For some time now, reporting around Apple’s rumoured folding phone has coalesced around two beliefs: the device is set to drop this fall, and it will have a significantly less visible display crease than previous folding devices.
That sounds like a typically Apple feature to prioritise, and it could well explain why the company is late to the category. Folding phones are cool, but the creases in their inner screens are undeniable imperfections. Whether it’s capacity with music players, user interface with smartphones or the overall form factor with tablets, Apple tends to avoid making products with clear compromises in their defining elements.
But is it even possible to make a crease-free folding phone? There are huge engineering challenges to making a phone with a glass display that bends back and forth and flattens seamlessly, much less one that stays that way over time.