The foldable market has been growing on the Android side. What happens if Apple doesn’t want to play?
Foldables are everywhere in the Android world nowadays. Everyone who is anyone — from Samsung to Huawei to Honor to Oppo — is making one. Yet, despite all that, Apple hasn’t made any moves that indicate it’ll be joining the market. Heck, this week, Apple announced one of its most backward-looking products in the iPhone SE. We’ve explored what an iPhone foldable might look like, but perhaps it’s worth considering the possibility that Apple may not release one at all. Foldables as a concept are quite alluring. In a market where every smartphone feels more or less the same, getting a smartphone that can be a smartphone and a tablet is rather exciting. Giving credit where credit is due, foldables have also come a long way. While the first few foldables proved themselves brittle, modern devices are sturdy, exciting, and selling in more numbers than ever before. It’s almost like Apple might need to jump into this market before all its Android competitors outpace it with their more advanced devices. And yet, looking at the numbers paints a different story. In the premium market where foldables live, it is Apple that reigns supreme. Sure, Samsung’s S-Series phones are exciting, and the Z Fold and Z Flip are better than ever before, but they don’t compare to Apple’s iPhones in terms of sales. This is a product line that includes seven of the top 10 smartphones sold in 2021, with the other three being budget devices. Apple doesn’t need do anything. It’s the foldable makers that need to prove themselves over Apple. In an interview with Digital Trends, Marta Pinto, senior research manager at IDC, said: “In the current hardware portfolio, Apple counts iPad Mini, that has a slightly larger screen than Samsung Z Fold 3, so there is apparently no reason to embark straightaway in that segment. The foldable category is still in its infancy and requires a lot of ‘nurturing’ [i.e., consumer and developers’ being educated as to why it is a relevant category, as well as building more compelling use cases].
