Apple looks set to stretch its ”Ultra” badge beyond chips and watches. According to a report cited by Macworld, the company is preparing two premium products over the next year under that name: its first foldable iPhone and a new MacBook Ultra with an OLED touchscreen.
The branding choice is more than cosmetic. Apple has been building a cleaner ladder across its lineup, and ”Ultra” would now sit above the usual Pro tier instead of blending into it. That is the kind of segmentation rivals love to imitate and buyers love to complain about right up until they want the expensive model anyway.
iPhone Ultra could sit outside the iPhone 18 lineup
The foldable phone is said to be called the ”iPhone Ultra” and would become the top-end model in Apple’s phone range. But it would not be treated as part of the iPhone 18 lineup, even if it arrives alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple is apparently copying its own playbook here: the iPhone Air is also not considered part of the iPhone 17 series.
Timing may be messy. The report says Apple hopes to ship the foldable with the iPhone 18 Pro, but it could land a few weeks later and in shorter supply. That is a familiar launch pattern for a brand-new form factor, especially one that has spent years being dangled more as a status symbol than a mass-market product.
MacBook Ultra would arrive above the MacBook Pro
Apple is also planning a ”MacBook Ultra” later this year or in early 2027, according to the report. It is expected to use an OLED display, add touchscreen support, and sit above the MacBook Pro at a significantly higher price.
The machine was originally expected to launch later this year, but memory supply chain shortages have apparently pushed it back by several months. That delay does not sound glamorous, but it is the sort of unromantic constraint that has slowed plenty of premium hardware launches before, from high-end laptops to the first wave of foldables from Apple’s competitors.
Apple already has an Ultra habit
Apple is not starting from zero with the name. It already uses Ultra for M-series chips, the Apple Watch Ultra, and CarPlay Ultra. Bloomberg had previously linked ”Ultra” branding to both the foldable iPhone and the OLED MacBook, and even suggested AirPods Ultra could follow.
If Apple keeps going down this road, the real question is whether ”Ultra” becomes its new luxury marker or just another label that sounds more expensive than it feels. My money is on the former. Apple rarely reuses a branding idea unless it thinks the margin math is going to be very, very friendly.