Apple dominates in the premium phone category, but foldables -- which fit into the premium space in terms of price -- are already nipping at its heels, with Motorola telling CNET that 20% of customers buying its Razr foldable jumped ship from Apple. Samsung meanwhile is in the fifth generation of its Flip and Fold series, and as CNET Editor Lisa Eadicicco found out during a visit to Seoul, South Korea, "foldables are everywhere."

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Would Apple go with a smaller format like the Galaxy Z Flip 5?

Amy Kim/CNET

With both Google and OnePlus getting in on the foldable phone game last year, Apple runs the risk of not just losing out on potential customers, but allowing rivals like Samsung to become the go-to name for the category, which could make it harder for Apple to make an impact if it eventually launches its own folding product. Furthermore, early foldable adopters attracted by the fancy bending tech may be too entrenched in the Android ecosystem by the time Apple's phone arrives to want to switch to iOS. 

But Apple is unlikely to be worried. It's predicted that around 20 million foldables from all manufacturers were sold worldwide in 2023, while Apple reportedly sold 26.5 million iPhone 14 Pro Max handsets in the first half of the year alone. Clearly, Apple knows it has yet to miss the boat. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a superb phone. But what if it could bend?

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Apple has always found success in biding its time, observing the industry and launching its own take on a product when it's ready. Apple didn't invent phones, tablets, smartwatches or computers, but it found ways to take existing products and make them more useful, more valuable in day-to-day life and, dare I say, more exciting. It's why the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac lines dominate in the market today. 

And for me, I need to see Apple's take on the foldable phone. I've written before about how disappointed I am in foldables. I've been a mobile reporter for 13 years and phones have become increasingly dull as they've converged to become slight variations on the same rectangular slab. 

Foldables promised something new, something innovative, something that briefly sparked some excitement in me, but several years in, that excitement has dwindled to the point of being extinguished. They are fine products and while I like the novelty of a screen that bends, they're not a revolution in how we interact with our phones. Not in the way that the arrival of the touchscreen was when we were still using buttons to type out texts.