Apple’s long-anticipated foldable iPhone is taking shape as the iPhone Ultra, a premium book-style device that could arrive this fall with a sharp focus on multitasking — and a price tag that matches its ambitions. Leaks and reports, led by 9to5Mac, paint the picture of a device that’s part iPhone, part iPad mini, and entirely new territory for the company.

The Foldable iPhone Ultra: What’s Actually Rumored

Codenamed iPhone Ultra, Apple’s first foldable is not a flip phone. It’s a horizontal, book-style foldable that opens into a tablet-sized display. When closed, it’s a phone; when open, an almost 8-inch canvas. Here’s what the supply chain whispers and analyst notes predict:

  • Design: A titanium frame houses two displays and an inward-folding hinge. It’s expected to be thinner than two iPhone Airs stacked together when folded, and remarkably slim when opened. Crucially, the inner screen is rumored to be “crease-free” — a first for the category if Apple pulls it off.
  • Displays: The outer screen measures between 5.3 and 5.5 inches, but with a wider and shorter aspect ratio than current iPhones. Think of an iPhone mini that’s grown sideways. Inside, a 7.6- to 7.8-inch panel offers an iPad mini-like footprint, better suited for content consumption and side-by-side apps.
  • Cameras: Two rear cameras are expected — a 48MP main and a 48MP ultra-wide. No dedicated telephoto lens, which means optical zoom takes a back seat to thinness. Two front-facing cameras, one for each display, will handle selfies and video calls; both may use an 18MP sensor with Center Stage support.
  • Processor and Modem: The A20 Pro chip, built on a 2-nanometer process, will pair with 12GB of RAM and Apple’s in-house C2 5G modem. That’s the same silicon tipped for the iPhone 18 Pro, but the foldable’s thermal envelope could push efficiency gains further.
  • Authentication: Face ID is out. Touch ID is in, embedded in the power button. Blame the thinness — according to reports, Apple couldn’t squeeze two Face ID modules into the frame while keeping the device slim enough.
  • Software: iOS 27 will bring exclusive multitasking features to the iPhone Ultra, including side-by-side app views and iPad-style layouts with sidebars and expanded landscape orientations.

Rumored pricing starts at $1,999 for a 256GB model. That’s a neat doubling of the iPhone 18 Pro’s likely price, and a figure that immediately frames the Ultra as a luxury device, not a mainstream upgrade.

What the iPhone Ultra Means for You

For everyday Windows users, Apple’s foldable isn’t a direct threat — you’re not dumping your PC — but it could change how you interact with mobile work. If you juggle an iPhone and a Windows laptop, a foldable with real multitasking capabilities might reduce the number of times you reach for your laptop just to compare documents, reference a spreadsheet during a Teams call, or dash off a lengthy email while reading a report.

Home users: The iPhone Ultra is a device for those who want a maximalist iPhone. If you already carry an iPhone Pro Max and an iPad mini, this could consolidate your bag. But the trade‑offs are real: you lose Face ID, optical zoom, and probably some battery stamina because two displays and a powerful chip in a thin body don’t mix easily. And at $1,999, it’s more expensive than buying a top‑spec iPhone and a current iPad mini combined.

Power users and IT pros: The software story is the linchpin. Side‑by‑side apps are the minimum viable product for a foldable aiming at productivity. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS 27 will finally give the iPhone that capability, and with iPad‑like layouts, the inner screen could become a genuine mobile workstation for Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and RDP sessions. For IT departments supporting BYOD, the absence of Face ID may complicate biometric security policies, especially if they rely on facial recognition for app‑level authentication. Touch ID on a power button is proven, but it’s a different workflow. Also, the C2 modem could introduce unknowns around VPN performance and carrier compatibility — early adopters in enterprise settings should proceed cautiously.

Developers: If the iPhone Ultra ships as rumored, every iOS app that hopes to shine on it must adapt to a new aspect ratio, support seamless transitions between folded and unfolded states, and present useful multi‑column layouts. Apple’s adaptive frameworks can handle much of this, but optimization goes beyond scaling. A banking app that merely stretches to fill the larger display wastes space; one that shows transaction details and account navigation side‑by‑side adds value. Developers who start testing their interfaces on variable screen sizes now will be ahead when the device lands.

How We Got Here

Apple has toyed with foldable concepts since at least 2016, but always behind closed doors. The Ultra brand entered the lexicon with the Apple Watch Ultra in 2022 — a bigger, tougher, more capable device that justified its price with unique functionality. Applying that logic to the iPhone was inevitable.

Foldables from Samsung, Google, and others have already pushed the form factor forward, but none have cracked the mainstream. Creased displays, awkward outer screens, and software that felt like an afterthought held them back. Apple is arriving late, as usual, aiming to refine rather than invent. The rumored crease‑free display, wider cover screen, and iOS‑level multitasking are all attempts to fix the competition’s pain points.

iOS has also been inching toward larger displays. iPadOS split off years ago, bringing real multitasking to tablets, but iPhones remained single‑taskers even as screen sizes ballooned. The Dynamic Island, Stage Manager on iPads, and the gradual expansion of landscape support across iOS 26 and 27 laid the groundwork. The iPhone Ultra is the culmination — a device that forces iOS to grow up.

What to Do Now

If the iPhone Ultra rumor mill has you intrigued, you don’t need to do much yet. This is still an unconfirmed product, and many details will change before any official announcement. But you can prepare:

  • For buyers: Evaluate your current device mix. If you rely on both an iPhone and an iPad, start considering whether one folding device could genuinely replace both. Pay attention to how often you actually use your tablet on the go — if it’s mostly at home, the Ultra’s premium may not be worth it.
  • For IT administrators: Keep an eye on authentication methods. If Touch ID without Face ID becomes a permanent fixture on high‑end iPhones, you may need to adjust mobile device management policies, especially for apps that require biometric authorization.
  • For developers: Begin testing your apps with large, square‑ish screen sizes in simulators. Look for layout‑breaking assumptions about screen width and orientation. Apple’s Xcode can simulate foldable displays; use it to find pain points early.
  • For everyone: Wait for the actual launch. Supply chain leaks are accurate only up to a point. Apple could change the name, pricing, camera setup, or ship date. The most you should do now is bookmark the idea and revisit it when there’s a device to hold.

Outlook

The iPhone Ultra, if it arrives this fall as rumored, represents Apple’s biggest iPhone gamble since the original device. It’s not just a hardware flex; it’s a bet that software can make a foldable useful enough that people will pay twice as much for it. Windows users may find unexpected value if the device bridges mobile work and desktop work more gracefully than current iPhones can. The next big test: how seamlessly Microsoft’s own apps — Teams, Office, Edge — adapt to that folding canvas. Their readiness could determine whether the Ultra becomes a curiosity or a tool.