iPhone Ultra drops Face ID, unfolds to 7.8 inches, and starts at $2,000

Apple‘s first foldable phone is unlike anything the company has made before. The iPhone Ultra opens to a 7.8-inch OLED display, the size of an iPad mini screen, and closes to just 9 millimeters thick. It starts at $2,000.

For people who have been waiting to see whether Apple would eventually join the folding-phone category, the answer is not just that it did, but how. The Ultra uses a liquid metal hinge and ultra-thin glass bonded in a way Apple says largely eliminates the crease that has been the visible weakness of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold lineup since 2019. When laid flat and unfolded, the device measures 4.5 millimeters — similar to the thinnest regular iPhone ever released. That thinness, and the engineering required to achieve it while fitting two separate batteries totaling up to 5,800 milliamp hours, is the core of what the $2,000 price buys.

The iPhone Ultra runs Apple’s new 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, the same processor inside the iPhone 18 Pro models also announced this week. In practice that means the foldable carries the full performance of Apple’s fastest phone in a form factor that, when closed, fits in a pocket roughly like any other flagship. The two display sizes do different things: the 5.5-inch outer screen handles notifications, calls, and quick tasks; the full 7.8-inch inner display becomes useful for reading, video, multitasking, and anything else that benefits from space.

There are real tradeoffs, and they matter. The Ultra does not have Face ID. Apple determined that fitting the required sensor array into the hinge mechanism was not workable, and substituted Touch ID in the power button instead. Touch ID is secure, and Apple used it for years before Face ID arrived — but users who have been unlocking iPhones with a glance since 2017 will need to adjust. The camera system is also reduced: the Ultra carries a wide and ultra-wide lens, but drops the telephoto. For most photography that is enough, but the 5x optical zoom on the iPhone 18 Pro Max is not here.

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are the less dramatic announcements at the same event, but they are the ones most people will actually buy. Both share the A20 Pro chip and add a variable-aperture main camera — a feature from professional cameras that adjusts how much light reaches the sensor depending on the scene. The Dynamic Island shrinks slightly. The battery grows. Prices increase by an estimated $100 to $300 over the iPhone 17 Pro. The base iPhone 18, aimed at most buyers, does not arrive until spring 2027.

Whether the Ultra finds an audience at $2,000 depends on something Apple cannot fully control: whether people who already own a good phone decide that a bigger screen, when they want it, is worth twice the usual price. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,799 and has been available for months. Apple is arriving later, with a higher price, betting that the fit, finish, and ecosystem integration justify both.

Preorders for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Ultra open September 12 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. All three ship September 18. iOS 27 is expected to arrive starting September 14.

The Ultra is not an iPhone for everyone. It is for people who looked at every folding phone made so far and found a reason to wait. Apple has decided that reason was always about who was making it.

Tags: Apple, John Ternus, iPhone 18 Pro, Face ID, foldable phone, iPhone Ultra