Getting the iPhone Fold right matters more than getting it soon

If Apple gets the iPhone Fold wrong it will be a huge setback, which is precisely why the company won’t ship anything until it’s right, no matter how long we’ve been waiting for the product to appear. We don’t want it to ship something that isn’t ready.

Getting it right matters

That’s not hyperbole, either after all, we know Apple has been working on the form factor since at least 2014, when it filed an early set of relevant patents for the device.

Most recently, we’ve been expecting the new hardware to appear this Fall, and overnight we’ve seen dummy prototype images appear that seem to depict what it will look like, summed up as like a min iPad that folds out. Nikkei now reports that manufacturing problems mean the product could be delayed into next year.

What we expect

What we expect is a design that echoes the iPad mini, albeit much smaller when folded. It will probably use a high end hinge co-developed with Samsung and also boast an outer display and camera so you can use it as a phone as well as a tablet. We think Apple wants to make the product incredibly thin, with no visible crease at all. One thing that won’t be thin is the cost which is now speculated as being as much as $2,000. (We shall see if the premium market remains as healthy once the impact of the war driven economic depression strikes).

It’s got to be perfect

But what’s really important about this device is that it has to be absolutely perfect from the get-go. Apple needs to bring something that meets its customary high standards, and if it finds it can’t manufacture devices consistently to those high standards it will delay the release of the product until it can. That’s how Apple operates.

That’s also what we expect, which is the spirit in which Nikkei’s latest claims that iPhone Fold manufacturing has hit a snag which will delay the release should be taken. The product hasn’t been announced or confirmed, so it can’t be late. Apple’s task will be to introduce something fantastic, not compromised by engineering, and it’s far better for all concerned that it gets those problems fixed than ship something that is flawed. 

Simply the best

What we do know is that whatever Apple does ship will absolutely be aimed at being the very best available product in its class, and the company won’t settle for anything less. Up next, of course, the iPhone Flip.

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