[georgelyon]

I betting $10 Apple’s foldable will be two iPhone Airs where one side has 0 bezel hinged together with extreme mechanical precision and maybe some fairy dust to make the gap when unfolded unnoticeable.

This creates a foldable with no durability issues and no “crease” problems. Also the two halves of the display could be on the outside when folded, avoiding the need for a third display and getting a rear display for free. I would buy 3 of these.

[red369]

Having the displays on the outside when folded removes all the durability advantages of closing the phone with the screens inside.

I don't even know if that affects my opinion of whether you'll be right or not, because putting glass on the back is definitely more fragile than machining the phone out of a solid block of aluminium. Am I remembering this incorrectly? Was that the unibody MacBooks? Regardless, I found the aluminium backs a lot less fragile, but we all gave them up pretty easily for wireless charging.

Is there something equivalent to longbets.org, but for bets which are about matters that aren't important to society? I'd take you up on the bet - not because I think you're wrong, but because I think it's fun and fairly harmless gambling that is unlikely to lead to either of us developing a habit - but has easily sending small amounts of money internationally been solved yet?

I'll bet $10 it hasn't! That I can't send $10 from one country to another, without paying fees that are a significant proportion of that amount, or needing to put an unreasonable amount of effort into setting up an account with a 3rd party service or doing the transfer with that service.

And the two bets above are a bad look, so I'll also bet $20 that you can't get me doing any more gambling by the end of the day.

[CaptainOfCoit]

> I'll bet $10 it hasn't! That I can't send $10 from one country to another, without paying fees that are a significant proportion of that amount

I'd take you up on that bet! I'm not sure what an envelope costs, but probably less than $0.1 if you buy more than one, then add a stamp (usually around/below $1 in most places in the world AFAIK, even for international destinations).

Please send the $10 in an envelope to Oranjerie 114, 7311 WP Apeldoorn, Netherlands whenever you can :)

[hoseja]

The advantage is you can put bigger screen into your pocket. You already have one exposed display in there normally.

[whatsupdog]

> I'll bet $10 it hasn't! That I can't send $10 from one country to another, without paying fees that are a significant proportion of that amount

It has been solved, but the hacker news hivemind hates the solution. Sending USDT on Ethereum chain costs 25 cents usually.

[ashdksnndck]

The reason you need to worry about the screen of a foldable is because it’s plastic. Normal phones with glass screens are plenty durable. So if you could manage to make a foldable with glass screens, it wouldn’t matter much that the screen is on the outside when it’s in your pocket.

The most popular betting website is Polymarket. Payment is via crypto. The fees aren’t super high. The typical user is more likely to lose money by making bad bets. If you don’t want to spend money, there’s Manifold.

[asadotzler]

That would be an unacceptably fat foldable. Foldables are 4.1mm to 4.2mm at the head of the class and iPhone Air is 5.6mm. Double that and add a bit for folding and you're still under 9mm (acceptable) with today's leading folders, and about 12mm (not acceptable) for the hypothetical Air.

[Fraterkes]

I think it’s a cool idea, but for there to be no crease the 0 bezel sides would have to have incredibly sharp edges. Seems like a real cutting hazard when the phone isn’t folded out (especially if the screens are still glass instead of plastic)

[georgelyon]

Unless Apple comes up with a way to have the crease still physically be there, but visually seem like it isn’t. Perhaps using a waveguide or something similar.

[Anarch157a]

Having both screens on the outside doesn't let you use the main cameras when folded, Apple would never do that.

[mrheosuper]

i wonder why people so obsessed with "no crease". If apple truly care about "perfect screen", they would remove the face id "notch/island" 5 generations ago.

[rollcat]

The last time Apple introduced a product with a moving part was the Airpods line. I think we'll see a foldable iPhone about the same time we see a touchscreen Mac.

[ashenke]

That's funny, a lot of rumors are pointing to a foldable iPhone AND a touchscreen Mac https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/latest-round-of-cred...

[gyomu]

What a weird argument, Apple ships tons of AirPods and MacBooks with hinges, not counting accessories like the iPad keyboard (introduced after AirPods) or display stands.

A hinged iPhone seems totally in the cards.

[waiwai933]

I don’t own any AirPods, so this may be incredibly obvious to anyone who does, but what’s the moving part in them?

[pnt12]

A touchscreen Mac would compete with iPads so that's a no no.

For the foldable phone, it may just have to do with aesthetics.

[LPisGood]

Apple Vision Pro and Apple Watch both have moving parts.

[eclipxe]

This is not what the fold will be like. The air and fold have no relation.