What will Apple name its first foldable? Thanks to supply chain and wider industry leaks, we know almost everything there is to know about the model.
We expect Apple to announce a foldable iPhone at its regular September event.
We even know the likely dates for this event. For the last two years, it’s been held on 9 September, so we’re expecting a weekday launch around that date this year. Not all of the iPhone models will make their debut then either: it’ll exclusively launch the high-end phones, including the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Ultra and the new foldable.
However, it’s possible that the foldable won’t be available for pre-order at the same time as the Pro models, which usually happens a week later.
The folding phone’s specifications are also out in the ether, thanks to leaked CAD renders and images of dummy models used by iPhone case makers. It’ll be a book-style foldable with a fresh, new passport-shaped format that opens up into something much like an iPad mini.
Sonny Dickson
In fact, Apple’s plans were so widely known that Samsung got in first with the launch of its own wide foldable, which has similar dimensions – the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Apple’s rival is expected to be even pricier than the Samsung model, which starts at £1,699/$1,899.99 for 256GB of storage.
Luke Baker
Apple’s new foldable is expected to have an outer display of around 5.3-5.5 inches and an inner display of around 7.7 inches. There will be a pronounced camera plateau on the back, much like the one on the iPhone Air. It’ll feature a 48Mp camera.
We even know the phone’s likely colour options: it’ll come in a silver and white colourway, as well as silver and indigo blue.
And it’ll be called the iPhone Ultra. Or will it?
When it was first rumoured, the upcoming foldable was commonly and sensibly known as the iPhone Fold. The name seemed to fit with Apple’s simple but descriptive naming conventions. Everyone was on board with it.
But in the spring, the discourse shifted. A Weibo post from a Chinese leaker suggested that the foldable would be called the Ultra. That alone wasn’t decisive, but then Mark Gurman’s Power On report for Bloomberg on 8 March stated that the foldable model would be classed among a range of new Ultra products to be launched later on in 2026, including a touchscreen OLED MacBook Ultra and camera-equipped AirPods Ultra.
From then on, it seemed that everyone was calling it the Ultra. Even Apple. Recently, in response to a post on X in which analyst Max Weinbach expressed that the Ultra branding “made no sense” for the foldable, Mark Gurman replied: “Everyone calls it the Ultra internally”.
But that doesn’t mean Apple’s marketing department will agree.
Of course, Apple has not confirmed a name for its foldable and we won’t know for sure until launch night. But there are some other possibilities on the table other than Fold or Ultra:
- iPhone Duo
- iPhone Passport
- iPhone Folio
- iPhone Wide
Still, its final, official name is one of the few surprises left.
To read up on all the rumours about the upcoming Apple launch, check out our in-depth articles on the iPhone 18 series and the iPhone Ultra (or whatever it’ll be called).
from Tech Advisor
via Apple’s key launch surprise may be iPhone Ultra’s official name