iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Five biggest expected differences

iPhone Fold design — (Image credit: Majin Bu on X)

This September, Apple looks set to introduce a brand new flagship iPhone to the world. Previously dubbed the iPhone Fold as a placeholder name, people have coalesced around iPhone Ultra as likely branding for Apple’s most expensive handset to date.

But that high price of entry doesn’t make it unambiguously the best iPhone you can buy, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have plenty going for it. Here are five key differences between the two handsets ahead of their September launch.

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Form factor

iPhone Fold 3D printed mockup — (Image credit: Subsy @ MakerWorld)

The iPhone Ultra will be Apple’s first foldable device, making it quite a change from the iPhones that have gone before it.

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Camera performance

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is one of the best camera phones you can buy, and the 18 Pro Max looks set to follow suit. While we’re expecting the same trio of 48MP lenses as on the previous model, Apple is widely tipped to be adding a variable rate aperture, giving photographers more flexibility for their shots by allowing them to adjust how much light enters the lens.

The iPhone Ultra may or may not get this feature, but design leaks show a device with just two rear cameras. The telephoto lens — a mainstay of recent Pro iPhones — is reportedly missing, which will make the foldable considerably weaker when it comes to taking long-range shots, no matter how solid its two other lenses are. For photographers, this may end up offering similar performance to a regular non-Pro iPhone.

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Expected battery life

iPhone Fold render — (Image credit: Future)

Historically, foldable phones have sometimes struggled when it comes to battery life. A combination of larger screens and less space for the power cell has led to weaker performance than traditional handsets. That sounds like it will be less of a problem here, with a battery of between 5,000 mAh and 5,500 mAh predicted.

Pro Max devices are renowned for their stamina, too, however. In our battery test, the iPhone 17 Pro Max went nearly 18 hours without needing to charge its 4,823 mAh cell. Rumor has it that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be even better, with a reported 5,425 mAh battery powering things (or 5,235 mAh for models with physical SIM slots).

Depending on where exactly the iPhone Ultra lands and how demanding the internal screen is, power users may still want to opt for the traditional iPhone if they need to go long periods without access to a USB-C lead.

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Face ID or Touch ID?

Touch ID on an iPad — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Touch ID — Apple’s fingerprint sensor authentication technology — is barely used on iPhones anymore. Last seen on iPhone SE devices, it mostly lives on in iPads nowadays, but it’s reportedly set to return for iPhone Ultra security instead of Face ID. The analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the challenges inherent in fitting Face ID into the thin frame of a foldable are just too great to overcome — at least in a first-generation device.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max, meanwhile, will continue to shun the fingerprint reader in favor of confirming your identity with the front-facing camera and Face ID. It’s a pretty smooth way of logging in that has been fine-tuned over multiple devices since its introduction with the iPhone X back in 2017.

Which you favor is largely down to personal preference, though regular glove wearers may find the return to Touch ID on the iPhone Ultra more fiddly to use.

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Price

iPhone 17 Pro Max colors — (Image credit: Apple)

Pro Max buyers are used to paying top dollar for their iPhones — especially if they choose to upgrade the internal storage. And it looks like the spiraling cost of RAM will make the price rise especially brutally this time, with talk of a $1,399 starting price touted, $200 more than last year’s phone.

Yet the iPhone 18 Pro Max will still be a value option compared to the iPhone Ultra. The same report suggests that Apple’s first foldable could come in at a massive $2,500. For context, that’s $500 more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 — though the Z Fold 8 will likely close the gap when it’s revealed at Samsung Unpacked later this month (the hardware pricing market forces are affecting everyone, after all).

iPhone Ultra vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Outlook

Beyond this, as far as we know, the two handsets will be pretty similar. They’ll even offer similar performance levels, as the iPhone Ultra is tipped to offer the same vapor chamber cooling as the regular handset (the iPhone Air without vapor cooling struggled when things heated up, despite using the same A19 Pro chipset).

So ultimately, it will come down to priorities for you. Do you value photography and price over novelty and big-screen multitasking? If so, at this stage, it looks like the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be the handset for you. But if you like the idea of carrying an iPad mini and iPhone around with you in one device, and don’t mind paying a premium early adopter’s tax for the privilege, Apple’s first foldable could be worth the price of entry.

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Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.