iPhone Ultra rumor roundup: Apple's first foldable phone ahead of the Sept 9 'Surprise and Shine' event

With less than a week to go before Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, which is expected to unveil the iPhone Ultra — the company's first foldable smartphone — alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, the latest details gathered from multiple rumor sources (mostly citing Bloomberg's Mark Gurman) suggest the device will be just about 4.5mm thick, leaving no room for a Face ID hardware module, forcing a switch to Touch ID built into the side button instead, with the volume buttons moved to the top edge.

On the display front, early reports once speculated Apple might eliminate the crease entirely, but newer information says the crease will still be present, just engineered to be as unnoticeable as possible. As for wireless charging, although leaked prototype units lack a MagSafe ring, Gurman believes the final retail version will support MagSafe. The camera system uses two lenses, Wide and Ultra Wide, powered by the same A20 Pro chip as the iPhone 18 Pro, while the modem situation remains unclear — Apple may continue using Qualcomm modems in the US market, depending on whether its in-house C2 modem supports mmWave 5G.

On the software side, iOS 27 has been tailored specifically for the foldable display, with flexible app resizing, multitasking, a side panel, and side-by-side app views. The device will come in 2 colors, white/silver and dark blue, while the Apple Pencil that was tested alongside it is unlikely to launch at the same time. Pricing is expected to start above $2,000 and could reach as high as $2,500 depending on storage capacity, with possibly limited supply at launch.

Source: Techhaus Thailand (compiled from Bloomberg / Mark Gurman reporting)