A Magic Folding iPhone I Never Have to Open? Yes Please!

Apple is working on at least two folding iPhone prototypes, which is fine, but this being Apple, it seems unlikely that it'll just be a regular iPhone that folds in half.

According to The Information's Wayne Ma, the prototypes "fold widthwise like a clamshell." Presumably Apple has worked out how to fix the hardware problems associated with folding phones—scratch-prone screens which end up showing a crease, for one—so what might it bring to the folded phone game that would make it worth the bother? I have some ideas.

"I've delved deeply into how artificial intelligence can revolutionize not just marketing but various aspects of technology, including smartphones," AI company founder Matthew Montez told Lifewire via email. "AI and natural language processing have advanced significantly, but there are still limitations. Although AI could handle a vast majority of tasks through voice commands and automation, tailoring these interactions to feel as natural and intuitive as manual controls remains a challenge."

Open and Shut Case

One big design problem with folding phones is that you have to unfold them to use them. If you're getting a call, you have to open the phone up to see who's calling. Some handsets counter this with another screen you can see while the phone is folded. Or you could fold the phone inside-out, with the screen on the outside, although then you miss out on the extra protection when it's in your pocket.

"It's already a bother to take it out of my pocket every time I have to use my phone. I'm not going to take it out and unfold it every time," says Apple fan Antiprotest in a Mac Rumors forum post. "If I have a foldable phone I'll just keep it unfolded all the time."

But another option would be to make it so you rarely have to open your phone unless you want to actually use the screen for typing, reading, or frittering your life away on TikTok. This is the option we will explore today because Apple already has (almost) all the tech in place to make it happen.

Step one is AI. Apple is already all-in on AI; only until now the company has called it machine-learning. It powers the camera app's Portrait Mode, recognizes your friends and family in your photo library, enables predictive spelling and autocorrect, and so on.

Last year, Apple bought over 30 AI startups, more than any other tech company, Apple researchers just released a new AI model that can edit photos from spoken commands, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly committed to AI features in future products, a rare insight into Apple's plans.

In short, it's fair to say that Apple is as deep into AI as anyone else.

Imagine, then, that you can use your iPhone just by talking to it. It could work like the Rabbit R1, that amazing little handheld that replaces your phone with—that's right!—a voice-controlled AI assistant. Only instead of having to use a bunch of web apps behind the scenes, the iPhone version would tie into all the apps and services you already have on your phone. How might that all work?

Dynamic A-Island

Right now, Apple already offers plenty of non-full-screen ways to interact with your iPhone. It reads incoming messages and notifications into your AirPods, and you can reply without even touching the phone. You get all kinds of readouts on your Apple Watch, and you can remote-control things like podcasts and music right from your wrist.

The iPhone's accessibility features screen-reading, and then there's an upcoming capture button, rumored for the iPhone 16 (that's next year's iPhone, if you're not counting), which would be an ideal way to snap a photo without actually opening a folded iPhone.

To tie this all together, there's the Dynamic Island, effectively a small mini-display that keeps you updated on app status. Imagine, then, interacting with an AI Siri that actually works well and being able to glance at a small dynamic island on the front of the folded iPhone, all of which is connected to your AirPods and your Apple Watch. Apps already supply data to widgets, Live Activities, and the Dynamic Island, so supporting this would kind of already be built in.

A stretch? Maybe. But then, so is a foldable iPhone. After all, Apple doesn't shy away from ignoring whole tech segments if it doesn't think they're worth doing—the netbook, for example, or a touch-screen Mac.

Whatever Apple comes up with for its folding iPhone, though, you can bet there will be some surprises and that whatever clever new UI it comes up with will immediately seem obvious, and every other phone maker will copy it. I can't wait.