Rumors of the iPhone Flip have been circulating for some time, but if the new leak by a supple Asian chain source is true, Apple is seriously considering taking on Samsung and Motorola in the folding phone game.

According to sources at Taiwanese website United Daily News, Apple has asked supplier Foxconn for two prototype shells with displays. The two designs use radically different approaches in dealing with folding.

The first design is like Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip or Motorola's Razr. It's a regular candybar-style slab that folds in half. The second design, similar to Microsoft's Surface Duo, has two screens that hinge together and close like a book. It is unclear if Apple is working on two separate foldable products or just testing different ideas for the eventual foldable iPhone.

More intriguingly, Apple may be working on a foldable concept so radical that it could completely change the foldable conversation: in a patent application published on December 31, it is unclear whether it will fold inward like the Galaxy Z Flip or outward like the Huawei proposed a foldable display that can be folded outward like the Mate Xs. With such flexibility in the folding motion, it would be like using a digital spiral notepad.

These rumors, combined with other patents filed by Apple, including one concerning a self-healing foldable display, could suggest that something is seriously coming down the pipeline.

Of course, for Apple fans eagerly awaiting a foldable phone, the question is the timing: according to a Digitimes report, a foldable iPhone will not appear until 2022 at the earliest.

Remember, these new supply chain leaks do not suggest that anything from Apple is final. It is clear that the Cupertino concept is still in its early stages. Apple may instead want to go with a design similar to Samsung's Galaxy Fold 2, or it may move forward with a completely different strategy. With so much up in the air, it might be better to trade in the iPhone 8 for the iPhone 12 until then.