For a product that could still be years away from launching, the iPhone Flip grabs attention like nothing else. While Apple hasn't said a word about its alleged foldable phone, or rumored foldable MacBook/iPad, there are still plenty of rumors going around. The latest one claims that iPhone Flip will be getting a a battery-saving display upgrade that could help it challenge the best foldable phones.
Tipster Phone Chip Expert on Weibo claims that Apple's foldable display "pays attention to power consumption," and that the screen's integrated driver circuit has been upgraded from a 28nm process to a smaller 16nm one.
Smaller chip processes (basically a measurement of how dense a chip can be packed with circuitry) generally mean greater power efficiency for the same performance level.
While the display driver circuitry is only a small part of a smartphone, a foldable phone's display is usually its key feature. And the greatest drain on its battery.
Improving display power draw could have a big impact on how long the iPhone Flip could last on a charge, and help Apple's foldable stand out against more entrenched competitors. If it does particularly well, it could even land itself on our best phone battery life page, a feat no foldable phone has managed to date.
Refining or wasting time?
Apple is certainly taking its time with its foldable phone. While we should see the iPhone 17 series on schedule this September, the foldable iPhone may still be two years away.
Meanwhile, we'll likely see Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 later this year, along with an update for the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and hopefully a sequel to the fantastic OnePlus Open early in 2026. Not to mention lots of other foldables from smaller brands with more limited market reach.
So while making small changes like improving the efficiency of the display driver could no doubt be worthwhile, we also just want to see this phone arrive before Samsung, Google, OnePlus and others raise the bar for foldables out of reach.
Huawei's already gone a step ahead with the launch of its Mate XT triple foldable, and Samsung's rumored to be working on one of its own. Goodness knows when Apple would get around to making its own version considering it's yet to release any kind of foldable display device.
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