Pros & Cons

• 
  
  
  Outstanding cameras that excel in taking photos in a variety of conditions, especially in low-light environments and at night
• 
  
  
  Fast charging that added 77% to the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s battery in just 30 minutes
• 
  
  
  Durable build that feels incredibly well-build and sturdy to use
• 
  
  
  Focus Tracking is outstanding to make sure a fast-moving, unpredictable subject (think a kid or pet) is in focus for photos and videos
• 
  
  
  Reference Image is a welcome addition at a time when we are bombarded with AI-generated and altered imagery

• 
  
  
  Expensive: The starting price got a $100 price bump, pushing base models of the Pro to $1,199 and Pro Max to $1,299
• 
  
  
  Heavy: the iPhone 18 Pro Max weighs 249 grams, which will cause wrist fatigue more quickly for some people
• 
  
  
  Camera Control can’t adjust the aperture or shutter speed – seems like a giant miss that I can’t use a button called Camera Controls to control camera features

The iPhone 18 Pro is in an Apple case with an optional wrist strap attached. / Patrick Holland/CNET

Pros & Cons

• 
  
  
  Outstanding cameras that excel in taking photos in a variety of conditions, especially in low-light environments and at night
• 
  
  
  Fast charging that took the iPhone 18 Pro from 0% to 82% in 30 minutes
• 
  
  
  Durable build that feels incredibly well-build and sturdy to use
• 
  
  
  Focus Tracking is outstanding to make sure a fast-moving, unpredictable subject (think a kid or pet) is in focus for photos and videos
• 
  
  
  Reference Image is a welcome addition at a time when we are bombarded with AI-generated and altered imagery

• 
  
  
  Expensive: The starting price got a $100 price bump, pushing base models of the Pro to $1,199 and Pro Max to $1,299
• 
  
  
  Heavy: the iPhone 18 Pro weighs 211 grams, which will cause wrist fatigue more quickly for some people
• 
  
  
  Camera Control can’t adjust the aperture or shutter speed – seems like a giant miss that I can’t use a button called Camera Controls to control camera features

Author’s note: For this review, I primarily used the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but also spent a day testing the smaller iPhone 18 Pro. Both phones have identical cameras, software and processor. The differences between the two come down to size, weight, screen resolution and battery capacity.

I’ve taken some of my favorite iPhone images ever with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and yet, I don’t think just anyone should buy it.

Apple made shooting with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max’s cameras more like using the Fujifilm X100VI camera. I’m not just talking about the addition of aperture blades. Taking photos with the 18 Pro feels more analog, and I’m absolutely here for it. 

Photography can be as much about how you take the image as it is the resulting photo itself and the new pro phones embrace that philosophy fully. I can dial in the aperture, shutter speed and add a Photographic Style complete with film grain to really make my photo sing. 

Oh, and the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, thanks to having the widest aperture on any Apple phone, are great for taking photos and videos when it’s dark. Light trails and aperture starbursts are welcome here.

All these photographic wonders are perfect for a camera nerd like me, but when you combine that with an $1,199 starting price ($1,299 for the 18 Pro Max), reality starts to come into focus. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max’s features and price expand the gap between Apple’s flagship pro versions and the standard model, which was not updated to round out the 18 family, and is now expected early next year. I genuinely think most people would be better served by grabbing an iPhone 17, even at its higher $929 starting price, than one of the new Pros. Heck, I’d even say look at the iPhone 16. I mean, do you really need that telephoto camera?

Even if the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are aimed more at creative types than at regular folks, that doesn’t change the fact that they are outstanding and powerful phones. The battery life in my testing so far matches that of the 17 Pro and Pro Max. Charging is fast and iOS 27 improvements make interacting with the iPhone feel lively and less tedious. I’ve enjoyed Siri AI and think that when more folks try out the beta voice assistant, it will win over a lot of new fans.

But charging and battery life are also fast on last year’s iPhone 17, which tied for second in our tests on 35 phones. Both iOS 27 and Siri AI are available on it as well. You could even use an app like Halide to get some of the 18 Pro’s new manual camera controls.

The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max go on sale on Friday, Sept. 18 and are currently available to preorder.

Should you buy the iPhone 18 Pro?

If you’re a creative type who enjoys manual camera controls, the 18 Pro or Pro Max belongs in your pocket. If you shoot lots of video, especially in darker environments, this phone is for you.

But if you’re just upgrading from one pro iPhone to another, slow down. This is a solid upgrade for those coming from an iPhone 14 Pro and older. And iPhone 15 Pro owners, check your battery’s capacity and health. I’d recommend replacing the battery instead of upgrading right now, especially in this economy. Owners of the iPhone 16 Pro or 17 Pro can comfortably sit this year out. Download iOS 27 and treat yourself to a nice meal with your loved ones instead.

And while the iPhone 18 Pro and the upcoming foldable iPhone Duo are both positioned as creative tools, it’s like comparing a luxury SUV against a convertible.

Most people don’t need this much camera unless they really need that telephoto lens. Even then, you’re likely better served by the iPhone 17 and using digital zoom.

