This is stupid, I want it.

Next week Apple will likely introduce a foldable iPhone. For a long time I was pretty sure I will get one. I use my phone mostly for reading, but cannot stand reading books on it. On the other hand the iPad mini, which is roughly the form factor of the foldable, is exactly the size I want for books. Finally a new form factor other smartphone makers have already been supporting for eight years and the first time in five or six years a phone would have a new feature I care about.

The last time - after years of repeating it - I said "if Apple releases X I will pre-order" was when I was hoping for a 15" MacBook Air. I love the Air for its weight and build quality, but I am more of a 15" screen enjoyer. It nicely fits two editor panes next to each other, which is a requirement for me to do any serious work. And I did exactly that.

But for the iPhone Fold I am honestly questioning if I see it through.

Not because of any of the obvious shortcomings it will have. The camera will be worse, likely iPhone Air style. Which is kind of okay for me, for a long time the quality of my snapshots has been limited by me, not the camera. Battery life will be worse. There will be an end of life measured in months (up to one or two years) before something mechanical will go horribly wrong, I am under no impression that Apple solved a problem the rest of the industry did not after eight iterations.

Also, just to point it out, eight iterations that did not gain much traction. And customer surveys show people do not care much for a foldable. So even if it does not suck, who knows how long the category will be around.

The main issue is this: I have lost trust in Apple. The software is on a gradual decline. The hardware is still great. But with a new form factor that changes the way the device behaves there are more software changes than just adding a few pixels here or there. I do not trust them to have a working experience ready for a version one.

From what we heard and have seen from the hardware division under Ternus this might change in the future. I still hope they will do another Snow Leopard release for macOS and iOS. I would appreciate that even more than letting me run macOS on my iPad that costs more than a MacBook and has the same chip.

So here I am, knowing the hardware will suck with an e-waste countdown built into it. I do not trust Apple to execute on this product well. Foldable phones are objectively not a well received product niche which jeopardizes the future of the factor before it is even released.

All in all it is just a really bad idea to spend money on. And yet… I really want one. Even with a very high likelihood of it being a disaster, having a proper iPad mini in my pocket, being able to pull up a book, having a decent enough terminal when the keyboard is showing - something the Pro Max fails to deliver - is just too tempting to pass on. This is such a bad idea...