iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max: everything we think we know about the new Apple phones

Punctual to its annual appointment, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to arrive in September of this year. They will be the first iPhones launched under the new CEO, John Ternus, and also iPhones that will be launched under unusual conditions. The reason is that they are expected to arrive alone or accompanied by the folding iPhone, but not with an iPhone 18 that rumors place in spring 2027.

That said, and since the river is already beginning to sound, below we bring together the different leaks that allow us to guess what these iPhone 18 Pro will be like. And, as usual, it is expected that there will be minimal changes in some sections... and a couple of interesting touches in the form of a "new" Dynamic Island and a main camera with variable aperture.

Table of Contents (12)

- What is expected from the iPhone 18 Pro?

-When would the iPhone 18 Pro come out?

- What design will the iPhone 18 Pro have?

- What will the screens of the new iPhone 18 Pro be like?

-What processor will the iPhone 18 Pro have?

- The modem

- How much battery will the iPhone 18 Pro have?

- What operating system will the iPhone 18 Pro have?

- What changes to the camera will the iPhone 18 Pro have?

- Variable opening

- Telephoto improvements

- What would be the price of the iPhone 18 Pro?

- Design: identical to that of the iPhone 17 Pro, but with new colors and thinner bezels so that the screen makes better use of the front. Aluminum and glass will remain the star material and the camera module aims to be larger.

- Screen: same sizes of 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches with LTPO refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. The Dynamic Island aims to be 25% smaller thanks to a better distribution of the FaceID sensors under the screen.

- SoC: Apple Silicon A20 Pro manufactured in TSMC's 2 nanometer process, being Apple's first with this technology.

- RAM: 12 GB integrated directly on the chip wafer to increase the bandwidth and performance of the CPU, GPU and NPU for AI.

- Cameras: triple 48 megapixel configuration with an improved telephoto lens and a main camera with variable aperture.

- Connectivity: Apple C2 modem.

- Price: 256 GB versions with no increases in sight, but with more expensive RAM options than currently due to the component crisis. Prices of 1,319 euros are expected in Spain for the iPhone 18 Pro and 1,469 euros for the Pro Max

- Launch: September 2026.

As we say, Apple will maintain customs with the new generation of iPhone, which will be presented in September with a launch a few days later. John Ternus will take over as CEO on September 1 and the new iPhones will mark his grand debut in the company.

According to the leaks, what we are expected to have in September are the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and perhaps an iPhone 18 Fold that has been rumored for years and of which, supposedly, they are finalizing the details.

Due to the market situation, what these leaks also indicate is that the iPhone 18 and a possible new generation of the iPhone Air will be delayed until spring 2027.

This to give more air to an iPhone 17 that is still very current, but also to have an iPhone at the beginning of 2027 to compete against Samsung and Chinese rivals and, in addition, hoping that the situation with the price of RAM and storage will allow good margins to be maintained in the price of the terminal.

In this section, no profound changes in sight. The iPhone 17 Pro already introduced the new design with the rectangular module occupying the entire upper area of ​​the back and the transition from titanium to aluminum as the main material.

In this sense, things will remain the same, but it is expected that the orange that has been so successful in China will give way to two new colors. Along with the classic silver and a black that would return this generation, it seems that we will have a striking sky blue iPhone (more typical of non-Pro iPhones) and a burgundy or dark purple.

What is expected in design is that the camera module will be larger to accommodate the new sensors and lens systems, as well as a glass rear part (which is there to allow wireless charging, something that could not occur if the entire rear part were made of aluminum) that presents less color distortion compared to the aluminum body.

That is, there is not as much visible difference between one material and another as is happening right now with the iPhone 17 Pro.

It is expected that life will continue the same at this point because the screens of these models, especially the Max, are already quite generous and expanding the diagonal would greatly compromise the size of the terminal.

- Phone 18 Pro: 6.3-inch OLED with refresh rate up to 120 Hz.

- iPhone 18 Pro Max: 6.9-inch OLED with refresh rate up to 120 Hz

It is still early to talk about brightness, but it is a section in which the Chinese competition is tightening and Apple should not be left behind. What seems clearer is that it will be Samsung and LG that will manufacture the panels, since they are the only ones that have the necessary processes to manufacture LTPO+ panels that have passed Apple's quality filters.

What is expected is that Dnámica Island will finally lose weight a little. We have been with it since it was implemented in the iPhone 14 Pro back in 2022 and, since then, it has not had any changes. What has been leaked thanks to the supposed screens of the new iPhone 18 Pro is that this module is 25% smaller thanks to the fact that there are FaceID sensors that will be distributed below the screen.

This movement was already made with the notch, compressing the FadeID technology so that the 'notch' was somewhat smaller and is the step expected for the new models.

Specifically, it seems that those moving elements are the point emitter for depth calculations and the infrared sensor.

Under the hood of the iPhone 18 Pro, things are starting to get interesting. The SoC will be the A20 Pro, a new generation with many design changes because it will be an SoC that will be manufactured in a 2 nanometer process.

