Apple to Launch New iPhone on Sept 10, Foldable Ultra Ditches Face ID for Side Fingerprint Sensor

Apple is set to officially unveil its next-generation iPhone lineup on September 10, with the highly anticipated foldable model, the iPhone Ultra, making its debut. Leaked images of the screen cover glass reveal that the iPhone Ultra adopts a single-hole punch display design, a marked departure from the pill-shaped cutout that Apple has used in recent models.

Since the iPhone X ushered in the full-screen era in 2017, Apple has evolved its front design from the notch to the pill-shaped cutout to accommodate the Face ID 3D facial recognition module. However, to achieve an extremely slim and light design, the unfolded single-side thickness of the iPhone Ultra has been compressed to 4.5 mm. Within such a constrained internal space, it is technically unfeasible to equip both the inner and outer screens with separate Face ID modules. As a result, Apple has abandoned Face ID in favor of a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. This marks the first high-end iPhone since the iPhone X that does not include Face ID. The front camera on the inner screen is positioned in the upper right corner, while the front camera on the outer screen is centered at the top.

The core hardware configuration of the iPhone Ultra is largely confirmed. The device features a 5.5-inch external display and a 7.8-inch internal display, powered by the new-generation Apple Pro chip, the A20 Pro, alongside an upgraded Apple baseband chip. Regarding the screen crease issue, a common concern among foldable phone users, Apple's internal R&D team has conducted multiple rounds of testing and optimization but has been unable to achieve a completely crease-free result. The final mass-production version's crease performance is on par with Samsung's current foldable phones. In terms of hinge structure and overall durability, Apple's core R&D objective is to make the foldable phone's durability roughly equivalent to that of a conventional bar-style iPhone, which is one of the areas where Apple has invested the most time and R&D effort in this product.