iPhone Fold multitasking may hinge on Split View

A May 31 Weibo post by Fixed Focus Digital claims Apple is developing a “parallel view” feature for the iPhone Fold—meant to keep portrait iOS apps from looking distorted on a wider, squarer screen. The account links that idea to how the iPad handles split-scr

The iPhone Fold problem is the kind you can spot just by looking at the hardware.

With its wide, squarer aspect ratio—shaped by a large internal folding screen—the device won’t behave like the narrow portrait screens iPhone apps are designed for. When typical iOS apps run full-screen on that landscape-oriented display, they can end up looking visually distorted.

That’s why one May 31 post on Weibo by Fixed Focus Digital says Apple has already moved toward an answer. The leaker claims Apple is working on a “parallel view” for iOS designed to solve landscape adaptation. The post describes it as similar to how the iPad handles apps like Weibo. though it offers little more detail than that.

Read through the translation and the gaps, and the idea starts to line up with iPad-style Split View. On an iPad in landscape orientation, Split View places two full-screen apps side-by-side. It’s commonly framed as a productivity feature—letting users work in two apps at the same time—but it also has a byproduct that matters here: both apps can operate in portrait orientations. closer to the default “narrow” shape many iOS apps expect.

Fixed Focus Digital ends the post with a verdict that feels cautious rather than triumphant: iOS is “excellent,” but its large-screen adaptation is “relatively weak.”

The problem with the messenger is harder to ignore. Weibo leakers such as Fixed Focus Digital don’t always have the strongest track record. in part because some accounts recycle rumors sourced elsewhere just to keep their followers fed. Even so, Fixed Focus Digital is described as one of the more prominent leakers—just not a consistently high-accuracy one. In this case. the post provides no sourcing or explanation for where the claim stems from. making it difficult to verify.

Still, the underlying need is hard to dismiss. Apple has to make portrait-designed apps look right on a wider foldable display. and that requirement was already flagged before this new post. In March, Mark Gurman wrote that Apple will bring side-by-side multitasking to iOS specifically for the iPhone Fold. Gurman also said the iPadOS-style in-app sidebars of apps would be usable in iOS as part of the same update.

At the time, Gurman stressed it wouldn’t mean the iPhone Fold running iPadOS. The device would still use iOS, but with some features ported from iPad’s operating system.

The hardware stakes are just as clear. Leaks indicate the iPhone Fold—also referred to as the iPhone Ultra—will have a large display measuring about 7.8 inches when completely unfolded. It’s also expected to open out into a landscape orientation when it’s out of its normal portrait-closed state.

For a screen that large. software has to “marry” the hardware into something users can actually live with. rather than just tolerate. Putting apps side-by-side near the hinge is a fairly obvious direction to go. and it matches what Gurman described earlier—side-by-side multitasking on the iPhone Fold. built from iPadOS-style capabilities while keeping iOS in charge.

The question now isn’t whether Apple needs a fold-friendly layout. It’s how quickly the company can make that adaptation feel natural on a device that—by design—doesn’t match the proportions iOS apps are built to expect.

iPhone Fold iPhone Ultra Apple iOS multitasking Split View parallel view foldable phones iPadOS features Weibo leak Fixed Focus Digital Mark Gurman