Designer shares his concept of a foldable "iPhone Air" sporting powerful M1 chip

Samsung is the early leader in the foldable market with its Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip handsets. While Apple has yet to officially throw its hat in the ring, TF International's highly accurate analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, says that a foldable iPhone is expected to be released no sooner than 2023 and that it will be of the Flip variety which means it will be a clamshell design similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.

The latest iPhone Flip concept design comes from designer Antonia De Rosa (via BGR) who calls the device the iPhone Air. De Rosa sees a powerful device powered by the 5nm Apple M1 chip carrying 16 billion transistors. That is one billion more than the amount found on the A15 Bionic chip that is found under the hood of the iPhone 13 series.

The M1 chip powers the latest iPad Pro series and was developed by Apple to replace the Intel processors that drive some Mac computers.

The iPhone Air mockup uses chrome hinges and similar to the renders that we've seen for the iPhone 14, the rear camera array is flush with the back panel. While Apple has been reportedly testing out different designs of a foldable iPhone, it also is keeping its eyes on the consumer reaction to  the foldables being sold by rival Samsung.

If you examine the iPhone Air in the video, you'll notice that the phone is portless. This is a design that former Apple design chief Jony Ive had been striving for but could not achieve before his departure from Cupertino.

And instead of the notch, if we can direct your attention to the display, you'll see that the iconic and still controversial notch is replaced with a pill-shaped cutout at the top center of the screen. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will reportedly do away with the notch and replace it with both a hole-punch cutout and a lozenge "pill shaped" opening.