New report suggests Apple may replace iPad mini with larger iPhone

Reports of Apple’s folding iPhone keep making headlines and today’s report puts it into perspective with the company’s entry-level iPad. In a new report, MyDrivers suggests that Apple may eventually replace the iPad mini with a folding iPhone, such that will offer stylus input.

Last week’s report brought about the possibility that Apple’s folding iPhone may bring support for a stylus – though it isn’t clear if it’s the current Apple Pencil or something new. The display will be somewhere between 7.3 and 7.6-inches diagonally, but with a very tall aspect ratio. MyDrivers report points to a September 2022 release date for Apple’s folding device – which will reportedly feature a clamshell form-factor – but last week’s report from EqualOcean suggested it would be pushed back to 2023.

With such a high cost difference, I personally don’t think Apple would replace the iPad mini with a folding iPhone. I do, however, believe that Apple may phase out the iPad Mini for some other reason – perhaps in a couple of years, all iPads will have smaller bezels and the larger iPad will have the same footprint as the current 5th generation iPad Mini. Who knows? – we’re only speculating.

Rumors about Apple’s development of a folding iPhone have swirled for years now. With the first Galaxy Fold, Samsung showed us how difficult it is to manufacture and market such a device. While the Galaxy Fold’s first wave of customers revealed the product’s flaws and drawbacks, Apple normally takes time to refine new technologies like this - the company historically watches and learns from other OEMs’ mistakes before implementing the new technology into its products.

Source (Chinese)