iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: our first hands-on impressions

We’ve just gotten our hands on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max at Apple Park following the company’s “Surprise and shine” presentation.

The new phones look quite similar to the previous iPhone 17 Pro lineup, keeping the same general design, aluminum body, and screen sizes. The 18 Pro lineup comes in four colors — black, silver, “glacier” (which is blue), and burgundy — and they now have color-matched glass on the back that blends in more seamlessly with the body.

Another major new feature is the variable-aperture lens for the main camera and new “pro” controls to help give you more options when taking photos. Apple has also added pro controls to the native camera app; at last our national nightmare is over. You can set the aperture to adjust automatically or use one of four selectable stops: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4.0. There are also manual controls for shutter speed, white balance, and focus — the latter comes with peaking in the preview to help determine what’s in focus, which is a nice touch. The Dynamic Island is also smaller, and Apple says you can now use it to look at three Live Activities at once. I can confirm, yes, this works.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available to preorder starting September 12th ahead of a September 18th release date. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299.

More in: All the news from Apple’s ‘Surprise and shine’ event