GoKawiilIt was widely expected that the first foldable iPhone set to be launched later today would be named the iPhone Ultra. However, a report yesterday said that the device will instead be called the iPhone Duo.
If accurate, it’s an interesting development as it might potentially point to the company reserving the Ultra suffix for a completely different future model …
Opinion pieces in which I muse about possible future developments are by their very nature speculative, and this one perhaps more than most. When it comes to hard facts, the only thing we can say for sure is that Apple has used the Ultra label to mean the top-level offering in three contexts:
Apple Watch Ultra
Apple Silicon chips (eg. M5 Ultra)
CarPlay Ultra
It’s been speculated that the company plans to expand the use of the Ultra moniker to a range of new products. This was expected to include the iPhone Ultra and the MacBook Ultra.
Specifically, the iPhone Ultra label was reportedly going to be used for the foldable phone being launched later today. As of yesterday, however, we are expecting this to be named the iPhone Duo – so what’s up? I can see three possibilities.
1. The least interesting reason
The least interesting explanation would be that Apple isn’t using the Ultra label because the foldable phone isn’t the ultimate iPhone. It’s a device with a unique feature, but it’s expected to be inferior to the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in several ways. If all the reports pan out, it won’t have a variable aperture lens on the main camera, and will also lack a telephoto camera; it won’t have Face ID; and it won’t match the battery life of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
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