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Foldable 'iPhone Ultra' Could Be Missing These 5 Key Features Despite $2,000 Price Tag

Switched from a 15 Pro Max to a Z Fold 7 specifically because I wanted to experience a folding phone, but having everything else in my household be Apple is just too much of a hassle. Very much looking forward to going back to Apple, but of all things, the lack of Magsafe would irritate me the most. In order to use any accessories on my Galaxy, I have to use a case, which is generally fine, until I want to go caseless of a bit. I mean heck, Google figured it out with the Pixel Fold, why can't Apple?
 
Rising Sun Sailor said:
Switched from a 15 Pro Max to a Z Fold 7 specifically because I wanted to experience a folding phone, but having everything else in my household be Apple is just too much of a hassle. Very much looking forward to going back to Apple, but of all things, the lack of Magsafe would irritate me the most. In order to use any accessories on my Galaxy, I have to use a case, which is generally fine, until I want to go caseless of a bit. I mean heck, Google figured it out with the Pixel Fold, why can't Apple?
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While I respect your opinion, I have a decades long accumulation of Apple gear as I’m fully immersed in their ecosystem and find to my delight that my Z Fold7 blends in well.
 
MarkNewton2023 said:
Actually, it is a perfect foldable phone form. That is the reason Apple chose the form and then Samsung is following Apple to release the same form.
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There is no such thing as perfect foldable form.

There’s guessing, when one has never used a folding phone and they there’s those of us who have long term experience with foldables.

I was strongly critical and not interested… but then a colleague gave me his Z Fold7 for a day to try. That educated me to the incredible benefits for my specific workflow. Now that I’ve owned and used mine daily I am completely sold on the folding phone.

So much, I was eagerly awaiting Apple’s entry into the market. Then I read about the odd shape of Apples upcoming foldable. Such an odd duck it is.

For my needs it simply falls short. That Samsung is making one like it just illustrates how the company believes in choices. With more than one foldable Samsung continues to be the innovative company they are.

It will be interesting to see how Apple does with their first venture into folding phones.
 
IS THIS IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE ELSE❓➡️ Using the rear cameras for shooting higher quality selfie videos (or selfie photos) thank to kind of flip screen = top front screen on the unfolded phone.

When shooting a talking head video I want to use the better rear cameras but then i need another device to see myself. By foldable phone it could be solved by only one device.
 
HBX said:
I think Apple deliberately made it in the small form factor to test the waters, and if it takes off, they'll increase it in size on later versions, at least that's my take.
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Probably not. They didn't make it 'small', they made the inner screen be more iPad layout/aspect compatible. Primarily because they want a relatively large number of apps that work 'correctly' on the device when it launches.
'Twinned iPhone Air" only gets them zero apps for that aspect ration.

The cover screen will need app adjustments, but it is unlikely folks are going to pay $2K to run apps on the cover screen 80+% of the time. However, it is likely easy to adapt iPhone SE 2-3 (iPhone 8) 4.7 screen apps and just letter box around that for the interim.

A larger , 'virtually creasless' screen is just going to be even more expensive. At $2K/unit the number sold is already going to be down. However, prices than that is even lower numbers.

[ I suspect there is an assumption that foldable screens are going to get dramatically less expensive. Coupled with Apple's other rumored initiatives to put FaceID under the screen and other probable "even more creaseless" solutions .. I doubt that is going to happen for Apple selected screens. The rest of the market willing to put up with more compromises will get cheaper, but the top end probably not for a relatively long while.

P.S. 'creaseless' at larger sizes may not be as structurally sound. ]
 
The iPhone Fold will be laid to rest right next to the Vision Pro. When Tim Apple finally shuffles off this mortal coil, he’ll be buried between them, the only man in history whose tombstone reads ‘Surrounded by things nobody asked for.’

Pour one out. Preferably from a $700 Apple Carafe that only works with Apple Water. 🥂

Never forget. ✊
 
iMac The Knife said:
You can't use a standard iPhone for comparison, because it doesn't have the pro chip and it only has 8GB of RAM. The iPhone foldable will definition have a pro chip in it, and I would be shocked if it doesn't have 12GB of RAM as well. For me, I'm not worried about the camera, MagSafe, or the action button, but I agree that some users will not be happy if these end up being left out.
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Different priorities, but one of the biggest differentiators between the regular iPhone and the pro line is the camera module. I really wanted the Air last year and couldn’t care less if the iPhone air had less ram or not, the downgraded camera was enough for me to spurn it. If this leak is true, I’ll be passing on the foldable iPhone.
 
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Taq'aix said:
The iPhone Fold will be laid to rest right next to the Vision Pro. When Tim Apple finally shuffles off this mortal coil, he’ll be buried between them, the only man in history whose tombstone reads ‘Surrounded by things nobody asked for.’
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Nobody asked for a foldable phone?

" ... Global foldable smartphone shipments grew 14% YoY in Q3 2025, marking the highest quarterly volume ever for the category, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest ..."
counterpointresearch.com

Global Foldable Smartphone Shipments Hit Record in Q3 2025, Setting Stage for a Breakout 2026

Global foldable smartphone shipments grew 14% YoY in Q3 2025 to reach an all-time-high quarterly volume, with the strongest uplift coming from Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 series.
counterpointresearch.com counterpointresearch.com

in North America (mostly USA) rate is higher still
".. and they're expected to grow by more than 20% annually in 2026. .."
www.cnet.com

Foldable Smartphone Shipments Grew 28% in 2025, Even Without Apple - CNET

Now that more major brands are competing in the foldable market, a growing number of people are making the switch.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
( as the revenues get larger the percentage growth will fall, but that is just law of large numbers. The revenues are going up at a health growth pace.)


From same cnet article .

