iPhone Ultra code found in beta – reveals upgrade never seen on iPhone before
Could this be the biggest reference to a folding iPhone so far?
Quick Summary
References to an iPhone containing plural "batteries" has been spotted in iOS 27 beta code, suggesting a device with more than one battery.
This could point to the iPhone Ultra, as it's typical for folding phones to have a battery in each half of the device.
References to a battery health feature deep in the iOS 27 beta code have given a big hint to Apple's future folding phone plans with a reference to "batteries". That pluralisation might seem like nothing, but it could point to the split cell arrangement of batteries in a folding phone.
Apple is thought to be preparing its first folding phone, generally known as the iPhone Ultra. Traditionally, the battery in book-type folding phones is split in two, so there's a cell in each half of the phone to make the best use of space.
That's led MacWorld, which found the code, to believe that this references the iPhone Ultra. The code string discovered says: "The batteries in this iPhone are performing as expected".
This is exciting because no iPhone model currently has multiple batteries, so it's thought that this feature might be to support and monitor the split cells in the iPhone Ultra.
This isn't the first time that references have been made to features that a folding iPhone might offer – previously we saw references to fold state and display numbers in the code.
Apple is expected to launch a 4:3 aspect folding phone, shorter and wider than we've seen from most other manufacturers in the past – more like a folding iPad mini.
The iPhone Ultra is expected to sit at the top of Apple's range price wise, above the iPhone 18 Pro Max that it's expected to launch alongside in September. It's said to have a 7.8-inch internal display and a 5.5-inch cover screen.
As is always the case with Apple, it's hard know what the company is planning until launch day, so there's no shortage of speculation out there.
But to play devil's advocate, there's a further explanation that might apply to the use of the word "batteries". Apple is known being rather conservative with its batteries and charging speeds, but one of the things that enables faster charging is a dual-cell battery.
This splits the battery into two storage cells and it allows for faster charging because there's the potential for better heat management. That also typically allows for higher capacity batteries too.
It could be that the reference to "batteries" is this, with Apple planning to support faster charging speeds on future devices with a dual-cell design.
However, with so much speculation pointing to Apple's entry into the folding phone segment – including brands changing their own folding phones to match Apple's plan – it's highly likely that this is, in fact, pointing towards Apple's iPhone Ultra with a battery in each half of the phone.
