Apple is all set to host its yearly Worldwide Developer Conference next week, where it is expected to announce the long-awaited Siri update. As excited as I am for the smart assistant to finally work like it was supposed to all these years, the iOS 27 sneak peek could potentially confirm Apple’s next big launch: the foldable iPhone Ultra.
I say this because iPhones have trailed behind their Android counterparts in true multitasking capabilities. Sure, they have a Dynamic Island that pops up crucial information with a press-and-hold without leaving the current app. But it isn’t the same as running multiple apps side-by-side simultaneously or one app on top of another. Such use cases are crucial for big-screen foldable phones – or even big slab phones for that matter. This iOS limitation is one of the reasons I believe the 6.9-inch screen estate on Pro Max models isn’t utilized to its full potential. But this might change at next week’s WWDC.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple’s foldable iPhone will feature an “iPad-like interface when opened.” It could support running two apps side-by-side and add sidebars to many apps. We’ve never had an iPhone running multiple apps on the screen simultaneously, and if Apple demos such an instance at WWDC 26, it’ll likely point towards the launch of an iPhone with a larger screen – hopefully, one that folds.
However, iOS 27 needs more than just an iPad-like multitasking UI to take advantage of its bigger canvas. After using most of the foldable phones launched in the last five years, I have a few notes for Apple to maximize the big screen potential.
Multitasking with intuitive window management
The Oppo Find N6 can run three apps simultaneously and multiple more as pop-up windows.
The Oppo Find N6 is my favorite foldable phone. It has an anti-reflective screen for better outdoor legibility, big battery all-day endurance and above all, a software experience that makes it a multitasking powerhouse. It is much more than having a simple split-screen at your disposal. That’s not to say I don’t use split-screen multitasking but running two apps side-by-side isn’t ideal when you have to type in one app (like Google Docs). Once the keyboard pops up, you get less space to type.
Oppo (and OnePlus) solved this issue in 2023, when you could run two apps side-by-side and a third one in full-screen at the bottom. It lets me reference search material from a webpage on the left half of the screen and have a PDF running on the other half, while also running Google Docs at the bottom to type my story on the go.
The latest Oppo Find N6 takes it to the next level with its Free-Flow Window feature, which lets you run up to four apps simultaneously in resizeable windows. Is four apps too much? Yes. But is it logical? Also yes. I thought it was overkill till I was at the airport and had to urgently submit my invoices. I opened Google Sheets (to create the invoice), Calculator (to calculate my month’s income for taxes), Keep (to take tax notes), and Chrome (to cross-check my published work.
I could do all of this on a slab phone by constantly flipping between each app. However, having the ability to run all of these apps without exiting another and resize them to your liking truly helps save time and effort. I’ve also used this feature to take notes while attending meetings and referencing shared PDFs simultaneously.
I’d love to have this feature on the iPhone Fold with an iPad-like taskbar at the bottom. It could make the iPhone Ultra like an iPad Mini when unfolded but one that fits inside my pocket.
More iOS tweaks for intuitive use
A sidebar might not be great on slab phones but it can help you be more productive on foldable phones.
The iOS 27 redesign could touch Siri, Search, Camera, Safari, Weather, Image Playground and more. For the sake of iPhone Fold’s big screen, I hope it also adds two things to the system user interface.
First, I’d love to get a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7-like sidebar. It might not sound very useful in theory but every foldable phone has this feature now, and it is for a good reason. When AI Select was first rolled out on a Samsung phone, it was only possible to access it through the sidebar. This Galaxy AI feature allowed me to highlight a portion of my current screen and suggest contextual actions.
For instance, I used it to add Calendar events from my emails. I could open an email invite, swipe the sidebar to access AI Select and highlight the event information to automatically have the date, time and address on my Calendar app. Unless you have Gemini enabled on your Gmail account, you’d need to manually add these details to create a Calendar event.
I also use the sidebar to access the Files app and other apps for pop-up (like Calculator), which I don’t have on my taskbar. While the Bloomberg report said a sidebar could make its way to certain apps, I’d love to have system-wide accessibility so I can use it on top of my on-screen content, no matter what app I’m currently using.
Honor’s extended folders allow me to have one-tap access for up to five apps while having them grouped together.
Second, I want more smartphone manufacturers to borrow Honor’s extended folders. It helps keep apps within one-tap access, while also letting me group them. It is the best of both worlds – having a folder as well as a single app icon on the screen.
This feature was adopted by more Android skins last year but most of them are limited to three apps. Honor allows me to add up to five apps in a vertical or horizontal extended folder, which groups my favorite apps without needing me to tap on a folder to access them. It is a neat feature that I’ve missed immensely since I shifted back to my iPhone 17 Pro Max. The best I can do on an iPhone right now is move apps closer to each other, or use Smart Stack to group a few widgets together.
These iOS 27 additions would make the upcoming Apple foldable easier to use and help maximize its big screen utility. I hope we can get our first look at some of them next week at WWDC 26, alongside the other more exciting iOS 27 features. Either way, it is going to be a packed week for Apple software!
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