" ... Prices can also be prohibitive, with phones like the book-style Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starting at $2,000 (not to mention the $3,000 Galaxy Z TriFold). ... "

The Tri-Fold has basically failed, but Samsung has been testing the $1.7-2K price point for a while and it has not collapsed at all. (and iPhone Pro Max with 1TB of storage memory as $1,599. 2TB is $1,999. Apple already sells more than a few phones at the $2K pice point. Not 10's of millions, but not anywhere close to zero either. A bigger screen is likely a much wider value proposition than paying inflated NAND pricing for another 1TB. )

What would probably could label a 'dumb move' is if Apple tried to sell a 2TB fold model 'North' of $3K. That likely will fail like the tri-fold did for somewhat similar reasons ( way too deep into a niche).

Vision Pro was trying to break out of race to the bottom VR consumer headset path. The fold isn't it is a iPhone + more mini iPad. Two projects that Apple already sells merged into one. Foldable screens have been around for more than several years. Samsung is on version 7 and about to rougly be on version 8 by the time Apple's shows up. (never mind that Samsung also had done 'flip' and the failed tri-fold before Apple started). It is not a 'new category' product line. It is going to join the iPhone line up.
 
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I'd expect the launch price of this to be eyewatering.

$1999 is probably conservative. But i wouldn't be surprised at all if apple launch this at some crazy price because they know there are a good chunk of people out there that can afford it and just want the best.
 
frownface said:
I'd expect the launch price of this to be eyewatering.

$1999 is probably conservative. But i wouldn't be surprised at all if apple launch this at some crazy price because they know there are a good chunk of people out there that can afford it and just want the best.
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No, foldable phones just cost a lot. The screen, the hinge etc.
I bet Apple won't be charging more than what they usually do.
Look at the discounted price of Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold7. And they've sold millions.

Screenshot 2026-04-26 at 11.12.25 PM.png


On the other hand, Apple's Vision Pro needed to be sold way cheaper to establish a new mass market, but Apple doesn't do that.
 
No Face ID is one thing, but to omit MagSafe essentially locks you out of an entire ecosystem of accessories - many of which I have already purchased. It would be a hard pass from me if there is no MagSafe charging.
 
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chars1ub0w said:
No, foldable phones just cost a lot. The screen, the hinge etc.
I bet Apple won't be charging more than what they usually do.
Look at the discounted price of Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold7. And they've sold millions.

View attachment 2625239

On the other hand, Apple's Vision Pro needed to be sold way cheaper to establish a new mass market, but Apple doesn't do that.
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Wishful thinking but if the 256GB version of a fold was £1800 ($2400 USD but we have tax already accounted for in that £1800) I'd be 'happy' enough to be an early adopter.

I don't any magsafe accessories. I don't take a huge amount of photos so the change of camera doesn't bother me too much either. FaceID is the only thing I think is a shame which would be missing but as long as the TouchID is well placed and works quickly then I wouldn't mind the change too much.
 
KnightPawn said:
FaceID is the only thing I think is a shame which would be missing but as long as the TouchID is well placed and works quickly then I wouldn't mind the change too much.
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I prefer TouchID myself. Use it all the time on a MacBook Pro. On my iPhone, I'm often wearing a bike helmet and FaceID often doesn't work. Actually, it'd be nice if devices had both and let you choose.
 
chars1ub0w said:
I prefer TouchID myself. Use it all the time on a MacBook Pro. On my iPhone, I'm often wearing a bike helmet and FaceID often doesn't work. Actually, it'd be nice if devices had both and let you choose.
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Yeah having both would be great!

I'm often wearing bike helmet too and it works fine most of the time, but are you not wearing gloves while riding? Having only Touch ID would be a no-go for me, partly because of this bike use-case.
 
I'm guessing that making it TouchID has more to do with the fact that they would need TWO TrueDepth camera arrays to make for a consistent user experience when using either the outside or inside screen.
 
blairh said:
I'm looking over the comments. I feel like fellow members don't understand that you can get MagSafe back by just adding a case. I seriously doubt all the people saying no MagSafe is a dealbreaker are all using their iPhones without a case.
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Does adding a Magsafe case to a phone without Magsafe allow you to charge via Magsafe? I don't believe it does.

I have Magsafe chargers all over my house, and dont want to replace them with cables. It also fragments my charging from the rest of the members of my house who all use Magsafe to charge. (Would I seriously need to go back to an era of two types of chargers everywhere?)

I seriously doubt Apple will leave Magsafe out at this point. Even the 17e has Magsafe.
 
mrr said:
I hope this supports the Apple Pencil.
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They would need to make a much smaller pencil.
TracerAnalog said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again: no MagSafe is a dealbreaker. Are you listening Apple?
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They're not. They haven't released a product yet and they only "listen" to sales data. Also, they have done how many years of iPads without ever adding MagSafe? I think they would rather add pogo pins to the back for a smart keyboard than MagSafe. Granted, I would find MagSafe more useful, but I don't see it is a deal breaker.
hybrid_x said:
I'm guessing that making it TouchID has more to do with the fact that they would need TWO TrueDepth camera arrays to make for a consistent user experience when using either the outside or inside screen.
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Yes. Added expense and added thickness. One button on the side is easy to use open or closed. But this is where Samsung has them beat because they can do facial recognition with just a camera. It is secure enough to unlock the phone and they only need the fingerprint for more secure things like payments.
jicon said:
Tim’s final hurrah, or Ternus’ first foray
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I think Cook set his departure date very deliberately so Ternus could take credit for Siri, the folding phone, and the dozen of home automation and AI-enhanced products Apple has in the pipeline. There will be a flood of new products this fall and the sales revenue will hit a new quarter record. Quickly followed the next quarter with a touchscreen OLED MacBook?
 
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