YouTuber goes ‘hands-on’ with ‘so strange’ iPhone Ultra

Good news for anyone having trouble waiting for Apple’s next foldable smartphone, the iPhone Ultra: a popular YouTuber has revealed and explored its design in-depth in a new video, which you can watch below.

However, before you get excited, we should note that, of course, this is not the official device, or even an officially sanctioned prototype. Instead, Unbox Therapy made a “how-to” video with a dummy model provided by an unidentified company in China, presumably a company that makes iPhone accessories or has ties to Apple’s supply chain. (He says such models are shipped every year around this time.) The final design of the Ultra may therefore be different, either because the dummy manufacturer’s sources were wrong or because Apple chose to make a last-minute change.

That said, the model is probably pretty accurate. On the one hand, this closely matches rumors and leaks we’ve already seen (including CAD designs and other dummies). On the other hand, hardware designs of new Apple products frequently leak before launch because the supply chain is very large and difficult to control. It’s not at all implausible that a company would have obtained the details this way.

Unbox Therapy spends a lot of time playing with the iPhone Ultra mockup and talking about the pros and cons of what it considers to be a very unusual design. He describes it as “weird”, “so strange”, “chubby” and “a bit small!” » Will such a new format, which, according to him, is akin to a passport or an “iPad nano”, and which one commentator compares to a Nintendo DS, sell well? He’s not sure.

But this unusual design was not chosen for nothing. The reduced height means it fits better in the pocket than its taller competitors, the YouTuber says, and means it’s less heavy when used in the unfolded format. Apple wanted to include a powerful camera array, he speculates, and had to reduce the height in order to accommodate that without making the device unstable.

Speaking of the camera… the module is “huge,” reports Unbox. The Ultra is 11mm thick when closed, if you measure at the thinnest point, but the bump is 16.6mm. That’s a huge difference between body and bump and means it has absolutely no hope of staying flat on the table. “He might be a wobble champ,” the YouTuber laughs. “Look at this ramp creation.”

In the end, Unbox concludes that Apple seems to have prioritized the unfolded format over the folded format. When opened, he says, “That’s the magic that happens there.” » Maybe Apple wants the Ultra to be more like an iPad than an iPhone.

There will definitely be a lot more leaks and rumors between now and the fall. We expect the iPhone Ultra to launch in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. You can stay up to date with all the latest news with our regularly updated iPhone Ultra megaguide.