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

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.

More on Apple Fold (iBook) - iPhone Fold Could Be the iPad mini Pro If It Runs Supports iPadOS Features and Apple Pencil

iPhone Fold May Be the Professional Version of the iPad mini

A segment of iPad users have been asking for the iPad mini Pro for years because they want something more powerful. Apple may finally grant these users their collect wish. 

For simplicity, let's call the iPhone Fold the iFold. It will like include some of the latest tech that Apple has to offer.

• Latest Apple Silicon
• Smaller high-density battery to provide battery life that will provide battery life similar to the iPad. However, it is doubtful the battery life match those of the iPhone
• New in-house modem and Wi-Fi chips
• Crease-free display
• New camera system
• IPadOS-like multitasking and windows

Perhaps there could be other features and surprises from Apple for the iFold. One of the often missing features that I want on the iPhone that Apple has yet to provide is Apple Pencil support. Will the iFold support Apple Pencil?

In addition to the features mentioned above, simply being a folded form factor will not be enough for the iFold to be considered a Pro version of the iPad mini. The iFold needs the following support:

• Apple Pencil - a customized version of the Apple Pencil. I do not know if it will support all the features the current Apple Pencil Pro has but it does not have to. At minimum, I can live with being able to draw and write on the iFold
• Mouse and keyboard - All iPhones and iPads support Bluetooth keyboards. The iPads native has Bluetooth mouse support but support on the iPhone is in a bit of a gray area. The iFold has to support the mouse in the same way the iPad does.
• External monitor support. 

The question, and what’s really exciting, is whether we will get any of these features. I am going to go out on a limb and say yes and no. The things about today’s Apple is that you have to be careful what you wish for. At best, they provide us with a feature that we did not know we wanted. At worst, they give us a feature that is so uniquely Apple that users either feel it falls short or just outright hate it. 

Which will it be? Apple still has another year to work out any features they want the idols to have. The iOS team will have a year to learn from user experiences with multitasking and windows and may make some improvements for iOS 27

Whether the iFold is considered to be the pro version of the iPad mini or just a regular old iPhone Fold, there is definitely a lot to be excited about. Smartphones with the fold form factors have been around for at least seven years. Being late to the party has given Apple a lot to see and gauge. There will no doubt be a lot of people including myself who are excited and will be ordering it on day one.

If the 2025 iPhones Get 12 GB of RAM, Why Not the iPads?

I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction: the upcoming iPad Pro with the M5 chip will be upgraded to 12 to 16 GB of RAM. This is based on nothing but a rumor — the same one suggesting the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro will jump from 8 GB to 12 GB of RAM — but it makes sense. If the upgrade doesn't happen this year, it'll almost certainly happen next year.

Let’s be real: 8 GB just isn’t cutting it anymore — not in the age of AI.

Apple was late to the AI game. Way late. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft were rapidly pushing forward with LLM-powered features, Apple’s AI presence was mostly background stuff — Photos, auto-categorization, etc. Meanwhile, Siri was stuck spinning its wheels while ChatGPT and others raced ahead.

Apple had to scramble to catch up. And when it did, it likely ran into a hard limitation: RAM.

From my experience running a few LLMs on a MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM, I can tell you — even that can feel tight. Apple’s own models might be more efficient, sure, but even 8 GB probably isn’t enough for what they want to do going forward.

Need more evidence? Apple no longer sells Macs with 8 GB of RAM. For years, they insisted 8 GB was “enough” thanks to tight integration between hardware and software. That was probably true — before the AI boom. But now, with LLMs and AI features becoming core to the experience, 8 GB just doesn't cut it.

And let’s not forget the delay of Apple Intelligence features — especially Siri. It’s a sign that Apple might have underestimated just how much performance and memory these new features require.

Which brings me to this: after years of wondering what the purpose of a 16 GB iPad Pro was, we may finally have an answer — Apple Intelligence.

Now the question becomes whether the upcoming base iPad Pro will get 12 GB or 16 GB of RAM. The tech enthusiast in me hopes for 16 GB, but knowing Apple — and considering its hardware-software optimization — it might try to get by with 12 GB. Still, I'm betting on 16 GB. Why? Because it also gives Apple a convenient excuse to raise prices, especially with rising costs and renewed pressure from Trump-era tariffs.

So what does that mean for the iPad? Simple: a RAM upgrade is coming. If Apple wants Apple Intelligence to run smoothly across its product lineup — iPads included — it needs more RAM. The iPhone 17 Pro is rumored to get 12 GB. That likely reflects the minimum Apple has determined is needed to run its next-gen features efficiently.

Bottom line: the future of Apple hardware is AI-first, and that means more memory across the board — starting with the iPad Pro.

