Apple Plans Foldable iPhone and Ultra Model for 2026-2027
Apple targets 10M foldable units and a new Ultra tier as it expands its iPhone lineup across at least five models over the next 18 months.
Apple is preparing one of its most ambitious iPhone expansions in years, with plans to launch at least five new models between the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027. The rollout includes two headline additions: the company's first-ever foldable iPhone and a new premium iPhone Ultra positioned above the existing Pro Max. The foldable alone carries an initial production target of roughly 10 million units — a figure that signals Apple is treating this not as a niche experiment but as a mainstream category entry.
The iPhone Ultra designation would place Apple in direct competition with Samsung's Galaxy Ultra lineup on pure branding terms, but more importantly it suggests the company sees room above its current price ceiling. Apple has historically used "Ultra" to denote its highest-performance silicon — the M-series Ultra chips — so extending that label to iPhone carries deliberate strategic weight, implying a device built around performance differentiation rather than form factor alone.
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Perhaps the most consequential detail in the expansion plan involves supply chain politics. To manage memory chip constraints at the volume this lineup requires, Apple is reportedly diversifying toward Chinese suppliers that appear on a Pentagon blacklist. The move carries real reputational and regulatory exposure at a moment when US-China technology decoupling remains a live political issue in Washington. It illustrates the persistent tension between Apple's global manufacturing dependencies and its need to insulate itself from geopolitical disruption.
Taken together, the lineup signals that Apple is betting on product differentiation — new form factors, new tier labels, new suppliers — to sustain iPhone revenue growth in a maturing smartphone market. Whether the foldable can command the premium pricing Apple needs to justify its complexity, and whether the Ultra can carve out a distinct identity beyond marketing, will be the defining questions when these devices arrive. Continue reading at Yahoo
