Despite being over-hyped, the fruity cargo cult Apple cannot get its first foldable out of the starting blocks.
A huge milestone was supposedly hit by the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple earlier this month when the iPhone Fold was rumoured to have entered trial production at Foxconn. The news was seized upon by the Tame Apple Press as proof that Jobs’ Mob was about to take control of the foldable market, despite being extremely late to the market.
However, that looks premature, because one tipster says the handset has not even begun prototype manufacturing, which implies Apple cannot get the design to go.
Weibo account Fixed-focus digital cameras is now insisting the iPhone Fold has yet to enter trial production mostly because Apple cannot make the design any different from its rivals.
It is meant to lean on a main crease-less panel, plus a tidy mix of internal specifications and build materials. Another Weibo tipster, Momentary Digital, reckons the iPhone Fold and iPhone 18 will enter mass production in July.
If that timeline holds, Job’s Mob has time to sort whatever design flaws are haunting the launch, and an initial inventory of 11 million units suggests it is aiming big.
However, other rumours suggest that Apple has other reasons for the delay. Apparently, Apple is having a spat with its suppliers over materials and pricing, which is snarling up production plans.
One critical part is the liquid metal hinge, which is expensive to manufacture but could address much of the crease problem.
Job’s Mob runs a tight supply chain and leans hard on secrecy, so there is still plenty of uncertainty about whether the iPhone Fold is anywhere near trial production, and the rumour mill is not slowing down.
