- Apple iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are officially out now.
- Powered by A20 Pro SoC, the duo brings similar specs and design language as the predecessors.
- It does bring variable aperture to the primary cam, narrower dynamic island, larger batteries, and a new color variant - Burgundy.
Looks like we just had one of the finest launch events of the year. Apple has officially launched the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max after almost a year of rumors, leaks, and whatnot you can think of. Triumphant over its predecessors in many ways, the new series brings the A20 Pro chipset, variable-aperture primary camera, and larger batteries to fulfill increasing usage. Let’s check out the iPhone 18 Pro series more closely.
Apple launches iPhone 18 Pro series
Well, there aren’t many significant changes in the 18 Pro series compared to the iPhone 17 Pro series. For starters, both the devices are still using the same 6.3 and 6.9” LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED panel as seen on the iPhone 17 Pro series. In fact, the resolution, brightness, and refresh rates are the same.
What changed is the new Dynamic Island, which is a bit smaller and lets users access three live activities at once, which is one more than the iPhone 17 Pro. In Apple’s language, the new Dynamic Island now packs in 33% more information. There’s an 18MP front-facing cam on-board the duo that we saw on the processors as well.
But there’s a major upgrade—presenting the A20 Pro SoC
Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max draw power from the latest A20 Pro SoC. Fabbed by TSMC on a 2nm node, the chipset packs a punch. The first-ever 2nm chipset, it packs in a 6-core CPU classified as desktop-class super cores. It has a 40% faster 7-core GPU and 50% increased memory bandwidth, plus a dual Neural Engine with 32 cores to handle neural processing and AI.
Apart from the faster chip, the iPhone 18 Pro series packs in a larger vapor chamber, which is 3x larger than the iPhone 17 Pro. The Cupertino-based giant has used silicon packaging tech from M-series chipsets to ensure efficient heat dissipation.
The cameras that can change aperture
It’s not just the chipset that stole the limelight; the variable aperture on the Pro models was a showstopper as well. Both the phones pack in triple 48MP cameras, and the primary cam uses variable aperture, the first of its kind on iPhones. This gives Pro and Pro Max excellent manual controls over aperture and shutter speeds, plus there’s better grain control on-board. However, exactly how it will perform in real life is yet to be seen.
iPhone 18 Pro is poised to offer up to 36 hours of video playback on the eSIM variant. On the other hand, iPhone 18 Pro Max packs in the largest battery life on iPhones with an astonishing 45 hours of video playback as claimed by Apple. Of course, Apple hasn’t divulged any information on the battery pack just yet, just as last year’s when compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and so on.
Finally, we have iOS 27 handling the software front paired with an all-new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence. Note that the new Siri will launch as a beta later this month and probably not for China and the EU.
iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max pricing and availability
Apart from iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have launched as well. Rolling out in 65 countries, including China, India, France, South Korea, the US, the UK, and Germany, among others, the Pro phones will be up for pre-orders starting Saturday, September 12. The shipments will commence on September 18. Another set of 20 countries will be added starting September 25, which you can check out on Apple’s website.
Pricing-wise, there’s an uptick in iPhone 18 Pro series pricing, as is evident. We are talking about a $100 increase on the base iPhone 18 Pro, which will be a new price tag of $1,199 in the US. On the other hand, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will cost you $1,299 in the US after a steep $100 increase, given Apple is undergoing mounting pressure from supply chain constraints and increasing costs of components and memory.
You can choose between Silver, Black, Glacier Blue, and Burgundy colorways across the duo.
Here’s the pricing for other markets for the base models across both Pro duos.
| iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) | iPhone 18 Pro Max (256GB) | |
| US | $1,199 | $1,299 |
| India | INR 164,900 | INR 179,900 |
| UK | GBP 1,199 | GBP 1,299 |
| Japan | JPY 219,800 | JPY 239,800 |
| China | CNY 9,999 | CNY 10,999 |
| Germany | EUR 1,449 | EUR 1,599 |
For context, the iPhone 18 Pro series will cost INR 30,000 more in India, CNY 1000 in China, and EUR 150 more in the EU, after the aforementioned price hike that has affected the iPhone 17 series as well.
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