AI and Education and Other AI Uses This Week

AI chats and I are inseparable now. I use it quite often on a daily basis for work. I seek quick answers when there is no need for me to fact check (sports data, basic history, summarizing important ports of an article or video, etc). 

• What I need to get before the store shelves start to empty - I don’t know if this is going to happen but I do not need to get caught without essentials.
• Help me craft a 30-day to learn the basics of Japanese. I really want to see how much I can do done under intense schedule.
• I played with my dog and read to her at night. I know she doesn’t know what’s going on or understand what I am doing but it makes her less anxious and really puts her to bed quickly. I started recording it and posting on YouTube. I asked ChatGPT for a business plan. I made my own stories. I am interested in turning these adventures into a line of stories for children.
• Reading a couple of books. I used Gemini to help me explain concepts I did not fully grasp. I did have to fact-check a few times to make sure it was not hallucinating. I asked follow-up questions which I also had to fact-check. 
• I am in the market for a new iPad. Given the news lately about iOS 19 with better MacOS-like features, I wonder if a refurbished iPad Air with M1 would be able to take advantage of it. I decided to go with the recently released iPad Air with M3. With Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference just a little over a month away, I decided to wait and see. Anything with the Apple Silicon including the M1 and 8 GB of RAM should be able to to run most of the UI changes and upgrades without any issue. However, I have a feeling that the next iPad Pro will get a RAM upgrade to 12 GB just like the rumored iPhone 17 line. I figure the upgraded RAM will be for more advanced Apple Intelligence features but it would not hurt to future proof for things like multi-tasking and other possible MacOS related features.
• Explored with ChatGPT on the news about possible 9th planet, or Planet X, tat might be lurking on the outer edge of the solar system. And explored possibilities that there might be even more large bodies and life fueled by extra-solar radiation and materials. Most of that life will not be like those found on our planet. It was a fun discussion to pass some time while having coffee and a cheesecake. 
• Asked for recipes for chicken soup and banana chocolate bread puddings. For the chicken soup, I wanted a recipe similar to the one from the old Souplantation. And for the bread puddings, I asked about substituting ingredients beucase I did not want to buy cream for just this one use.
• I asked for a recipe on Japanese egg sandwich. I really wanted to follow this recipe closely as it will be the first time I will be making this. I had to drive a hour to a Japanese market but they had all the ingredients I needed. 
• I researched robotic kits with regular search via DuckDuckGo and Google along with AI chats with the total of making an AI robot. I am deeply fascinated with how Anakin created his own droids with spare parts. Why can’t I do the same?

Almost all of this week’s interaction with AI chats were mostly asking the AI of questions. I would say this was a lazy use. I find it interesting how AI is my goo-to app for quickly finding information. It is quicker than search. I have the habit of verifying the AI provided answers but do you? How about others? This is both lazy and quickly possible a bad habit to develop. 

having said that, Gemini helped me get closer to solving an issue with one of my blog sites. I would not have been able to get that far with just regular searches. AI remains a great sounding board - just like what I use it for in discussing the implications of a Planet X discovery. 

I also played with a little vibe coding - I wanted to create a web app that allows me to add a choose your own adventure story and maybe turned that into an app. I did not get that far - I will need to put in more time and learn the correct prompts. 

All in all, AI is already providing some benefits that I did not imagine I would be using - like coding. And yes, you still need to learning coding even if the AI is capable of generating a vast percentage of the codes now. Don’t be lazy. 

Signing Into iCloud On iPhone Helps Get Around One iCloud Account Per Device Limitation

I have more than one iCloud accounts where I keep personal data separate from other more public facing data (blogs and other writings, coding, and business endevours). To my knowledge, there is no way to have more than one iCloud Drive. 

As many of you know, you can add accounts from Google, Outlook, and even other iCloud accounts onto your iPHone or iPad but you are really limited to just one main iCloud account. You should be able to access mail and calendar. Well, what about notes and iCloud Drive? Then you are out of luck. I have come across users, though not many, would want to be able to address more iCloud features from multiple accounts to an iPhone or iPad. Even more have asked for the iPad to support mutliple users. Me? I just want to be able to access different iCloud drives on the iPhone or iPad. 

So, I decided to see if I can log into iCloud through the browser. And guess what? It works. I can access emails and notes. Pretty much all the iCloud features though there are limitations. For example, I can look through the drive for files but I cannot edit them directly through the browser on the iPhone. I believe you can do it on the IPad. It is not as efficient as being able to do the edit on the native apps. On the iPhone, you end up with an Open or Download option. 

