iPhone

Rumors are swirling that future iPhones may not have any ports. Ed Hardy at Cult of Mac explains why a portless iPhone would be a horrible idea.

First off, there’s iPhone recovery. If something goes seriously wrong with your iOS handset, the cure is to hook it to a Mac or PC and use recovery mode. The need for this is rare, but occasionally crops up when operating system updates go horribly wrong. Without a Lightning port, this is impossible. The only option would be to send the iPhone to Apple or an authorized repair tech. A minor hassle suddenly becomes a major one. Next, even assuming the future portless iPhone comes with MagSafe, wireless charging will still be slower than wired. And the handset itself will cost more to make because Apple will (probably) put a MagSafe charger in the box. And they’ll cost users extra because most people will want to buy extras to have additional chargers at work, in the car, etc. Plus, you can say goodbye to some great accessories…

Designs for two foldable iPhones have passed durability tests, according to reports picked up by TechRadar. Apple has also been granted a patent for hinge-mechanism.

As per United Daily News, these prototypes are just phone shells, which we’re assuming include the casings and the displays but not the various internal components. They’ve reportedly been tested out in China, at a factory run by Apple’s regular supplier Foxconn. One prototype is said to use a clamshell form factor, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or the Motorola Razr. When opened up, the phone has one single and unbroken display, and then the top half folds down over the bottom half. Meanwhile, a new patent filing has been published, showing the hinge mechanism that Apple might be using on one of its foldable iPhone designs. It would actually enable the phone to fold both ways, inwards (like the Galaxy Z Fold 2) and outwards (like the Huawei Mate Xs).