The naming for Apple’s largest and latest flagship phone is still unclear. We’re days away from the event, but leakers don’t grasp the exact name yet. Some claim that Apple will call the 6.7″ model the iPhone 15 Ultra. Others claim that Apple will still call it the iPhone 15 Pro Max and that the iPhone has no Ultra nomenclature.
It’s not like Apple didn’t use the Ultra name before. We have the M2 Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra as recent examples. However, Apple has not yet called a single iPhone the iPhone Ultra. A sketchy post on X claimed that Apple now has two high-end 6.7″ phones in the lineup.
This means Apple could launch an iPhone 15 Ultra and a 15 Pro Max. The Ultra will have upgrades like 8GB of RAM, 2TB max storage, and the periscope camera. This doesn’t make much sense since the Pro Max will be too similar to this, just minus the periscope camera. The leak also claims it’ll cost another $100 more than the Pro Max, so that’s a potential $ 1299$ starting price.
However, with insights from the supply chain, Mark Gurman quickly dismissed this rumor. In a post on X, he claims there’s only one high-end 6.7″ iPhone, and Apple could call it the Ultra or the Pro Max. So it’ll get the titanium frame and the periscope, but both the Pro models’ RAM and storage configurations remain unknown. Apple will apparently launch only four models this year: the standard/ vanilla models and the Pro models in two different sizes.
iPhone 15 Ultra Expected Price
- iPhone 15 Ultra could be priced at $1299 for the base model.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple plans to add further differentiation to the lineup. We began seeing this with the 13 lineup; only the Pro models got Macro Mode, 120Hz, and RAW photography. The 14 Pro took this further, with only the Pros getting significant camera upgrades.
The 15 lineup will push even more people to the Pro Max since only that variant could get the new Periscope camera. The Pro will probably be stuck with the same 3X telephoto.
Since Apple plans to upsell the expensive models, we can expect the iPhone 15 Ultra to get a storage bump to 256GB at the base. The current 128GB iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1099 in the USA. The price is higher in the EU, the UK, and other countries.
Considering many upgrades, Apple could price the iPhone 15 Ultra at least $100 more than the 14 Pro Max. There’s also a good chance of a $200 price increase since we’re getting more storage. That will bring it to 1199$ or 1299$ for the 256GB iPhone 15 Ultra. There are several reasons for a price increase, primarily the new A17 Bionic SOC.
The A17 Bionic uses TSMC’s 3nm fabrication, which is expensive and doesn’t have yield rates as reasonable as the 4nm fab. Apple is also moving to a more expensive titanium frame, which adds to the costs.
There are several supply chain issues with the displays, too. BOE dropped out since they couldn’t accommodate the quality demands of Apple and had problems with the Dynamic Island cutout. Even LG is facing a tough time manufacturing displays with bezels that are this razer thin on the upcoming iPhones. This leaves only Samsung behind to manufacture panels for all their phones, at least the entire initial batches. This could increase the costs further since there’s no competition.
LG is also handling the periscope sensors for the 15 Ultra, and the yield rate there doesn’t look impressive either. Since so many contributing factors exist, a price increase is inevitable for the iPhone 15 Ultra. The 512GB model could go as high as $1499 or $1599 and up to $1699 or $1799 for the 1TB option. If there is a 2TB variant, that could reach a whopping $2000 in price.
