It seems Apple is serious about developing foldable products. The company is set to launch a foldable MacBook in 2026 with an a near crease-free display, according to a report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo, who has a solid track record of Apple-related leaks, believes Apple’s “target mass production schedule for the panel and assembly is 4Q25 and 1H26”. This means the foldable MacBook is likely to debut in 2026.
LG will begin mass production of display panels for a MacBook with a 20.2-inch or an 18.8-inch foldable screen, according to Kuo. “The difference between these two sizes is their folded form factor, corresponding to the design of 14–15 inch and 13–14 inch laptops, respectively,” Kuo wrote in a Medium blog post.
Apple的首款折疊產品 – 全螢幕折疊MacBook調查更新 / Apple’s first foldable product – the full-screen foldable MacBook survey updatehttps://t.co/LT8iKYDH7X
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 23, 2024
However, display industry expert Ross Young said he expects the device to have an 18.76-inch display instead of a 20.25-inch display for “cost reasons.”
Apple wants to make the foldable screen “as crease-free as possible,” which will require the use of high-cost components, Kuo claims. He suggested that the foldable MacBook could be nearly as expensive as Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499. For comparison, the 16-inch MacBook Pro currently starts at $2,499.
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Kuo expects the MacBook to be powered by the M5 chip, which hasn’t been announced yet. The M4 is Apple’s latest silicon, powering the iPad Pro 7th generation.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors of a foldable MacBook. Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu reported on May 6 that the foldable MacBook will enter mass production in 2025 with a launch in early 2025 or 2026.
Kuo himself reported in March 2024 that “Apple’s only foldable product with a clear development schedule is the 20.3-inch MacBook, expected to enter mass production in 2027.”