An 18-inch foldable iPad has been incoming CEO John Ternus's pet project for years. Now, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports it may never ship, describing it as "a wacky experiment that doesn't see the light of day."
Apple has been working on a roughly 20-inch foldable display since at least 2019, aiming to use premium OLED technology while keeping weight manageable. Prototype units weigh around 3.5 pounds, according to people who have worked on the device. That makes them roughly the same weight as a 14-inch MacBook Pro and nearly three times the weight of a 13-inch iPad Pro. The price tag is equally daunting. Gurman previously reported the project carried a cost "somewhere north of $3,000," with development hurdles pushing a potential release to "2029 or later." Now even that timeline looks optimistic.
At $3,000 and 3.5 pounds, the value proposition collapses. A MacBook Pro offers similar screen real estate, better ergonomics for productivity, and weighs less.
Reports of a touchscreen M6 MacBook Pro would further erode any rationale for a giant folding tablet. The device has reportedly been a priority for Ternus in his current role as head of hardware engineering. But being the new boss's pet project offers no guarantee of reaching store shelves, according to multiple sources cited by Gurman.
This puts Apple in an awkward position. The company is positioning Ternus to become the face of foldables when he takes over as CEO on September 1, with the foldable iPhone expected to launch days later under the "iPhone Ultra" branding.
Gurman reports Apple deliberately chose the September 1 transition date so Ternus could host the unveiling and become "the face of what it believes will be a blockbuster new product category."
Apple's best-selling iPads hover around 11 inches and compete on affordability. An 18-inch foldable that costs more than a MacBook Pro and weighs more too solves a problem few customers have. For now, Apple's foldable future rests on the iPhone Ultra, expected this September. The giant iPad may remain exactly what Gurman's sources called it: a wacky experiment.
