Big iPhone Ultra news gets everyone excited
Big news about the iPhone Ultra helped Apple's value soar by $182 billion on Thursday.
News about the iPhone Ultra has investors rushing to buy the stock | Image by PhoneArena
Apple is now planning to have 10 million foldable iPhone Ultra units manufactured, up from the original 7 million to 8 million phones that the tech giant originally planned to build this year. The company reportedly told its suppliers to produce enough parts and components to allow Apple to manufacture as many as 10 million units of the first foldable iPhone.
Apple is expected to produce a total of 220 million iPhones this year, including the iPhone Ultra
At the same time, Apple is looking to manufacture a combined 70 million units of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Adding the 10 million foldable iPhone units being built during the second half of 2026 will bring total iPhone production to 220 million. We aren't expecting Apple to release the Phone 18, iPhone 18e and the iPhone Air 2 until next spring.
Market analysis firm IDC recently forecast that Apple will ship 240 million iPhone units this year. In calendar 2025, Apple shipped between 243 million and 247.4 million iPhone handsets.
Apple is aggressively looking to source parts for the iPhone
IDC also reports said that Apple has told suppliers that it will need parts to build 85 million new iPhones during the second half of the year. Sources also said that Apple reportedly told its suppliers to hold aside any "common components and parts used in the iPhone 17 series" so they can be used in the iPhone 18 premium phones.
Which book-style foldable would you buy first?
With the recent shortage of memory and storage chips due to heavy demand for AI data centers, Apple is believed to be aggressively looking to source certain parts. Recently we told you that Apple had sought clearance from the White House to buy chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).
Since CXMT isn't on the Commerce Department's Entity List, Apple doesn't need a license to purchase components from the Chinese-based firm. But because CXMT is on the Chinese Military Company Blacklist, Apple felt it prudent to speak to the Trump Administration first before buying the chips it needs from them.
IDC says that the iPhone Ultra could be priced as high as $3,000 for a high-storage variant
IDC expects pricing of the iPhone Ultra to start at $2,500 with higher storage models expected to hit the $3,000 mark. This is a bit higher than most have predicted with more estimates looking for the price to be in the $2,000 to $2,500 range. Either way, the foldable Phone Ultra is expected to be the most expensive iPhone model ever sold.
The iPhone Ultra will be supposedly be crease-free and the release of the iPhone Ultra is supposed to give a jolt to the overall foldable market. Some analysts see a double-digit increase in global shipments of foldable phones by Q4 2026 due to the iPhone's debut in the category.
For the first time, Apple will have some influence over the foldable smartphone market with the release of the iPhone Ultra, which is the name that most of us media types have given the phone. Originally, we called it the iPhone Fold during the years when the device was nothing more than a rumor and a glint in Tim Cook's eye.
Investors go wild over Apple today
Meanwhile, the news about Apple's plan to build more iPhone Ultra units than expected this year sent investors to their phones to buy Apple stock. On Thursday, the shares rose $14.25 or 4.84% to $308.63. Today was Apple's best day in the stock market since it dropped nearly $18 on June 25, closing at $275.20. On that date, Apple hiked prices on iPads and MacBooks to make up for more expensive storage and memory chips, losing hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization.
Apple's closing price was its highest since June 5, 2026. On that date, Apple closed at $307.34. The next big hurdle for Apple is July 30 when it will release its fiscal third quarter earnings report. This will take place on a Thursday following the 4 PM EDT close of the market. As usual, we will let you know how the company did during the quarter and how the market reacts in after-hours trading.
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