14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve known for a while that Apple wants to join the foldable smartphone game with its very own iPhone, and now it looks like we’re getting closer to this highly anticipated moment.
A new report coming from China indicates that Apple suppliers, including Foxconn and Nippon Nippon have been asked to build foldable iPhone prototypes and send the samples to the Cupertino-based tech giant for long-term durability testing.
More specifically, Apple reportedly wants to make sure that the foldable iPhone can fold and unfold for at least 100,000 times, thus guaranteeing that parts that the screen and the hinges are good to go in the long term.
Foldable iPhone to launch in 2022
This is one of the reasons Apple reached out to Nippon Nippon, as this is the company that has previously shipped laptop components to the Cupertino-based tech giant. And Apple hopes that working together with the same company would guarantee better reliability in the long term, making it possible for the foldable iPhone to withstand the heavy use that smartphones are exposed to these days.
According to the cited source, Samsung will be the company building the display, but at this point, Apple is yet to decide if it wants to use OLED or microLED. This is something that Apple will probably choose after the durability tests that it performs these days, especially as it wants to make sure everything is working correctly before handling the assembly work to Foxconn.
As for the launch date of this highly anticipated iPhone, it’s expected to happen in 2022 at the earliest, so there are only slim chances to see the device go live next year. Most likely, 2021 is going to bring us upgraded models for the iPhone 12 lineup, once again with the focus on 5G support.