Apple’s foldable iPhone output at just hundreds a day ahead of Sept. 9 launch

Apple ↘ 0.52% is days away from unveiling its first foldable iPhone at the company's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, but mass production of the device remains far behind the pace needed to meet commercial targets. As of late August, daily output of the foldable iPhone — widely expected to be branded the iPhone Ultra — was running at only a few hundred units, according to a Nikkei Asia report citing people familiar with the matter.tradingkey+1

The bottleneck stems not from component shortages but from Apple's unusually strict quality controls for the new form factor. Sources told Nikkei Asia that the company added an extra round of trial production and validation before entering formal production in August, slowing the ramp-up. Foldable smartphones present manufacturing challenges in areas such as screen flatness and hinge durability that go beyond those of conventional models, and Apple is working to improve yields before scaling up.freepressjournal+1

A Wide Gap From Commercial Targets

The market had expected Apple to produce roughly 8 million to 10 million foldable iPhones this year, a target the company raised from an earlier forecast of 7 to 8 million units after hinge-related engineering issues were resolved earlier in the summer. Meeting those numbers would normally require output of tens of thousands of units per day — a stark contrast to the current pace of a few hundred. If the ramp-up does not accelerate sharply in the coming weeks, final shipments could fall well short of plans and consumer wait times could stretch considerably.macrumors+2

Launch Timing and Pricing

Apple is set to introduce the iPhone Ultra alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at the September 9 event. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he would be "very surprised" if the foldable does not launch at or very close to the same time as the Pro models, though he acknowledged supplies could be constrained. Other analysts, including Barclays' ↘ 2.15% Tim Long, have warned that availability could slip to later in the year. The consensus view points to an unveiling next week with on-sale timing shortly after, but with limited initial stock.macrumors+5

IDC's latest forecast puts the iPhone Ultra's average selling price at approximately $2,550, consistent with earlier expectations that the device would exceed $2,000. The phone is expected to feature a roughly 7.8-inch inner OLED display, a 5.5-inch outer screen, an A20 Pro chip, and Touch ID rather than Face ID due to its slim 4.5mm profile.mashable+2

Broader Supply Chain Pressures

Apple's production challenge comes amid wider strain on the electronics supply chain. Ongoing data center construction tied to AI infrastructure investment is driving up demand for memory and other components, creating procurement headaches for smartphone makers. Semiconductor analyst Tim Culpan has noted that Apple is having difficulty securing enough DRAM to complete production across its entire new iPhone lineup, with TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ↗ 6.33% holding roughly $1 billion worth of unpackaged processors waiting on memory chips. For a device already hampered by manufacturing complexity, these broader pressures add another layer of uncertainty to Apple's most ambitious product launch in years.tradingkey+1