Apple just shipped its first foldable iPhone, but according to new reporting, the company isn’t stopping at one shape. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s hardware labs are already exploring a second foldable design — a compact, square, clamshell-style device that would sit alongside the book-style iPhone Duo rather than replace it. If accurate, it signals Apple sees foldables not as a single product, but as an entire category worth building out the same way it has with the standard iPhone lineup.
What Bloomberg’s Report Actually Says
According to Gurman’s reporting, Apple’s labs are currently evaluating a square, clamshell-style foldable phone as a potential follow-up device, distinct from the book-style iPhone Duo that launched this month. Crucially, the report frames this as genuinely early-stage exploration rather than a confirmed upcoming product — there’s no indicated release timeline, and Gurman himself notes the device is far from guaranteed to actually reach the market. The reasoning behind it, per the report, comes down to a straightforward bet: if the first foldable iPhone generates real consumer demand for the category, Apple expects customers will eventually want different shapes and sizes, much as they already do across its standard iPhone lineup.
Meet the Rumored “iPhone Flip”: A Different Shape Entirely
Unofficially dubbed the “iPhone Flip” by reporters covering the story, the rumored clamshell device would fold vertically into a compact square, closer in concept to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series or Motorola’s Razr lineup than to the larger, book-style iPhone Duo. Where the Duo unfolds into a tablet-like 7.6-inch display aimed at multitasking and media consumption, a clamshell design would prioritize pocketability and a compact form factor when closed, appealing to an entirely different kind of buyer than the productivity- and media-focused Duo.
This Isn’t a New Idea — The 2024 Clamshell Prototypes
Apple’s interest in a clamshell foldable didn’t start with this report. Back in 2024, The Information reported that Apple was already building prototypes of at least two clamshell-folding iPhones, with engineers reportedly focused on ensuring the folded device wouldn’t feel noticeably thicker than a standard iPhone — a technical requirement that, according to that earlier report, slowed the project’s progress considerably. That earlier clamshell effort appears to have been shelved in favor of the book-style design that ultimately became the iPhone Duo, but the current reporting suggests the clamshell concept never fully disappeared from Apple’s internal roadmap — it simply lost out in sequencing, not in concept.
Why the Book-Style iPhone Duo Won Out First
Apple’s decision to launch the larger, book-style foldable first rather than a clamshell design makes sense from a product-differentiation standpoint. A tablet-style unfolding display gives Apple room to introduce genuinely new use cases — Apple Pencil support, Split View multitasking, and a significantly larger canvas — that a compact clamshell simply can’t offer in the same way. Leading with the more functionally distinct device likely made for a clearer, more compelling opening pitch to skeptical buyers than starting with a clamshell design that, feature-for-feature, would have looked more directly comparable to existing Android flip phones already on the market.
The Logic Behind a Multi-Foldable Strategy
Apple’s broader product history offers a useful precedent here. The standard iPhone lineup has expanded over the years into Pro, Pro Max, and budget-focused variants specifically because different buyers want different combinations of size, price, and features from the same core product. Applying that same logic to foldables isn’t a stretch — a company willing to sell four or five distinct iPhone models each year is unlikely to treat “foldable” as a single fixed shape once the category proves it has real staying power. A clamshell device priced and sized differently from the Duo could open the format to buyers who want a foldable’s novelty and compact form factor without needing — or wanting to pay for — the Duo’s larger, tablet-like unfolded display.
What a Clamshell iPhone Would Need to Get Right
Any clamshell foldable Apple eventually ships will face a different set of engineering challenges than the Duo. Vertical clamshell designs place different stress patterns on their hinge and display compared to book-style foldables, and durability concerns specific to that format were reportedly a major factor in why Apple’s earlier 2024 clamshell prototypes struggled to move forward. Cover-display functionality also matters more in a clamshell format, where the entire value proposition when closed depends on how useful that small outer screen actually is for notifications, quick replies, and glanceable information — an area where competing Android flip phones have had years to refine their approach.
Realistic Timeline: Don’t Expect This Soon
Nothing about the current reporting suggests a clamshell iPhone is imminent. Earlier reporting from CNET placed a potential clamshell launch around 2028, and Gurman’s more recent reporting doesn’t offer a firmer timeline, explicitly describing the concept as still under internal consideration rather than in active late-stage development. Realistically, Apple’s next concrete step in this category is far more likely to be a second-generation version of the existing iPhone Duo, refining the format it just brought to market, before a genuinely different clamshell shape becomes a serious near-term product.
How This Fits Apple’s Broader Product Strategy
Taken together, the reporting paints a picture of a company treating foldables as a long-term category bet rather than a single, one-off hardware experiment. Whether or not this specific clamshell concept ever ships, the underlying signal is clear: Apple is watching how the iPhone Duo performs commercially before deciding how aggressively to expand the format further. If the Duo sells well, expect more concrete reporting on a clamshell follow-up to accelerate quickly; if it underperforms, a second foldable shape may end up shelved indefinitely, the same way the original 2024 clamshell prototypes reportedly were.
