The point, however, is that none of this is yet official: when the device eventually launches, it could be called iPhone Fold, or iPhone Ultra, or something else entirely. It’s still up for debate. And earlier this week, the analyst Max Weinbach did just that, arguing that iPhone Ultra “makes no sense” and saying he doesn’t believe Apple will use that branding.
“It makes no sense to me, given the other Ultra branding Apple has,” he tweeted. “It does not seem Ultra. It’s lesser than but unique compared to the Pro; that is not an Apple Ultra product.”
There’s a logic to that point of view (Apple’s Ultra chips are indeed its most powerful, rather than following a different design philosophy or incorporating any compromises, although I would point out that the Apple Watch Ultra does have certain weaknesses compared to the slimmer alternative designs), but a point of view is all it is. The tweet received a reply, however, that put forward what is allegedly a factual riposte: that whether or not analysts think the name is a good or logical one, “everyone” at Apple is currently using it internally.
“Everyone calls it the Ultra internally,” wrote the well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. “We’ll see what happens.”
In itself, that doesn’t necessarily mean very much. Apple, like other tech companies, commonly uses codenames to refer to unreleased products; partly for simplicity (since the marketing department may not have decided on the official name yet) and partly to protect its secrets. That could be the case with iPhone Ultra.
But this would be an unusual codename, in that it sounds like a real name. Codenames tend to be dull, like B188 (the original AirPods) or whimsical, like “Dulcimer” (the original iPod). The original iPhone had both: M68 and “Purple.”
