iPhone Ultra is coming: Six new features in Apple’s top-tier model - 9to5Mac

Apple’s first foldable iPhone is coming this fall, and rumors say it will be called iPhone Ultra. Here are six features to expect from Apple’s new high-end iPhone Ultra. As Apple’s first foldable, iPhone Ultra will have an extremely unique design for an iPhone. Unlike most foldables, iPhone Ultra will be wider than it is tall when unfolded. It will have a book-style fold, with an outer display that looks shorter and wider than every other iPhone screen, and an inner display that resembles an iPad mini in size and shape. Also unlike previous foldables, the inner display of iPhone Ultra is expected to have a crease-free design—a big breakthrough for the form factor. iPhone Ultra will take some design cues from the iPhone Air. It will have a titanium border, be ultra-thin when unfolded, and resemble two iPhone Airs stacked together when folded—but thinner. iPhone Ultra will have two displays: one on the outside, and one that’s revealed when you unfold it. Rumored dimensions are: The outer screen will somewhat resemble an iPhone mini in size, but with a wider aspect ratio. The inner screen could come very close to resembling an iPad mini in the hand. The iPhone Ultra will have two rear cameras: 48MP Main and 48MP Ultra Wide. That means users who opt for the Ultra over a Pro model will miss out on the Telephoto camera and its increased zoom capabilities. Since iPhone Ultra has two displays, it will also come with two front-facing cameras: one for each display. Not much is known about these cameras, but Apple will likely use the same 18MP Center Stage camera that launched with iPhone 17 last year. A hole-punch design is expected. iOS 27 was unveiled this week, but there are some iPhone Ultra-exclusive features that will likely stay hidden until this fall. Per Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, two main upgrades are coming: Gurman says the device won’t support the full-fledged windowing features of iPadOS 26, or run iPadOS at all when unfolded. But it sounds like iOS 27 will take several cues from the iPad’s software nonetheless. iPhone Ultra will come with a new A20 Pro chip and C2 cellular modem, both of which are expected to ship with iPhone 18 Pro as well. A20 Pro is rumored to be a larger-than-usual upgrade thanks to a new 2-nanometer process, and the use of WMCM (Wafer-level Multi-Chip Module) to improve efficiency further. The new chip will pack 12GB of RAM, the same as A19 Pro. But it will reportedly pack a faster LPDDR5 for improved performance. C2 is Apple’s next-gen in-house cellular modem. It will replace Qualcomm’s 5G modems with an Apple-designed solution that comes with several new benefits. It might seem odd for an model called ‘Ultra,’ but Apple’s foldable iPhone won’t offer Face ID for authentication. Instead, Apple is bringing back Touch ID and integrating it into the power button. Touch ID on iPhone Ultra will be implemented very similarly to what the iPad Air and iPad mini offer. Due to the device’s thinness, Apple reportedly couldn’t shrink the necessary Face ID components enough to fit two separate modules (one for each screen) into iPhone Ultra. But perhaps a future model will change that. Rumored pricing for iPhone Ultra is all over the place. Most analysts expect a starting price around $1,999 for a 256GB model. However, some expect a lower starting price while others claim it will be higher. One thing seems certain though: this will be the most expensive iPhone ever. By combining what’s essentially an iPhone and iPad into a single device, Apple clearly hopes that price will be justified. Are you interested in buying an iPhone Ultra, or will you opt for a different model instead? Let us know in the comments.