Apple's rumored folding iPhone feels further away than ever

 The fourth Galaxy Z Fold shows Samsung is running out of problems to fix while Apple hasn't even got started.

- DAVID PRICE

Apple has never been especially interested in doing things first, which is unusual for a technology company, particularly one worth trillions of dollars. It likes to do things right. It likes to do things when it's good and ready.

The original iPhone was one example of this, as much as the company's cheerleaders may try to retrospectively crown it as the world's first smartphone.

On the contrary, we had plenty of smartphones before then; they just weren't very good. Apple found a market that was ripe for domination-sitting in that sweet spot where user interest was high and available product quality was low-and then came crashing in like a multitouch cannonball with a phone that executed the concept properly. 

But the folding iPhone (fave.co/ 3TjE614), which is a thing we talk about endlessly rather than a thing that actually exists in any verifiable form, has followed a different path. In theory, Apple has been playing its usual long game, watching, waiting, and moving behind the scenes while Samsung, Motorola (fave.co/ 3Czkbi4), Oppo (fave.co/3PTtRHt), and the rest roll out their hyped products to get the market warmed up. But as Samsung unveils the fourth generation of its Galaxy Fold phone, the market has been nicely warm for a while now, and there's no sign of a headlining act from Cupertino.

THE FOLD, GETTING OLD