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A 20-inch iPad that folds like a book sounds like the sort of device Apple would unveil under perfect stage lighting, with a slow-motion hinge animation and a crowd trying to decide whether they just saw the future. Inside Apple, that future has reportedly been taking shape. The harder question is whether it ever escapes the lab.
Most foldable Apple rumors have circled the so-called iPhone Fold, widely expected to be the company’s first serious move into folding screens. The foldable iPad, though, is stranger and far more ambitious. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has been developing a device with a display of roughly 20 inches when opened, creating something close to two iPad Pros sitting side by side.
That is not a casual experiment. Gurman says the project has been a priority for John Ternus, Apple’s hardware engineering chief and the executive reportedly lined up to become CEO on September 1. When a future Apple leader backs a product this unusual, people pay attention. Still, Apple history is full of polished prototypes that never became products.
The problem with making a giant iPad feel normal
The appeal is obvious. A foldable iPad could become a portable creative studio, a giant reading canvas, a multitasking monster, or a lighter alternative to carrying a laptop and tablet together. On paper, it is exactly the kind of category-blurring device Apple likes to chase.
Then reality walks in carrying a hinge.
People familiar with the work told Bloomberg that the foldable iPad may remain a prototype because of stubborn design challenges. The hinge is the obvious headache, but not the only one. How do you make a folding tablet feel sturdy without turning it into luggage? Where does the keyboard experience live? Would users type on glass across a huge surface, attach an accessory, or treat it more like a portable desktop?
Weight may be just as damaging to the dream. Some prototypes have reportedly been around 3.5 pounds, which puts the device in MacBook Pro territory. That is a dangerous place for an iPad to land. Tablets are supposed to feel effortless. Once a device becomes something you brace with both hands and think twice about carrying, the magic starts to leak out.
Apple has already hit pause on the idea before. Development reportedly stalled in 2025 because of high costs, engineering complications, and doubts about whether enough people would actually buy such a machine. That last point matters. Foldable tablets are not exactly a mainstream obsession, and premium experimental hardware has become a more sensitive subject inside Apple after the Vision Pro’s difficult early reception.
The timing also complicates everything. If Ternus does become Apple’s next CEO, his job changes overnight. A hardware chief can personally push an exotic device through rough patches. A CEO has to weigh supply chains, margins, services, AI strategy, shareholders, retail momentum, and the next iPhone cycle before breakfast.
Meanwhile, the iPhone Fold looks like the cleaner bet. It fits an existing global market, answers years of consumer curiosity, and gives Apple a direct response to Samsung and other foldable phone makers. A massive folding iPad is less predictable. It might redefine mobile productivity. It might also become another expensive curiosity with a tiny audience.
The foldable iPad is not dead, but it no longer feels inevitable.
That may be the most Apple-like part of the story. The company often waits until a technology feels ready, then arrives late with a version that suddenly makes sense. But a 20-inch folding tablet asks for more than patience. It needs a reason to exist that is stronger than spectacle. If Apple cannot find that reason, the next CEO’s big foldable dream may stay exactly where it is now: impressive, expensive, and hidden behind locked doors.
Source: phandroid
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