Once you download it, the file gets saved into the iCloud Drive assigned with the account you signed into. I suppose that is fine. After you edit the file, you can link it back to the account you signed into on the browser by sharing the file. As with most things, if you try hard enough, you can find a way forward or a workaround but it is almost never ideal.

But I’m very glad that this option si available. It is interesting to me why Apple even allow such much access through the browser given how much they rather have users go to the App Store to download and use the apps they need instead of web apps. This brought a bit of nostalgia to before the App Store annd when many web apps ere not yet available in the App Store.

Note: I am writing this on the Notes app through the mobile browser.

Created An App And Other AI Uses This Week

I have been using AI for more than a year. Like most, I did not touch ChatGPT for the first six months or so and I only tired it because I was bored at the time. I still remember what I was doing that day and decided to give it a try while at work. 

It took a few more weeks for me to give it another go. And then the days between uses became shorter and shorter until now when I use it daily. 

The most exciting thing I did this week was to create an app via Claude AI - it was a simple Swift app that I wanted to work - a list generator. Then I used Gemini to help me get started with Pandas and create a simple neuron (I know there is a bias) looks like and what it does.

For a few hours of prompting and learning to run these codes, I would say I knew about ten times more about data analysis and AI than when I first started. Which means nothing really because I knew nothing about this from at the start of it all.

Here are other uses this week:

• I asked about what my credit score means.
• I asked for other coupon codes that are available for savings whenever the Dodgers win. In LA at least, you can get a free Whopper with the purchase of a large drink after a Dodgers Win. Panda Express as well. It is still early in the season but I think I’ve had more two-items plates in 2025 than all of 2024.
• I asked what a magnetar is. And with a magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than those on Earth, you do not want to go near one. So yeah, shields up!
• Most people are not aware of Liberation Day and Trump’s “beautiful” reciprocal tariffs. I am in favor of reshoring certain manufacturing. Chips, computers, and other critical electronics. Items that are vital to national security. But do we need even one sock factory? 
• On a related note, I ask Gemini to explain to me what the bond market is and its purpose.
• We had an online hobby of selling products but with the tariffs, we decided we do not want to do that anymore and solicited suggestions on possible pivots for our online business. 
• My nephew is going to college and we have decided to get him a new laptop. Gemini and Copilot were helpful in provide specs and models that will help him get through college - 4K video editing, coding, machine learning, and, of course, gaming.
• Learning Japanese - I write a short passage or two each day in Japanese and while translation apps a re fine, they do not come close to what AI is able to help me with. Claude was very helpful with explanation of what a native Japanese person would say. And that is what I want. Unfortunately, I ran out of the free allotment really so I switched to Gemini when that happens. I also do cross checks in just case given that they still hallucinate or misunderstand what I ask of it. 
• Most of Apple V. Masimo’s case over blood oxygen monitor is more than a year old and I really want that feature back. Co-PIlot and Gemini provided some information about the appeal process initiated by Apple. It usually takes a year so perhaps we are weeks from an answer. 
• Use ChatGPT to create a few Ghibili style artwork with my photos. It made my dog just so darn cute and my wife looking far younger and me like her grandfather.

I also used ChatGPT and Gemini as a sounding board for some ideas on a “hobby” my wife and I have been working on the last few years. It’s a business and we decided to continue the hobby but pivot to something that involves content generation with the help with AI. 

We plan on spending more time on it this weekend and I cannot be more excited. 

Apple, Be Courageous With Apple Intellgence

For too long, Apple has played it safe in the AI arena. While competitors are pushing boundaries through models like ChatGPT and Google’s latest AI initiatives, Apple seems paralyzed by a need for perfection. Its current route—delaying meaningful AI integrations until mid-2026 and rolling out a supposedly innocuous, underwhelming version of Siri—risks becoming another case of missed opportunity.

Apple’s customers have come to expect more—more innovation, more seamless integration, and more leadership in technology. The lawsuit over Siri’s alleged false advertising is just the tip of the iceberg. We are witnessing a stagnation, a collective yawn towards Apple’s future AI offerings.

It’s time for Apple to reclaim its legacy. What if Apple released its own large language model—an AI crafted with its renowned commitment to privacy and user experience? Imagine a smart, agentic digital assistant that not only answers queries but integrates deeply with Apple’s ecosystem. Instead of outsourcing its intelligence to third-party providers, Apple could take full control, ensuring consistency, reliability, and a groundbreaking user experience that sets it apart.

At this pivotal moment in tech history, Apple must embrace boldness over perfection. Even if the initial release isn’t flawless, early adoption will allow for rapid iterative improvements—much like how its groundbreaking products have always evolved. With WWDC on the horizon, one can only hope to see the seeds of this revolution sprout in an iOS update sooner rather than later.