Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce its first foldable smartphone, known as the iPhone Ultra, alongside the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September. However, early buyers may face high pricing and severe supply constraints, according to prominent industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.<\/p>\n
The new “book-style” device, also referred to as the iPhone Fold, represents Apple’s entry into the foldable market. While designed to integrate fully into the Apple ecosystem with a more compact form factor than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold, the iPhone Ultra is expected to carry a premium price tag. The first-of-its-kind product category for Apple comes at a time when rising component costs, particularly for RAM and storage, are driving up final retail prices.<\/p>\n
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone Ultra is projected to cost between $2,300 and $2,500. This pricing is slightly higher than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7, which launched at approximately 2,100 euros.<\/p>\n
Beyond pricing, consumers may encounter significant difficulties securing the device at launch. Kuo reports that Apple plans to manufacture between 7 million and 8 million units of the iPhone Ultra overall. However, initial distribution during the first quarter of its launch will be limited to between 0.5 million and 1 million units\u2014representing roughly 10% of total planned production.<\/p>\n
This initial allocation is substantially lower than the 20 million to 22 million units of the iPhone 18 Pro that Apple plans to distribute during the same timeframe. To manage the limited inventory, Apple is expected to extend shipping times to four to six weeks rather than restricting purchases outright. Early buyers who order during the initial launch window may not receive their devices until around Christmas 2026.<\/p>\n
The foldable device is expected to feature a 5.5-inch external display and a 7.8-inch internal folding panel. When fully unfolded, the smartphone will measure just 5 millimeters in thickness. It is also anticipated to utilize the same processor as the iPhone 18 Pro and feature a similar camera configuration.<\/p>\n
The projected supply constraints for the iPhone Ultra mirror the launch of the iPhone X in 2017. The iPhone X, which introduced Face ID and an edge-to-edge OLED screen to celebrate the iPhone’s tenth anniversary, faced severe production bottlenecks and extended shipping delays during its initial months on the market. Historically, Apple’s entry into new hardware categories involves tight supply chain management as manufacturing lines scale up to meet global demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce its first foldable smartphone, known as the iPhone Ultra, alongside the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September. However, early buyers may face high pricing and severe supply constraints, according to prominent industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The new “book-style” device, also referred to as the iPhone Fold, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4612,4611,1367,2412,1368,4614,1362,4613],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-foldable-smartphone","tag-galaxy-z-fold","tag-iphone-18-pro","tag-iphone-fold","tag-iphone-ultra","tag-iphone-x","tag-ming-chi-kuo","tag-shipping-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions\/2530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}