Apple Says Rivals Copied iPhone Duo's Aspect Ratio as Ternus Discusses Folding Phone Race
Apple's John Ternus and Greg Joswiak told TechRadar and Tom's Guide that rivals copied the aspect ratio of the folding iPhone Duo, while its folding nano-texture display stayed secret.
"People knew through leaks that we were working on a foldable," Joswiak said. "Unfortunately, they got the aspect ratio, and a lot of coincidental instances of people finding that an interesting aspect ratio." By "people," Joswiak was referring to Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi, all of which announced wide folding phones ahead of Apple. Apple was far from the first company to announce a passport-shaped folding phone this year.
What Apple says it did keep out of competitors' hands is the iPhone Duo's folding nano-texture display. "What I'm super proud of — we kept it secret," Joswiak said. "We put the extra security on it. We didn't talk about it to anybody."
Hiding hardware plans has become harder as Apple and its competitors rely on the same global suppliers, a factor The Verge's Dom Preston has described as making product development nearly impossible to keep quiet.
According to The Verge's account of the interview, Ternus, who comes from an engineering background, described his first interaction with a prototype of the display. "Oh this is it, this is what I want," he said, grinning. The report characterized his boyish enthusiasm as a change from the more measured style of Tim Cook, and described the new head of Apple as a product man in the mold of the company's mercurial founder.