iBook: Why This Classic Name is Perfect for Apple's New Foldable

I am looking forward to the iPhone Fold. However, the name just does not do it for me. Perhaps the perfect name for the new Apple Fold is the iBook. When released in the second half of next year, it will resemble a book because of its form factor. Other than features that Apple will likely differentiate from fold competitors, in calling its own offering the iBook will bring allow Apple to circle back to a time when computing was fun and the continuing Apple comeback in the consumer computer market.

The original iBook, launched in 1999, was more than just a computer—it was a statement. With its colorful, translucent design clamshell iBook looked like nothing else on the market. It was fun, approachable, and ready to use out of the box. This playful spirit and focus on making technology personal and enjoyable for students and consumers is the exact legacy a new "iBook" could bring back to the Apple brand and the book form iPhone due to be released in late 2026.

By calling the iPhone Fold the "iBook", Apple can achieve a number of marketing goals and messages to the market:

• Reintroducing fun to mobile computing. The book form is entirely new to Apple users. the iBook will introduce completely new computing and mobile uses. Chose between one or two screens or a bigger one. For example, multi-tasking has been a difficult issue for Apple to tackle. Now, with two panels becoming one big one, something like Stage Manager or the new windowing mechanism in iOS 26 may allow users to do more.
• The return of candy-colored nostalgia. Imagine the marketing campaign from Apple. On top of that, with iOS 26 and a revamped and more powerful Siri, Apple can make the iBook the everyday device that users will want for work, home, and fun in the commercials. The colorful schemes will make the iBook stand out from the gray, black, and cold metallic colors competitors offer. 
• Many longtime fans feel Apple has lost the scrappy, pirate spirit of its past—the era of the 'Think Different' campaign and underdog spirit. Today, some view Apple as a corporate behemoth focusing only on shareholder value and is always cold and calcuating. By resurrecting the iBook name, Apple wouldn't just be launching a new product; it would be sending a powerful message to its fans that it hasn't forgotten its innovative, rebellious roots.

What does Apple's competitors have? No legacy items or names like the iBook exist for them. Not Samsung or its Chinese competitors. This "iBook" and its features that Apple has planned for it will indicate to the market that Apple has not forgotten its roots, history, and will continue to innovate and give users the tools they need for decades to come.