Crease? What crease?

Oppo, the largest smartphone manufacturer in China, just launched a new folding smartphone called the Find N5.

It’s about the same size and thickness as an iPhone 16 Pro (8.93 mm thick versus 8.25 mm), but sports an internal screen that folds out to about the size of an iPad mini.

Although only available in China, the Find N5 is getting positive reviews. Check out this review from Marques Brownlee, for example, which shows how far folding phones have come in the last year or so.

But the Fold N5 suffers from one clear disadvantage — a noticeable fold in its screen. For a lot of people — including me — that’s a deal-breaker. (Plus, it runs Android, which, let’s face it, is a bigger problem!)

Apple reportedly solved the crease problem, and is prepping a folding iPhone for launch next year.

How did Apple eliminate the fold? We don’t know for sure, but informed speculation points to new panels that are strategically thinned at the crease. The details look pretty interesting.

Also in today’s newsletter:

• With the rise of AI image editors, Adobe seems a little late to the party. But after many years, Photoshop finally arrived on iPhone.

• Tim Cook proved himself a capable Trump whisperer during the president’s first term. This time around, Cook continues to tread a delicate path, sticking to Apple’s principles without poking the beast.

• This discounted Surfshark VPN sub looks like a pretty good deal, especially because it covers unlimited devices.

• One of the most interesting things about Eve’s smart home products — including its latest HomeKit-compatible dimmer switch — is that their basic functions require no cloud connection, a notorious weak link for many IoT products.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

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