TSMC will be in charge of doing it because they are the ones with the most polished node and there is talk of a chip up to 15% faster and 30% more efficient than the A19 Pro. We will have to wait to see it, but together with the RAM, it is an element that could destabilize the price of the devices.

The reason is that this 2 nanometer process is 50% more expensive than the previous one, which can have an impact on the price of the terminal. Apart from being a cutting-edge chip due to its lithography, sophistication is expected to reach packaging with WMCM technology that will integrate the RAM directly into the same module as the processor.

This makes the chip more complicated to manufacture, but implies an advantage in terms of access times and latency between the processor, GPU and NPU and memory. It also entails greater bandwidth, something that the local AI that the iPhone 18 Pro is expected to integrate thanks to the new Siri can benefit from.

Regarding RAM memory, both are expected to have a single 12 GB configuration.

A new generation of modem is also expected that is responsible for iPhones communicating with GPS, telephone antennas and WiFi. The C1 introduced in the iPhone 16e would give way to a C2 that would improve both performance and satellite connection.

It is rumored that the C2 would support the New Radio Non Terrestrial Networks standard that would allow better access to satellite communication in emergency conditions, representing an improvement over the satellite connection that was launched with the iPhone 14.

It is one of the most complicated sections because the rumors do not point to specific figures. In fact, it is something that Apple always keeps secret (although we know the figures when the iPhones start to be 'gutted'), but the leaks point to a battery between 5,100 and 5,200 mAh for the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

It is somewhat larger than the 5,088 mAh of the current iPhone 17 Pro Max and we will see how it behaves next to that A20 Pro that aims to be more efficient.

No surprises here in the version of iOS, which will be iOS 27. It is expected that in the coming days, within the framework of WWDC in June, Apple will present the new version of its mobile operating system that will be launched in beta throughout the summer and whose final version will coincide with the launch of the new models.

What is most intriguing is whether, finally, Apple will be able to 'sell' iOS as a system with advanced AI integrated. It has been trying for years without success, but in recent months the company has been pushing the accelerator to shape the long-awaited 'new' Siri.

At a time when iPhones have fallen behind in photographic capabilities compared to Chinese mobile phones, Apple is expected to remedy this with two new features: variable aperture and a new telephoto lens.

The variable aperture is not new in the world of smartphones and Samsung already tested it years ago with the Galaxy S9. However, the companies that have set up something like this have ruled it out, opting for fixed openings... and reports suggest that Apple wants to try again.

This variable aperture implies a mechanism that will physically move the diaphragm. This is a hole that, in conventional cameras, allows more or less light to enter from the lens to the sensor. The more light in, the better photos in low light conditions and, the larger the aperture, the more natural background blur.

However, if we make the aperture smaller, in good light conditions for landscape photos there is an advantage: everything becomes a little sharper.

In such small lenses and with the importance of computational photography, it is something that does not make as much sense as in a conventional camera, but it can be useful so that, in a photo of a landscape, the processing does not add so much artificial sharpness, resulting in a more natural photo.

The other improvement that is being considered is for the telephoto lens. At the moment there are no rumors about a greater ambition in the number of magnifications, but there are rumors about a larger aperture and a new stacked sensor developed by Samsung.

It is expected to be more physically capable in low light conditions thanks to this improvement in aperture, but that it can also capture images with an extended dynamic range and lower noise in these adverse conditions.

What has been on the table for weeks is that Apple is supposedly developing its own teleconverter. In the style of brands like Oppo or Vivo, which have these teleconverters to achieve crazy focal lengths, Apple would be toying with the idea of ​​a teleconverter to further expand the possibilities of the iPhone.

It makes sense if we take into account that, as we said before, they are lagging behind the Chinese competition, but also if we consider the ambitions of a company that is mounting iPhones on television targets to broadcast sporting events. With a teleconverter, Apple can play the card of extreme versatility for both video and photo.

Now, it is difficult to imagine that Apple is going to sell a separate lens for its flagship mobile phone.

Beyond all of the above, the million-dollar question right now is how much the iPhone 18 Pro is expected to cost. If we look at Apple's trajectory and what we are seeing in other industry heavyweights such as the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, the prices of the iPhone 18 Pro should not vary too much from what was seen in the previous generation.

For now, this is all we know about the iPhone 18 Pro thanks to industry leaks. As always, we have to wait for the September presentation to finalize all the details, but while there are things that seem more or less certain, others are very much up in the air.

The one that may worry the most is the question of price. If what we are seeing in other families of devices is true, it is expected that the 256 GB iPhone 18 Pro will maintain the price compared to previous generations, but the versions with greater capacity (512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB) are the ones that will suffer the blow of the component crisis in which we are immersed and that will not subside in the short term.

On the other hand, there is also a lot of interest in seeing how they apply that rumored variable aperture for the camera, since it is something that other brands have already set up and discarded in the past.

In any case, we will update this article with the news that arrives about the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

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