A new rumor is starting to spread among Apple enthusiasts, detailing the potential mass production of ‘crease-free’ foldable screens made by LG for a 20.2-inch MacBook (or possibly 18.8-inch), which could be released late next year.
Analyst and prolific Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo listed some pretty interesting details surrounding the so-called foldable MacBook in a Medium blog post. It will likely feature an M5-series processor (indicating that Apple will be moving forward with its SoCs in a logical manner) alongside a crease-resistant panel. After some time, foldable devices like the Google Pixel Fold or the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 Gen 1 can reportedly develop a noticeable line where the screen folds.
It seems that to combat this danger, the so-called LG-manufactured screen will have “high design specifications” for the panel and hinge, which would lead to very high production costs. Kuo estimates that the panel and hinge cost about $600 to $650 and $200 to $250, respectively.
That’s a scary figure considering the costs would be passed on to consumers and the rumored device could potentially end up being so much more expensive than already expected.
Will this MacBook really happen?
Do I think these collapsible rumors have even a remote chance of becoming reality? Probably not. Over the past few years, it seems like after every MacBook launch, rumors of a foldable laptop or tablet start flying around, and they inevitably come to nothing.
The specs of the rumored MacBook also lead me to believe that this product may never come to fruition. There are very few 20-inch laptops on the market, and there is no clarity on whether the device is 20-inch unfolded or folded.
Apple has made it very clear that MacBooks are not iPads and vice versa. A foldable laptop should come with a touchscreen, and it would probably be in Apple’s best interest to keep these entities separate, to ensure that more people have to buy separate products for their separate needs.
Furthermore, Apple has never been known to jump on the peak of a trend like foldable devices. The company’s approach has always been to wait until the end of a trend and then dive in and revive the hype, or miss it entirely. Personally, I can’t even imagine a foldable MacBook, at least not in the next few years. Still, this rumor is fun to think about; maybe one day it will be true.