Now, YouTubers in China have created an impressive prototype that shows an iPhone that folds with a central hinge in the screen.
Engineers designed the prototype, called “iPhone V”, using the “iPhone X” and the folding mechanism of the Motorola Razr.
The iPhone V, which took more than 200 days and thousands of dollars to make, also features silver “iPhone” letters on the hinge and the famous Apple icon on the back.
Of the world’s seven largest smartphone makers, six have already introduced foldable screens – Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo – but the seventh, Apple, has not.
And the Chinese Technological Aesthetics channel posted on YouTube the video, which details the arduous, months-long task of building the device.
“It took more than 200 days of effort, and at a great cost. In the coming days, we want to continue to improve the foldable iPhone,” said Na Yan of the Technological Aesthetic.
Overall, the iPhone V looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, which flips like an old phone from the 1990s thanks to a horizontal hinge in the middle of the screen.
But the team used the iPhone X, an already five-year-old iPhone model, to turn it into a modern-looking phone running iOS 16.
And the engineers used the phone’s OLED screen, which is the same flexible, although it is covered with a hard outer glass in the “iPhone” devices.
The team also rearranged the internal components of the iPhone X so that it could fold and borrowed the foldable axis structure from the Motorola Razr, although they considered using the mechanism from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.
Engineers admit the result was a somewhat “rudimentary prototype”, with many problems becoming apparent after limited periods of use.
For example, there are creases when folded, and after a few days of use, horizontal creases and bubbles form at the bottom of the screen that are “irreparable”.
It also uses a 1,000mAh battery compared to the 4,352mAh battery in the iPhone 13 Pro Max, so it’s barely enough for a day.
However, overall, the team claims to have technically created “the world’s first foldable iPhone”, potentially years before Apple officially launched it.
It appears that Apple has patented a foldable phone, with a horizontal hinge in the middle.
But those requests were made years ago, and Apple’s recent iPhone models don’t have design features that would indicate it’s going the foldable route any time soon.