IPhone Ultra Won’t Ship Until Q4 2026, Six Months After Reveal

Apple’s first foldable iPhone will almost certainly be announced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in September, but the more telling detail is what happens after the event: you probably won’t be able to buy one until Q4 2026. That gap, not the reveal itself, is the real story here.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo draws a direct parallel to the iPhone X launch in September 2017, when Apple announced three phones simultaneously but staggered pre-orders by six weeks. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus went up for pre-order three days after the event; the iPhone X didn’t open pre-orders until late October. Kuo expects the foldable, reportedly named iPhone Ultra, to follow the same pattern.

The reason is supply, not strategy. Manufacturing challenges have constrained early production, and Apple’s suppliers are expected to ship only 7 to 8 million foldable units in 2026, compared to 20 to 22 million for the iPhone 18 Pro models combined. That gap in production volume explains both the delayed pre-order window and Kuo’s prediction that the device could sell out immediately once orders open, with delivery estimates stretching to four to six weeks or longer.

Price and the size of the bet

Kuo puts the starting price somewhere between $2,299 and $2,499 in the U.S., a figure that positions the iPhone Ultra well above even a significantly more expensive iPhone 18 Pro. At that price point, constrained supply is almost a feature rather than a flaw: scarcity and long lead times reinforce the premium positioning Apple is clearly aiming for.

What comes next beyond 2026 is an open question. How the iPhone Ultra sells will likely shape decisions about follow-on hardware, much as broader smartphone demand signals have already influenced production planning across the industry. A second-generation foldable expected in fall 2027 is already part of the roadmap, but the first model has to land before any of that matters.