What iPadOS 26 Might Tell Us About Multitasking On The iPhone Fold

Next year, Apple is rumored to enter the foldable market with the iPhone Fold. Rumors have painted a picture of a very enticing product that, in addition to the likely $2,000+ price tag, will feature a crease-free design, the return of Touch ID, and Apple's most impressive specifications, including the new A20 chip, 12GB of RAM, and at least 256GB of internal storage.

With a 7.8-inch inner display – which is almost the same size as the iPad mini's screen — we couldn't help but wonder how much Apple plans to borrow from the iPad's multitasking capabilities for the iPhone Fold. After all, foldable phones are generally very conservative when it comes to the ability to split the screen in two, three, or four pieces. However, truth be told, having more than two apps opened at the same time could make the experience worse.

That being said, Apple could bring some of the innovations introduced in iPadOS 26 to the iPhone Fold. In this article, we'll go through a quick explanation of the current multitasking features available on iPadOS 26 and how they might impact Apple's first foldable.

Currently, iPadOS 26 offers window tiling, Stage Manager, and it's now bringing back Slide Over with iPadOS 26.1. With iPadOS 18, Apple also offered Split View, which has effectively been replaced by window tiling and Stage Manager. Here's a quick summary of all the multitasking features we've seen on the iPad in recent years:

• Window Tiling: This feature lets users snap apps into organized, resizable windows, similar to what users can do on the Mac. It improves multitasking by making it easier to manage multiple apps on one screen.
• Stage Manager: This option offers different desktops for multiple workflows. It's very customizable, allowing users to have one desktop with productivity apps, another for social media apps, and the ability to easily switch between them.
• Slide Over: Recently added in iPadOS 26.1 beta, Slide Over lets iPad users quickly access a second app in a floating window without leaving their main task. In previous iterations of iPadOS, users could stack several apps in Slide Over.
• Split Screen: Currently unavailable on iPadOS 26, this feature would allow iPad users to add two apps in full screen.

I'm currently inclined to believe Apple could bring Slide Over and Split View to the iPhone Fold for multitasking purposes. The reason why neither Stage Manager nor window tiling would work as well on an iPhone is due to the way iPadOS offers a full-sized keyboard for users to type on.

While the company can potentially fix that with the iPad's Magic Keyboard, it's unlikely that Apple will offer a standalone keyboard solution for the iPhone Fold. At least, there are not any rumors regarding that at the moment. That said, Slide Over would let you easily access a second app while still taking full advantage of a primary app, and Split Screen would work exactly as it does on any other foldable smartphone.

Finally, my last idea would be something like having part of the display show Live Activities or interactive widgets, such as the new CarPlay experience. This would let users quickly control their music playback, map directions, and other tasks while still scrolling social media, for example.