Return of the flip phone: does Apple’s foldable iPhone signal a new era in design? | Apple

Back in 2005, nothing felt more high-powered and sophisticated than ending a call by snapping shut a clamshell flip phone.

Now, two decades since they hit peak popularity, they’re back – with Apple rumoured to be working on its first ever flip phone.

Little is known about how it will look. It could resemble Samsung’s Flip design – closer to a 2000s-style clamshell phone – or its Fold, more like a foldable iPad.

A JPMorgan report has suggested that the first foldable iPhone will be revealed in September 2026, priced at $1,999 (£1,474), and will likely expand a foldable phone market expected to reach 19m units in 2025.

The rectangular tablet has been a mainstay of phone design for the last 15 years, but could Apple betting on the flip phone be a sign that’s about to change?

Tech experts said the new product launch probably reflected the fact that people now mostly access the internet on their phones, rather than laptops or tablets, and are looking for a device that optimises that experience – but the high price point suggests it will remain a premium product.

“Apple and all other smartphone makers are somewhat stymied by the fact the smartphone has become somewhat of a boring category – it’s absolutely essential in people’s daily lives, but it no longer has the excitement of the next big thing,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at the tech consultancy CCS Insight.

This is why Apple has been reaching for new designs that can get people talking – for example, the ultra-thin iPhone, expected to be launched in September.

Wood thinks Apple is entering the foldable market because other companies have experimented first. Samsung’s initial Galaxy Fold designs were bedevilled by screen problems, but next week’s Galaxy Flip and Fold 7 triple release, featuring slimmer designs and bigger screens, is expected to represent the “next generation” of foldable phones, which Samsung will be hoping reverses the flatlining sales in 2024.

“Apple is rarely first to anything – it’s not typically a company that dives in with both feet – it likes to take its time, see how it can refine and optimise it, and deliver the best, most reliable experience, then it jumps,” Wood said.

He noted that Samsung’s flip phone has been more popular than the fold model “because it’s cheaper and has captured imagination of the population who like the idea of having something different from everyone else”.

But he thinks that Apple producing a foldable mini-tablet has the most potential to “move the needle” by giving people the opportunity to unfold a larger screen where they can easily watch videos, show off photos and browse documents when working remotely.

Margarita Panayiotou, a tech researcher at the University of Manchester, said academic research had identified that people prefer bigger screens for browsing and gaming. This, combined with the fact that young people, especially, tend to use smartphones to go online, suggests that the foldable design could offer an ideal compromise for future consumers.

Prof Ben Carter, who researches how smartphones impact our lives at King’s College London, agreed that video watching was “one of the wins” for foldable phones, especially since videos constitute a growing proportion of the content that people consume. Foldable phones can have larger screens and can also be propped up for easier viewing.

He thought there could be mental health benefits to a design resembling a “mini-laptop that you can close down”. His research shows that disabling notifications is highly effective in reducing screen time and tackling smartphone addiction.

If the screen is not visible, it removes the “variable reward scheme” – the same process by which gambling addiction works, whereby not knowing when you will receive a reward makes something more compelling. “If you can switch it off, more like a laptop, that distraction has gone,” he said, though he noted there waws not yet evidence that people are using foldable phones in this way.

This might be especially beneficial for children, who receive on average more than 200 notifications a day – though the high price point of foldable phones makes it unlikely that many will have access to them until their parents pass on secondhand models several years after launch.

Prof David Ellis, the chair of behavioural science at the University of Bath, said that other draws include the fact that screens are better protected and fit into a smaller pocket, as well as the “sense of nostalgia that comes with a flip phone”.

But he added that it might not be the gamechanger people are expecting: Apple doesn’t have a “100% success rate – the Vision Pro [headset] has been a spectacular failure”.