2025 Apple Devices

[Scotttheking]

More in the present: The rumors that Apple is creating a giant foldable iPad rather than a foldable iPhone are interesting. Are there many people that want an iPad that is larger than the current 13" limit? Probably not, given the existing iPad sizes represent ideal forms for their traditional use-cases. But I bet there are enough people at the margins willing to pay the premium that I think make it worth Apple's while to explore.

With 30 seconds of thought…In my professional days when I might be sketching out a workflow with a client, that would have been great vs. white board, camera, and later digital transcription.

 

[wco81]

It would depend on the tradeoff in size and weight.

It would be nice to have more screen real estate but not if the foldable is like 30-40% or more heavier the rest of the time.

Would be like buying a truck because you think it would be nice to transport big stuff and not have to rent a U-haul and end up driving it as a single-occupant vehicle most of the time and you maybe load up the bed once or twice in years of ownership.

 

[cateye]

Would be like buying a truck because you think it would be nice to transport big stuff and not have to rent a U-haul and end up driving it as a single-occupant vehicle most of the time and you maybe load up the bed once or twice in years of ownership.

Yeah, you're right, no one does that.

(yes, I realize the dynamics, both social and personal, of carrying a large-but-heavy iPad around versus buying a Ford F150 Raptor for driving to the grocery store are way different, I just found your analogy amusing.)

 

[wco81]

Oh plenty of people will buy it.

That's why pick up trucks are still one of the best-selling vehicle categories.

Dumb consumption is not a bug, it's a feature.

 

[jaberg]

I’m not “bored” with the current forms at all but I do wish for a 24” iPad “desktop”. Not much interested in a foldable anything until the screen tech improves significantly.

 

[japtor]

The tradeoffs in any foldable phone to achieve the larger screen size are only attractive/tolerable to nerds. Regular people love their normal slab phones and would never pay $2000+ for a complicated, thick, heavy, physically delicate device (that you can't put a case on), that you have to manage with two hands every time you want to use its supposedly compelling feature.

I think all the foldables I've seen in the wild were used by normal people.

Oh plenty of people will buy it.

That's why pick up trucks are still one of the best-selling vehicle categories.

Dumb consumption is not a bug, it's a feature.

One of? The F-150 has been the best selling vehicle in the US for 42 years (43 if it tops 2024).

It's like big phones, people buy big trucks cause they like them. They can do pretty much anything (...except fit in small roads/places and be fuel efficient, but this is MERICA) and the compromises for that (the big ass-ity) are actually yet another positive for many people.

 

[Hap]

I think all the foldables I've seen in the wild were used by normal people.

One of? The F-150 has been the best selling vehicle in the US for 42 years (43 if it tops 2024).

It's like big phones, people buy big trucks cause they like them. They can do pretty much anything (...except fit in small roads/places and be fuel efficient, but this is MERICA) and the compromises for that (the big ass-ity) are actually yet another positive for many people.

I have a big truck (GMC 2500HD) because I need it, however I only drive it WHEN I need it. It’s a 2008 with 88K miles, so 16 years old. I would rather drive my Lexus.

Just like I have a iPhone Pro, but not the big one. I have an iPad that goes most places with me. I can’t stand using my phone except for CarPlay and phone calls unless forced to, but I’m not carrying around a Max just in case I want more screen real estate.

Yes, I’m privileged enough to afford both - so that probably makes a difference.

 

[Ashe]

The tradeoffs in any foldable phone to achieve the larger screen size are only attractive/tolerable to nerds. Regular people love their normal slab phones and would never pay $2000+ for a complicated, thick, heavy, physically delicate device (that you can't put a case on), that you have to manage with two hands every time you want to use its supposedly compelling feature.

I would disagree on that front. All the people in my orbit who own foldable phones are definitely not nerds. At least, not in the sense you think. They all profess to love the extra screen real estate for media consumption and all swear they're never going back... and this ranges from a 34-YO to an almost retired 65-YO.

 

[Ashe]

One of the nurses I work with has a Galaxy Fold she adores, and she’s the furthest thing imaginable from a techie. She just likes how big and readable it makes things. Again I’m not arguing foldable aren’t a compromise, they absolutely are, but they do give you something in return for that compromise.

Big phones aren’t idiot slabs. They’re extremely reasonable choices for what’s become the primary computing device for vast swaths of the population. Small phones didn’t die because of market trends, they died because they simply didn’t get the job done well enough for a big enough group of people. You can argue they’re wrong all you want, but the simple truth is every attempt by every manufacturer to bring back small phones has crashed and burned.

People want big phones. There’s no reason to think even a 16PM is big enough to fill that want, but it is the biggest size that can be reasonably pocketed. The only way around that is foldables. They’re planning bring their own sets of trade-offs, for many it won’t be worth it (personally I can say I’d strongly consider one but I’m not sure I’d make that choice myself), but they absolutely serve a purpose.

LOL! The foldable phone owning peeps in my orbit are all RNs that I work with too

 

[wrylachlan]

As is often the case with new technology products, the marketing of the AppleVision Pro foldable phones has outrun the realities of what is currently possible and expectations need to be tempered.

The difference here is that even if foldables marketing is outrunning current foldable technology… they’re still forecast to sell 25M devices in 2024 at high ASPs. Thats 1/10 - 1/9 of iPhone sales on the back of relatively uninspired product design by Samsung and others.

In other words there’s a real market there with unambiguously accelerating growth at good margins. Apple doesn’t want a reputational hit from being early to the party and putting out a compromised product. But we’re five years into Samsung foldables at this point. Late not early is the concern now.

 

[dspariI]

I could see a foldable iPhone that got large enough to run iPad apps as having some real utility. That trifold Huawei phone seems like a better idea to me than a book style since it gives you all the screen real estate without having to silo off the front screen. Maybe sell it as an iPhone Pro Max + iPad Pro hybrid with an M processor to justify the higher price. It'd still be absurdly expensive device, but that could be more defensible as a product.

 

[ham bulu]

Dumb consumption is not a bug, it's a feature.

Actually I find it much more valuable to use my iPad instead of consuming it.

Outside of media, single task computing, light-mutitasking for research, personal finances and light gaming I appreciate the additional real estate it gives me when coupled to my MBP on the road, which is why I find the idea of foldable iPads somewhat interesting.

What does any of that have to do with mindless consumerism or gas-guzzling pickups?