Hold on, we've been looking at the iPhone Ultra all wrong – it's not a foldable iPhone after all
Apple might have pulled the wool over our eyes
Quick Summary
New renders of the iPhone Ultra have appeared online and give us a new perspective on the highly-rumoured device.
It might not actually be a foldable iPhone in fact, as it's more a folding iPad mini.
We've been writing about the iPhone Ultra for more than a year – previously as the "iPhone Fold" – but it's only now that we've realised what it really is. And you know what? It's not actually an iPhone at all.
Nope, while it might still be called iPhone Ultra on release (although that's not confirmed, either), at its heart it's actually a foldable iPad. A foldable iPad mini, to be precise.
Serial Apple leaker Jon Prosser has revealed a set of new renders on his FPT (FrontPageTech) YouTube channel, which show the concept more clearly.
He claims the animated renders are the "most accurate" and up-to-date yet, and they show an inner display that looks more like an iPadOS homescreen than iOS. So, is this an iPhone than opens, or actually an iPad that folds?
It's actually both, of course, but you'll only likely buy one to use that internal screen regularly – after all, why not just buy the iPhone 18 Pro Max if you want a big screen iPhone?
It's raison d'être is to be a bigger screen device that you can fold in half to more easily carry around. So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I put it to you that it's actually an iPad mini Ultra. Ahem.
All that aside, Prosser's new renders certainly make the device look good – with that (almost) crease-less inner display and a relatively slim build. We're not sure exactly, but it would be good to see some of the more iPad-centric features found in iPadOS creep into the iOS 27 system it is likely to employ – such as Stage Manager and Apple Pencil support.
Prosser also states that it'll only be available in white or black, although it will also be interesting to see the cases Apple could release – how much extra girth could they add?
But, perhaps the biggest question mark that still lingers is on pricing. With Tim Cook saying this week that Apple products will get more expensive due to the RAM crisis, and the iPhone 18 Pro even thought to cost $200 extra this year, will the iPhone iPad mini Ultra break the $2,000 / £2,000 barrier?
Sadly, I think it's inevitable. We'll find out for sure come September.
