Apple hopes to release a foldable 18.8-inch creaseless iPad by about 2028, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes in today’s Power On newsletter. The company’s industrial design group has reportedly managed to create prototypes of this device that “have a nearly invisible crease” and would essentially be like “two iPad Pros side-by-side.”
Rumors of a folding iPad have been floating in the ether for years, now. Recent ones include a smaller model that Apple would release in 2026 or 2027. Gurman’s write-up today has strong echoes of the gargantuan 20-inch folding “iPad / MacBook hybrid” he detailed in 2022. That doesn’t seem to mean that it will run macOS, but Gurman claims that it “will have elements of both” Macs and iPads and that iPadOS “should be advanced enough to run macOS apps” by 2028.
Devices with a foldable form factor have yet to achieve the same popularity as ‘candy bar’ shaped handsets, and looking at this slow growth, it is not surprising that Apple is yet to launch something similar. However, one report states that the technology giant is actually working on a foldable iPad, and it has obtained some progress with it. According to the latest report, the company could launch it in 2028, with one of its unique attributes being that when completely unfolded, it will tout the footprint of two large-screen tablets placed side-by-side.
For a company that prioritizes the design language of its products, having a visible crease on a foldable iPad will be an immediate rejection from Apple. Unfortunately, this area has been the bane of every foldable smartphone maker, and while efforts have been made to mitigate the crease, there is plenty of room for improvement. Thankfully, Mark Gurman writes in his latest ‘Power On’ newsletter that Apple has made progress with its foldable iPad, with the company’s prototypes sporting a near-invisible crease.