On the eve of Apple’s special event, Bloomberg is out with a new report detailing the decade-long foldable iPhone development.
The report highlights former Apple CEO Tim Cook’s involvement in the project. Plus, details on how much the foldable iPhone could cost.
Mark Gurman says Apple engineers started iPhone Fold development around 2016. In 2020, Cook returned home from a trip to China and was “unusually energized” about foldable phones. He reportedly pushed Apple’s hardware teams to accelerate work on the company’s first foldable.
Typically, Cook “stayed away from the conception of new products.” Therefore, his involvement in the foldable iPhone’s development gave the project added weight:
Cook’s enthusiasm helped change the direction of the work to something that could be more mainstream. Rather than begin with a foldable iPad, Apple turned its focus to creating a foldable iPhone. “Tim was the earliest and biggest champion of this,” one of the people said. “He saw them everywhere in Asia and said Apple needed to play in this space.”
