Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone — either called the iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold, depending on which reports you go by — will likely be unveiled in just a few short weeks at the Apple September event. Over the weekend, a reputable leaker confirmed that September launch window, but warned that actually getting your hands on one around that time won't be easy.
iPhone Ultra supply will be "extremely limited" when Apple unveils the foldable next month, according to Fixed Focus Digital, a noted Apple leaker on the Chinese social media platform Weibo (h/t 9to5Mac).
Apple is targeting a total production run of around 10 million units, as outlined in a July report from Nikkei Asia, but suppliers may need 3 to 5 months to reach that output goal. That would make the potential best foldable phone contender very hard to come by at launch, which is bad news for early adopters.
iPhone Ultra = iPhone X all over again?
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously said suppliers may ship only 7-8 million units in 2026, suggesting that we may be in for a repeat of what happened with the iPhone X. Back in 2017, bottlenecks with new components like the TrueDepth camera system for Face ID and OLED panel production constraints severely hampered the iPhone X launch. Pre-orders sold out in minutes, pushing shipping dates back by months.
In another post, Fixed Focus Digital said that despite earlier rumors that the iPhone Ultra might only ship in the U.S. initially, their sources claim mass production is moving smoothly with Chinese suppliers. This would point to a broader global launch from day one.
iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold?
For months, Apple’s foldable iPhone was widely expected to be called the iPhone Fold. But that started to change this spring, when the iPhone Ultra name began gaining traction. Several noted analysts and leakers have begun throwing cold water on the iPhone Ultra name this summer, though what exactly it could be called instead remains the subject of debate.
Over the weekend, leaker Instant Digital became the latest to cast doubt on the Ultra moniker. In a post on Weibo, he said he expects Apple to reserve the Ultra namesake for the 20th anniversary model and its successors. He noted Apple’s prior uses of Ultra in product naming, going on to say that he's skeptical the foldable will merit the name.
For what it's worth, Mark Gurman, who has been covering rumors around the foldable iPhone for years for Bloomberg, wrote back on X earlier this month that “Everyone calls it the Ultra internally. We’ll see what happens.”
We'll find out soon enough, with the iPhone Ultra/Fold/whatever it ends up being called likely to be revealed on September 9. We'll be there at the Apple event to bring you all the news and our hands-on impressions when Apple's first foldable goes live.
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