no moving parts.
That candy-bar shape became the default smartphone. Foldables from Samsung (with a lineup going back about six years), Google, Motorola, and major Chinese makers already exist. Apple's leap would still be cultural: the company that popularized the modern phone would finally leave the slab behind.
Schroeder's answer to whether the world needs this is yes — with a caveat that Apple was right to wait until the technology matured. Nobody wants an ugly crease down the middle or a device that creaks and cracks when it folds shut. When you sell millions of phones every week, getting it right the first time matters more than being first.
Who would pay for a foldable over a phone plus iPad mini?
That is the hard question, and Mashable does not dodge it. By all accounts in the piece, the rumored iPhone Ultra would be pricey, hard to get, and heavy — a phone that unfolds into something like an iPad mini.
Apple's sales mix for tablets is unclear in the reporting, but the iPad mini is described as one of the less heavily pushed iPads, given update cadence and marketing. It costs $599. The foldable iPhone is rumored at nearly four times that — north of two thousand dollars.
So why buy a beefy iPhone-mini-tablet combo when a regular iPhone and a separate iPad mini can cost less? Schroeder does not claim to know how well Ultra will sell. It might become a side character in the lineup, like the iPhone Air. His bet is simpler: one device that expands will feel sexier and cooler than juggling a phone in one hand and a tablet in the other.
The practical upside he highlights is everyday use: a regular-sized phone that expands for reading, watching movies, and light work on the go — if Apple nails the software, which he sees little reason to doubt.
Could Apple's wider foldable and software tip the scales?
There is also a rumored twist: a phone slightly wider than usual that opens into an even wider canvas — a layout Mashable says makes more sense than many foldables today. Samsung explored a similar idea with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, and most reviewers, per the article, seem to like it.
Then comes software. iPhone apps and games have long shared similar layouts. A foldable gives developers room to try something new: games with more than twice the screen real estate, productivity with a big calendar, entertainment with video beside a Music playlist.
Android foldables already offer some of that. But a lot of iPhone-only software never got the chance. Given Apple's footprint, Schroeder argues an Ultra could become the most popular foldable model and push creators to work harder for the new shape.
When was the last time a new iPhone felt truly exciting? The Air was thin and nice, not groundbreaking. A foldable Ultra, in this view, would be the first truly different iPhone Apple has ever made — and that alone makes the wait worth it for anyone who still asks whether we really need a foldable iPhone.
Nostalgia is not only about looking back at Jobs on stage in 2007. It is about noticing when the next chapter finally redraws the object in your pocket. If September delivers, the slab era may get its first real sequel.