Pocket Perfect and Ready to Unfold, Early Testers Warm to Apple’s iPhone Ultra

Photo credit: Sonny Dickson
Apple’s long-awaited foldable phone has reached the hands of a small group of early testers, and the feedback arriving through Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter is largely positive. People who have spent time with the prototypes, referred to internally as the iPhone Ultra, keep coming back to how the device feels when closed and how it works once opened.

Those testers rave about a phone that fits comfortably in a pocket without adding bulk. The folded form is only 9.4 millimeters thick, and when held, it has the compact shape of a book rather than the tall, slender foldables that came before. They have a 5.5-inch exterior display for regular usage, and when you flip it open, the inside screen measures around 7.8 inches. People quickly realized that the device’s unusually wide aspect ratio makes it feel like a tablet when held, which is a major upgrade over simply juggling windows on your standard iPhone.

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The hinge has earned high praise, with early reports claiming that it is fairly solid and feels like it was built to last, with no creaks or squeaks while opening and closing it repeatedly. Some of the first people to try it out point to the liquid-metal construction, which is intended to be highly robust without adding any heft, which is exactly what you want when you need to keep that phone as thin as possible. When you open it, it shrinks to 4.5 millimeters, which is so little that Apple had to make some other compromises to reach that aim.

The prototype is beginning to win over folks in the software industry. The larger inner display allows for iPad-style layouts, and juggling windows side by side seems far more natural than using split-screen on your standard iPhone. People are also enjoying the open screen as a camera viewfinder, which is far larger than the tiny little window on your ordinary phone and allows you to take better photos. It all appears to be coming together very well, with individuals reporting that productivity tasks, video consumption, and gaming all benefit significantly from the added storage.

Now onto the camera hardware, where things begin to turn a little less rosy. The rear of the device is simply a pair of 48-megapixel sensors, one standard and one super-wide. There is no telephoto lens, which is a bit of a concern for a phone that will cost at least $2,000, if not more with storage. Many people will be disappointed that the zoom option is not included, especially since the lower-end Pro models already have it. Front-facing cameras have arrived, but only on both screens, and they aren’t saying much about them yet.

Biometrics are another example of a compromise. There is no Face ID; instead, a Touch ID sensor is incorporated into the side power button, as seen on previous iPads. It’s a good move in terms of keeping the phone slim, and it works in any orientation, but it appears that many longtime iPhone customers will be disappointed that Face ID and fingerprint recognition are not included.

Let’s just say the prices aren’t cheap. Expect to pay at least $2,000, with higher-end models possibly exceeding $2,500. This means that when selecting whether this is the phone for them, consumers must examine a number of things, including the folding design, the wide open display, the revised hinge, and the lack of zoom and Face ID.
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