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iOS 27 Code References iPhone With Two Batteries

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The fourth developer beta of iOS 27 has references to an iPhone with two batteries, according to Macworld. New Battery Health strings include mentions of multiple internal batteries, instead of a single battery. MacRumors confirmed the mentions are in the beta.

Foldable-iPhone-2023-Feature-1.jpg

  • "The batteries in this iPhone are performing as expected."
  • "The health of the batteries in this iPhone has significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the batteries to restore full performance and capacity."
  • "The health of the batteries in this iPhone has significantly degraded, and one of the batteries could not be verified as a genuine Apple battery. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the batteries to restore full performance and capacity."
All of the wording in the Settings app on current iPhone models references a single battery, so the plural phrasing is curious.

Macworld speculates the wording references the foldable "iPhone Ultra" Apple is working on. Prior rumors suggest the iPhone Ultra will use two battery cells with 1,921mAh and 2,962mAh capacities for a total of 4,883mAh. Foldable smartphones typically have two batteries, with one located in each half of the device. Apple is likely to use the same design.

The iOS 27 strings suggest the batteries in the iPhone Ultra could be serviceable separately, so a single failing cell could be swapped on its own. An option to replace a single degraded cell could lower repair costs.

Apple's iPhone Ultra is expected to debut this September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models.

Article Link: iOS 27 Code References iPhone With Two Batteries
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/20/ios-27-dual-battery-iphone/
Le_Chiffre said:
iPhone foldable incoming.

Channel checks indicate 10 million units for 2026.
Click to expand...
Well, sort of, 10 million units between fall 2026 and fall 2027. As in, 10 million units of the first generation.
Not necessarily 10 million units between September and December of this year.
Either way, Samsung’s $2000 folding phones sell about 2.5 million units, so either way you look at it, it’s about 4 to 5 times as many as Samsung.
 
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I often wander whether the high prices are a deliberate choice to keep demand in check so they can gain experience with manufacturing ever complex gadgets, or, that they simply price everything at cost plus X% profit margin.

Unrelated to the batteries, but hey, sort of on topic 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Lounge vibes 05 said:
Well, sort of, 10 million units between fall 2026 and fall 2027. As in, 10 million units of the first generation.
Not necessarily 10 million units between September and December of this year.
Either way, Samsung’s $2000 folding phones sell about 2.5 million units, so either way you look at it, it’s about 4 to 5 times as many as Samsung.
Click to expand...

No, 10 million represents only 2H26 shipments.

10 million units spread across 12 months? That would be less than 1 million units sold per month. That doesn't pass the sanity check. For perspective, Apple sells about 220 million iPhones per year.
 
Dual battery for a foldable is not surprising. However it remains to be seen whether the battery health % reported by the software will be a single figure or not.
 
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JPack said:
No, 10 million represents only 2H26 shipments.

10 million units spread across 12 months? That would be less than 1 million units sold per month. That doesn't pass the sanity check. For perspective, Apple sells about 220 million iPhones per year.
Click to expand...
You are joking, right?
Yes, Apple sells 220 million iPhones every year. That means iPhones going all the way from the cheapest, to the most expensive.
The most popular model is the base, $800 regular iPhone.
This also includes previous generations as well.

Apple apparently produced about 85 million iPhones for the fourth quarter of 2025. Assuming similar numbers this year, at 10 million units, this would mean that the folding iPhone would represent around 12 to 15% of all iPhone shipments, or in other words, almost three times the share of iPhones that the iPhone Air represented last year.
The iPhone Air was less than $1000, the folding iPhone will be anywhere from $2000 to $3000. It is not going to become 10 to 15% of all iPhone shipments within its first three months. That’s just not going to happen.
You say that 1 to 2 million units per quarter sounds insane, but if you compare it to Samsung’, their flagship $2000 galaxy Z fold sells about 2.5 million units each year, or about 600,000 units per quarter.



The 10 million unit figure is for the entire year, going from the fall of 2026 to the fall of 2027. And despite what you think, this is a massive success for the foldable market, which at the current moment struggles to sell in the hundreds of thousands each quarter.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
You are joking, right?
Yes, Apple sells 220 million iPhones every year. That means iPhones going all the way from the cheapest, to the most expensive.
The most popular model is the base, $800 regular iPhone.
This also includes previous generations as well.

Apple apparently produced about 85 million iPhones for the fourth quarter of 2025. Assuming similar numbers this year, at 10 million units, this would mean that the folding iPhone would represent around 12 to 15% of all iPhone shipments, or in other words, almost three times the share of iPhones that the iPhone Air represented last year.
The iPhone Air was less than $1000, the folding iPhone will be anywhere from $2000 to $3000. It is not going to become 10 to 15% of all iPhone shipments within its first three months. That’s just not going to happen.
You say that 1 to 2 million units per quarter sounds insane, but if you compare it to Samsung’, their flagship $2000 galaxy Z fold sells about 2.5 million units each year, or about 600,000 units per quarter.



The 10 million unit figure is for the entire year, going from the fall of 2026 to the fall of 2027. And despite what you think, this is a massive success for the foldable market, which at the current moment struggles to sell in the hundreds of thousands each quarter.
Click to expand...

It's not really up for debate.

The primary source (Nikkei) for the 10 million figure already stated it's for 2H26. Ming Chi Kuo's original estimate of 7-8 million units is also for calendar 2026.

Your numbers don't make sense because:

- Apple doesn't forecast 12 months ahead and tell suppliers to build a year's worth of supply; it has never happened
- iPhone Ultra would represent less than 1% of annual iPhone sales; Apple wouldn't bother selling it
- Your 85 million Q4 figure is heavily weighted towards the Pro/Max models. So, yes 12-15% makes sense. When you compare the annual production of iPhone, which includes mainstream models, the Ultra represents far less.
 
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$2000 might be tempting, but $2499 pushes it into just buy an iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPad mini 8 OLED territory for basically the same price and still keep faceid and 3 cameras on your iPhone.
 
JPack said:
- iPhone Ultra would represent less than 1% of annual iPhone sales; Apple wouldn't bother selling it
Click to expand...
You are leaving out One very important factor, which is that this is less than one percent of iPhone sales annually… But at $2500 plus.


That’s somewhere between 8 and $12 billion in pure profit for Apple, assuming their regular profit margin is taken into effect, which it is.
Consider also that apple only sells about 500,000 to 600,000 Mac studios every year, but they are so expensive and the higher tiers so much profit that it ends up not mattering in the long run.
 
I'm not seeing any single foldable phone has an internal design that making battery easily accessible for DIY repair. I hope Apple could come up with some kind of solution.
 
magbarn said:
$2000 might be tempting, but $2499 pushes it into just buy an iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPad mini 8 OLED territory for basically the same price and still keep faceid and 3 cameras on your iPhone.
Click to expand...
That's the thing though. The foldable is essentially providing your an iPadesque screen in the footprint of an 18 Pro Max. That's the main draw.
 
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