iPhone 18 Pro & Pro Max
A mechanical variable aperture — six laser-cut blades stepping between f/1.48, f/1.8 and f/4 — on both models, not just the Max. Physical glass doing what computation has done since 2017.
01 What it costs
| Configuration | Price | Against iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro | $1,199 | +$100 vs iPhone 17 ProBlack, silver, glacier or burgundy |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,299 | +$100 vs iPhone 17 ProSame four finishes |
02 Not written on the wall
Everything below is published by Apple. None of it is on the poster.
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Costs more
It is $100 more than the iPhone 17 Pro, on both models
iPhone 17 Pro launched at $1,099 and iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1,199. The 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are $1,199 and $1,299 — a $100 rise on each, which is roughly 9 percent. Neither announcement mentions the previous price, and the figure appears nowhere on the product page: to see the increase you have to open last year's launch post, which is still on Apple's own site.
apple.com -
Read this
The Pro's battery gain is three hours, not six
Apple leads with iPhone 18 Pro Max at up to 45 hours of video playback and states it is six hours more than the 17 Pro Max. The smaller Pro goes from 33 hours to 36 — half the improvement, on the model at the headline price, and the comparison is not stated anywhere in the announcement.
apple.com -
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Every battery number is video playback, not use
36 hours and 45 hours are both 'up to … video playback' figures. Video playback is a single-workload loop with the modem mostly idle; it is the most flattering measure a phone has and it is the only one quoted. No mixed-use figure appears in the launch material.
apple.com -
Costs more
The $1,199 headline is the smaller phone
Both prices are quoted together and the lower one leads. The Pro Max — the model most of the camera marketing is shot to sell — starts at $1,299, and neither figure is the price of a high-storage config.
apple.com -
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You preorder six days before anyone has held one
Preorders open 12 September; the phone ships 18 September. Every preorder decision is made on Apple's own material, because no independent review of the variable aperture — the single genuinely new mechanism here — can exist before units are in reviewers' hands.
apple.com
03 Against the iPhone 17 Pro
| Spec | iPhone 18 Pro & Pro Max | iPhone 17 Pro | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price (base) | $1,199 | $1,099 | Published spec |
| Price (Max) | $1,299 | $1,199 | Published spec |
| Silicon | A20 Pro, 2nm | A19 Pro | Published spec |
| Main camera | 48MP Fusion, variable aperture f/1.48 / f/1.8 / f/4 | 48MP Fusion, fixed aperture | Published spec |
| Aperture control | Six laser-cut mechanical blades | Computed depth of field | Published spec |
| Battery, Pro (video playback) | Up to 36 hours | Up to 33 hours | Vendor claim |
| Battery, Max (video playback) | Up to 45 hours | Up to 39 hours — Apple's own '6 more hours' | Vendor claim |
| Display | 6.3in / 6.9in | 6.3in / 6.9in — unchanged | Published spec |
| Enclosure | Aluminium unibody | Aluminium unibody — unchanged | Published spec |
| Cover glass | Ceramic Shield 2, 3x scratch resistance | Ceramic Shield 2 — the same glass | Vendor claim |
| Storage | 256GB – 2TB on both models | 256GB – 1TB on the Pro; 2TB was Max-only | Published spec |
| Trade-in credit | $175 – $885 | $200 – $700 | Vendor claim |
04 Everything here is checkable
A Launch File collects published figures from the manufacturer and other named sources. Claims labelled Vendor claim are the manufacturer's own and have not been independently verified. OVERCLOCK does not sell this product and earns nothing from the links above.