Folding iPhone may borrow iPad-style multitasking
Folding iPhone may borrow iPad-style multitasking
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/folding-iphone-multitasking
Publish Date: 2026-03-11 23:56:00
Source Domain: www.cultofmac.com
The folding iPhone will require iOS 27 to be enhanced with support for running two applications side-by-side on its large, foldable display, according to a reliable source.
Split-screen multitasking is a feature borrowed from iPadOS, but Apple’s upcoming premium handset will be an iPhone and therefore run iOS — just a modified version.
Folding iPhone will offer side-by-side multitasking
Sufficient details have now leaked out about the first folding iPhone that a fairly complete picture of the device is available, even though it won’t launch until this fall.
The highlight is an inner folding screen that measures 7.7 inches, according to rumor. It will use a 4:3 aspect ratio, the same used by iPads.
And iOS 27 will be able to show two iPhone applications next to each other on the wide display, according to a report published Wednesday by Bloomberg.
“While the foldable iPhone won’t run several windows at once like an iPad mini, it will be able to show two apps side by side,” claims the report.
Not much doubt
While welcome news, this leaks serves as more of a confirmation of something everyone surely assumed already. Among the primary reasons for foldable screens is that they make room for split-screen multitasking. A folding iPhone that couldn’t do this would be an immediate flop. Apple was never going to make such an egregious error.
Also because iOS and iPadOS remain essentially the same operating system, just tweaked for different devices, bringing multitasking from one to the other won’t be a challenge for developers.
Still, Bloomberg‘s report should lay to rest any speculation that the folding iPhone will include freeform windowing like iPadOS. So, one app or two on the screen, never three.
Developers, start your coding
The information leaked to Bloomberg by unnamed “people with knowledge of the matter” indicates that the folding iPhone will run third-party iOS applications, not ones made for iPad.
Developers won’t need to…
