We already have a solid sense of how the iPhone 14 will appear when it is released next year. Apart from the removal of the notch on the Pro model, we don’t expect anything revolutionary from the upcoming Apple phone.
But it doesn’t stop people from fantasising, and on the wackier end of the range is ConceptsiPhone’s sliding design, which you may categorise as “nice, but incredibly unrealistic.”
As you can see, this idea envisions a scenario in which an iPhone’s screen be extended by physically sliding a top panel out to expose a second one underneath it. However, unlike the Nokia C6-00 from 2010, this one just goes half of the way out, rather than growing to become a full-size second screen like the recently introduced Microsoft Surface Duo 2.
The iPhone 14 is shown in the movie showing news headlines, the settings menu, and a considerably bigger landscape keyboard. It’s all very showy, but in the end, it’s a bit unnecessary – an extra panel for the sake of it.
Worst of all possible universes
“Your scientists were so consumed with whether or not they could, they didn’t pause to contemplate if they should,” says a phrase from Jurassic Park. Because if this was Apple’s response to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3, people would be justified to wonder whether the company’s designers had gone insane.
After all, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is appealing since it functions as both a phone and a tiny tablet. This iPhone design offers at most 1.5 phones, and the 0.5 portion appears to be a headache to operate as well.
Only the bigger keyboard is useful for anything other than showing off among the uses shown. Even then, you’d be better off with a BlackBerry-style physical keyboard.
But there’s a reason we don’t see them as often now. Samsung used to sell a physical keyboard shell for their Galaxy S phones, however, they were no longer available with the Galaxy S8, apparently due to low demand.
Given the primary USP’s origins in Cloud Cuckoo Land, it’s probably unsurprising that the video opts for “Air Charge Technology,” which involves a plug transmitting electricity over the air. That’s technically conceivable, but extremely inefficient — which is hilarious, considering that the Apple News Plus headline on the front of the phone image mentions climate change affecting 85 per cent of the planet.
Still, Touch ID is back, and there’s no notch in sight.
While this design appears to be quite implausible, it’s commonly believed that an iPhone Flip is only a matter of time until Apple releases one. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, we’re looking at a 2023 release date at the earliest. When it eventually does arrive, though, you can bet Apple will have come up with something far more practical than this idea.