Apple is reportedly working on a new foldable device with a 20-inch screen that could combine the best of the iPad and the MacBook. The news came first from Ross Young, the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants who detailed Apple’s foldable plans in their latest Foldable/Rollable report.

Young described Apple’s new device as “A true dual use product, a notebook with a full-size keyboard when folded and for use as a monitor when not folded and used with an external keyboard. It may also allow for UHD/4K resolution or even higher at that size. The time frame is likely 2025 or later though.”

Yesterday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman followed up on Young’s report with more details about the possible form factors. “The company could go with a foldable 20-inch screen attached to a physical keyboard or just have one side of the display serving as a virtual keyboard. I’m told Apple has indeed been exploring a dual-screen, foldable MacBook/iPad hybrid that would take the second approach,” Gurman wrote.

As you may know, Apple has been notoriously reluctant to follow the 2-in-1 devices trend kickstarted by Microsoft and other PC manufacturers in the past decade. There are still no MacBook models with a touchscreen, and Tim Cook infamously mocked attempts to combine PCs and tablets as trying to “converge a toaster and a refrigerator.”

Lenovo made headlines last year with its first foldable PC, the ThinkPad Fold X1, but the $2500 device was pretty thick and shipped an OS (Windows 10) that wasn’t really optimized for this new form factor. Thanks to its unique ability to integrate hardware and software, Apple could possibly be in a better position to offer a foldable PC customers really want.

Tagged with Apple, Foldable, Foldable PCs