What Would a MacBook with a Foldable Display Look Like?

 

In the midst of claims that Apple is working on a laptop with a foldable display, how might such a gadget be realised?

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) analyst Ross Young said earlier this week that Apple is considering introducing laptops with foldable panels. The corporation is thought to be in talks with its suppliers about similar gadgets with 20-inch panels. Young speculated that this panel size may support 4K resolutions or higher.

Young has revealed a wide range of accurate insights into Apple's plans, including the iPhone 13 Pro's ProMotion display, the display size and bezels of the sixth-generation iPad mini, the mini-LED displays with ProMotion on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and more, so his reports are worth taking seriously. He claims that the foldable laptop may create an entirely new product category for Apple, but with so little known about the enigmatic new form factor at this early stage, there appear to be three primary possibilities for how Apple could design the gadget.

ALL - SCREEN MACBOOK

An all-screen MacBook with a display that spans the full inside of the clamshell form is perhaps the most apparent application of a folding Apple notebook. Young appeared to predict that this implementation may result in a dual-use device, claiming that when folded, it could function as a notebook with a full-size on-screen keyboard and as a monitor when unfurled and used with an external keyboard.

There are various downsides to this design, including Apple's well-known reluctance to deliver a touchscreen-based Mac, with corporate leaders sometimes openly dismissing the notion of such a device ever being offered. Former Apple design leader Sir Jony Ive, for example, has stated that a touchscreen Mac would be "not a really practical or acceptable implementation of Multi-Touch."

Rather than touch, macOS is largely tuned towards indirect trackpad or mouse input. Apple technical head Craig Federighi stated in 2020 that Apple created and refined the aesthetic of macOS in a way that felt comfortable and natural across a variety of devices, and that touch is not even considered. Not to mention the possible ergonomic concerns associated with a touchscreen keyboard and trackpad. As a result, an all-touchscreen MacBook appears to be at odds with the company's previous thinking.

FOLDABLE DISPLAY  with PHYSICAL KEYBOARD

A MacBook with a vertically longer display that folds at the hinge and matches the device's physical keyboard might be an out-of-the-box form factor. This system might provide the advantages of a bigger display with area for additional on-screen material while preserving the advantages of a conventional keyboard and trackpad.

The design may also provide a way to revitalise the Touch Bar without abandoning physical function keys. Federighi highlighted in another interview that the MacBook Pro form factor with the Touch Bar overcomes the ergonomic issues that other touchscreen laptops.

Whether or not the Touch Bar is revived, extending the MacBook's display in this manner would comply with Apple's ergonomic standards of not lifting one's arms to touch the screen while providing a new spot for touch input.

In this case, the 20-inch display size may be more conceivable, perhaps enabling an even bigger MacBook Pro to sit above the 16-inch model in the range, similar to the 17-inch MacBook Pro supplied by the firm between 2006 and 2011.

JUST A FOLDABLE iPAD PRO?

Although Young defined the item as a "foldable notebook," if it is an all-screen tablet, it may be a foldable iPad Pro. After all, a touch-based full-screen notebook running macOS would almost certainly cannibalise the iPad Pro, so an iPadOS device could make more sense.

This reasoning appears to be consistent with Apple's present stance. Last year, when questioned about touchscreen Macs, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, referred to the iPad.

There have been reports of Apple working on a foldable iPad Pro in the past, so the notion isn't completely out of the question.

It is also worth noting that this approach may correspond to speculations about a bigger iPad Pro. Last summer, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman speculated that Apple was developing larger iPad versions that would "blur the borders" between tablet and laptop.

At least two Apple manufacturers, BOE and LG Display, are already planning to offer Apple with larger-sized OLED panels for future iPad models.

Larger display sizes may bring the iPad closer to the Mac than ever before, but software enhancements are also likely to be required to adequately take use of the larger display. Apple last upgraded the iPad Pro in April 2021, but some customers have claimed that iPadOS does not fully utilise the hardware available in the iPad Pro, making it more difficult to replace a Mac than it might be.

Gurman believes that Apple will eventually need to provide Mac programmes and a Mac-like multitasking experience with more flexible app window layouts on the iPad Pro. Further releases of iPadOS may improve the experience to take greater advantage of the iPad's technology by the time even bigger iPads hit the market.

RELEASE DATE

Young stated that the debut date for Apple's foldable notebook is "likely later" than 2025, with 2026 or 2027 being mentioned as acceptable options, but there is still a risk that Apple would abandon the project much sooner.

Meanwhile, Young stated that Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone has been postponed until 2025, a considerable delay from prior forecasts that the product will be released in 2023 or 2024.