It's been a few months since we reported on the development of Apple's ever-so-elusive foldable phone. But the slow drip of the rumour mill has just offered up another juicy nugget: Apple could be taking on the challenge of fixing the super-short battery life of flexible devices.
Yup, according to one of most reliable Apple analysts around, the tech powerhouse wants to use a high-tech version of electronic ink to replace the power-sucking OLED screen found on the front of flexible devices. Could this send the rumoured model straight to the top of our best fold phones list? Keep reading to see what the future has in store for the iPhone Flip... iFold... Let's leave the name out of it.
Apple is testing E Ink's Electronic Paper Display (EPD) for future foldable device's cover screen & tablet-like applications. The color EPD has the potential to become a mainstream solution for foldable devices' must-have cover/second screen thanks to its excellent power-saving.May 17, 2022
Ming-Chi Kuo (opens in new tab) posted the above tweet, suggesting that Apple could be testing the tech that would change the game for foldable devices. Since an E ink screen can run for weeks off a single charge, it could solve one of the major problems with the foldable phone – the fact that multiple displays drain the battery hours faster than on a standard phone.
Recent advances in electronic ink mean it now has the responsiveness to run video and animation (lightyears away from the Kindle Paperweight, right?), and it's foldable and rollable. This means that, though there are still some issues with the technology (processing speeds, for one), it could be a viable contender for the mainstream electronic market. And we're sure that if anyone can get it over the final hurdle, it'll be Apple.
Since foldable technology still has some creases to iron out, it isn't surprising Apple is holding off releasing its own offering until it has something special up its sleeve. But with reports suggesting that Apple's foldable phone won't come to market until at least 2025, you'll have to make do with these stunning renders (based on Apple's patents) for now.
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