According to the supply chain analyst Ming-Chi KuoApple may have a very limited supply of the iPhone Ultra when it announces it in September. This means that it is plausible that the company could delay its shipment by another month or two, as it did with the iPhone X.
Apple should have its long-awaited first foldable iPhone (rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra). finally debut later this year. It should feature a 5.5-inch external display and a 7.8-inch internal display, making it similar to the iPad mini. When unfolded, it will be less than 5mm thick, making it thinner than the iPhone Air. There are rumors that he will enter Between $2,300 and $2,500this is confirmed by Kuo again.
However, when Apple announces the foldable iPhone this September, it will be quite difficult to get hold of. From Kuo’s report:
My latest industry survey shows that assembly shipments for the foldable iPhone will be around 7-8 million units in 2H26 and 0.5-1 million units in 3Q26, or about 10% of the total. In comparison, the estimated 3Q26 shipment of the iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max is around 20-22 million units, which is significantly higher than the foldable iPhone and already meets the inventory requirement for the official launch.
Apple will only produce up to 8 million foldable iPhones by the end of the year, with only up to 1 million of them going on sale in the third quarter. This makes a September release impossible, It looks like an iPhone X. Regardless, whenever it goes on sale – it’s going to be incredibly difficult to get one with these numbers.
Kuo estimates that delivery times could be extended by “4 to 6 weeks or more” and that it will be difficult to get a delivery until at least December. He even predicts that iPhone Ultras can be had for a 50-100% premium over their actual retail price.
Wrap it up
All in all, if you want a foldable iPhone, pre-ordering it as soon as possible will be the only way to get one close to the sale. Given that Q3 shipments are incredibly low, I wouldn’t assume you’d be able to just walk into a store and buy freely.
Kuo believes that launch noise and supply constraints should have subsided by the first quarter of 2027, and then we’ll have a better idea of what foldable iPhone demand looks like.
Are you looking forward to the iPhone Ultra? Will you choose one at the start? Let us know in the comments.
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