Apple's iPhone Plans for 2027: Foldable, or Glass and Curved. (Plus Smart Glasses, Tabletop Robot)

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Verge: This morning, while summarizing an Apple "product blitz" he expects for 2027, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter that Apple is planning a "mostly glass, curved iPhone" with no display cutouts for that year, which happens to be the iPhone's 20th anniversary... [T]he closest hints are probably in Apple patents revealed over the years, like one from 2019 that describes a phone encased in glass that "forms a continuous loop" around the device.

Apart from a changing iPhone, Gurman describes what sounds like a big year for Apple. He reiterates past reports that the first foldable iPhone should be out by 2027, and that the company's first smart glasses competitor to Meta Ray-Bans will be along that year. So will those rumored camera-equipped AirPods and Apple Watches, he says. Gurman also suggests that Apple's home robot — a tabletop robot that features "an AI assistant with its own personality" — will come in 2027...

Finally, Gurman writes that by 2027 Apple could finally ship an LLM-powered Siri and may have created new chips for its server-side AI processing.
Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that Apple is also "actively looking at" revamping the Safari web browser on its devices "to focus on AI-powered search engines." (Apple's senior VP of services "noted that searches on Safari dipped for the first time last month, which he attributed to people using AI.")

Foldable phones seem like a solution

[rsilvergun]

In search of a problem. If I want a larger screen I'll buy a tablet. I've seen the Motorola foldable from a year or two ago selling for as little as 350 bucks but passed it up. I just don't see the point

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[Tablizer]

> If I want a larger screen I'll buy a tablet.

Hard to fit a tablet in one's pocket.

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[rsilvergun]

Yeah but I just don't feel the need to bring a tablet sized device with me everywhere. If I have a tablet I either have it at home or maybe packed away in a suitcase for use at the hotel.

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[Powercntrl]

Hard to fit a tablet in one's pocket.

I'm an average-sized guy and the iPad mini actually will fit into the pocket of my relaxed-fit jeans. Granted, it's a tight fit and I would probably expect some strange looks if I went out in public with an iPad in my pocket, but it technically does fit. My partner, who is entirely nonplussed about what anyone else thinks of it, frequently wears one of those "Loungefly" backpacks. He could easily put a full-sized iPad in that. Ironically though, neither of us actually bother with taking our iPads anywhe

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[93 Escort Wagon]

My iPad Mini fits in my cargo pants pocket.

In theory, I do like the idea of an expandable / folding / whatever phone. But I'm unwilling to spend even the amount Apple and others charge for their current flagship phones (typically I buy refurbs that are one or two models behind). Not to mention that I prefer to keep a phone for quite a few years, so durability is a requirement.

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[Powercntrl]

NGL, my aging eyes might prefer a bigger screen on my phone, but I just know I'd end up breaking the damn thing if it was foldable. Of course, Apple's solution to that is coughing up those extra AppleCare bucks.

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[unami]

A full sized iPad Air fits into my coat pocket (average to slightly overweight guy, 180cm, 85kg), and I often carry it around in a backpack, because I can't be bothered with websurfing on a small phone screen. Even a phablet (why did we stop using that word?) like the iPhone Plus or Pro Max is no fun compared to a tablet screen, so I rather go for the smallest phone I can get. Meaning: I'd definitely be interested in a small foldable that bucks the gigantism trend in phones and is also affordable - two thin

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[Tablizer]

Maybe 4 years ago.

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[snowshovelboy]

I have a flip 5. The point isn't to have a bigger phone, it's to have a smaller one.

Seriously who the hell uses LLMs...

[Anonymous Coward]

...for anything useful? From every article I see, all it seems to do is give bad answers to queries.

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[Powercntrl]

...for anything useful? From every article I see, all it seems to do is give bad answers to queries.

You clearly have no idea how bad Siri is. I just asked it "get directions to the nearest Supercharger station open to non-Tesla EVs" and got this [imgur.com] as the result.

Now, trying the same with ChatGPT:

The nearest Tesla Supercharger station open to non-Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) from your location at [REDACTED], is situated at [REDACTED]. This station is approximately 5 miles northwest of your address.

This Supercharger station features 12 stalls, each capable of delivering up to 250 kW, and operates 24/7. It supports non-Tesla EVs equipped with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) or those using a CCS1-to-NACS adapter.

Hey neat, it's actually correct.

Table Top Robot

[rossdee]

Might work better on the moon or Mars...

A thought on foldable phones

[SuperKendall]

One thing I was thinking of recently, is that maybe foldable phones could solve two issues for Apple at once.

They want to push 3D headsets for spatial computing, but these are really expensive currently when done well, and it's a lot of effort to drive down costs.

Meanwhile that's always an aded expense to other things you need other than have, like a phone.

But what if a cheaper version of a 3D headset, used the foldable nature to work better as the display part of a 3D headset?

That is to say, you would be a

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[Powercntrl]

One thing I was thinking of recently, is that maybe foldable phones could solve two issues for Apple at once.

It does.

#1 It looks nothing like their previous models, so it will be popular with the conspicuous consumption demographic.
#2 It will break more frequently, leading to more sales of replacement devices. Apple has been looking for a new means of planned obsolescence, ever since they got caught doing the things with the batteries and iOS updates.

What about 2025? 2026?

[HumanEmulator]

It's not a good sign that they have to leak potential products for 2027 to Bloomberg to keep the Apple faithful on the hook through 2 dull years. The robot sounds a lot like their car project (ie. why are they making this?) and the smart glasses may have a shot, but are by no means a slam dunk. Under Cook they've had more cancelled or failed new product lines than successes now.

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[Jeremi]

It's not a good sign that they have to leak potential products for 2027 to Bloomberg to keep the Apple faithful on the hook through 2 dull years.

I thought that leaks were unintentional, by definition. i.e. if Apple did it intentionally, it's not a leak, it's stealth marketing.

Why this insane obsession with glass?

[fru1tcake]

My wife's iPhone took a tumble and the main part that got damaged was the glass back. Why is it glass? 95% of phones spend their lives in a case so who cares what the back and sides look like? Make it as durable as possible.

Don't forget...

[xlsior]

They better figure out a way to implement easily user-replaceable batteries as well, since 2027 is the deadline the EU requires those by, for all cellphones on the market.