Honey, Apple shrunk the Dynamic Island 

The newest pro Apple phones are heavy boys with their aluminum unibody design, large battery and palm-sized vapor cooling system. Basically, all the amenities and improvements add weight. This was a welcome trade-off in the iPhone 17 Pro to get a larger battery and extended time between charges, but there’s no doubt Apple prioritized 18 Pro features over a thin-and-light design. If you’re coming from a 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, consider conditioning yourself with some wrist weights. The heft reassures me, though, as the phones feel like they were built like tanks.

The back has the same Ceramic Shield cutout as the 17 Pro, but forgoes a two-tone design in favor of a more uniform color. I never imagined a burgundy phone, but Apple pulls off the color well and passersby on the street definitely noticed my review loaner. I think the glacier blue color is nice. The black 18 Pro looks mean and cool, like a biker at Sturgis – in all the right ways. This ain’t your father’s space gray iPhone.

Apple parked the IR illuminator for Face ID behind the Ceramic 2 display and shrank the Dynamic Island from the size of half a pretzel stick to the size of a pill. Upside: You can have three live activities nestled at the top – perfect for simultaneously following football games, postseason baseball and the occasional meal delivery.

iPhone 18 Pro charges fast and the battery life is promising

I started testing the iPhone 18 Pro Max just over five days ago and, during that time, I’ve only charged it three times. It’s handled a lot of long days of testing and camera use. Below is my diary for the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s battery life.

I pushed the phone the hardest on Monday. We were shooting the review video outdoors, with the screen at max brightness, and demoing a number of features.

If you do run out of battery, the good news is that both the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max charge quickly. They are the fastest-charging iPhones I have ever tested. In our 30-minute wired charging test, the 18 Pro Max went from empty to 77%, and the 18 Pro added 82% charge. Also, I tested Apple’s claim that 15 minutes of charging will add roughly 50% more charge – it’s true. The 18 Pro added 53% and the 18 Pro Max 48%.

Here’s how the phones stack up against others in our wired testing.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max did well in our 30-minute wireless charging test, too, adding 40% charge to its battery. I haven’t tested the regular 18 Pro in the same test, but here’s how the 18 Pro Max compares against rivals. I should note that last year’s 17 Pro Max recharged more than the 18 Pro Max, which has a larger-capacity battery.

The phones run on the new A20 Pro chip and each has a giant vapor chamber to keep that processor from getting too warm. In use, gaming on the iPhone 18 Pro Max has been a blast. Whether it was playing Endfield, Genshin Impact or recording lots of videos, the phone never stumbled. The only times it got warm were when downloading apps and game files (some are close to 28GB) or when charging, but it was never something I was concerned about.

We still have more testing and benchmarking to do.

The iPhone 18 Pro cameras are a cutting-edge twist on analog photography

Both new pro models have the exact same trio of 48-megapixel cameras with wide-angle, ultrawide and 4x telephoto lenses. On the front is the 18-megapixel selfie camera, which can automatically expand the frame or take horizontal selfies in a vertical orientation.

But here’s the special sauce: Instead of having a fixed aperture, like every iPhone camera until now, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have a variable aperture on the main lens. It’s made up of six individual blades that can open to let in more light or close to let in less. Think of the aperture like window shades for a camera lens: When wide open, a lot of light comes in and when closed slightly, less light makes it through. This feature gives you more control over the amount of light, which you can use in creative ways.

Don’t let the mechanical aperture distract you from the fact that at f/1.48, the main camera has the widest aperture ever on an iPhone, which has been fantastic for low-light and nighttime photography and videos. By default, the aperture automatically adjusts itself when shooting between 1x and 3.9x magnification, the range covered by the main camera, depending on what it determines will work best for the scene.

The default camera app has pro controls to let you make adjustments manually. I can pick the lens aperture, choose the shutter speed, select the white balance and even get an on-screen dial to incrementally adjust the focus – video shooters are going to appreciate those last two, especially. 

I enjoy these controls, as I have when they’ve appeared on Android phones. My big criticism is how they’re accessed: I use the lens aperture and shutter speed controls quite a bit, but they are located at the bottom of the camera controls drawer. When shooting one-handed, I have to tap, then expand the drawer to get to the bottom. I wish I could customize the position of the icons like I can with settings in the phone’s control center. Also, why can’t I assign any of these to the Camera Control button on the side of the phone? Imagine focus pulling in a video recording by sliding your finger.

The photo controls settings are displayed at the top of the screen, which I can tap to bring them up – it’s just hard to do one-handed. 

The creative controls on the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are what I’ve appreciated most.

The iPhone 18 Pro takes incredible photos, even in the dark 

How do I use all these creative controls? Starbursts.

Before we were able to change the aperture, bright light sources in the iPhone camera most often showed up as light blobs.

Now, I’ve been enjoying stopping the main camera aperture down to f/4 (its narrowest) and getting true starbursts with light sources. The photos below are from the 18 Pro Max (at f/4) and the 17 Pro Max (fixed at f/1.78). The images are similar, but the obvious difference is the bold starburst in the 18 Pro snap.

Here’s one I got at night and opted to use the Stark B&W Photographic Style.

But then I started messing with starbursts and slowing the shutter speed down (half a second or 1 second) to get some dramatic motion blur. On other iPhones, a long-exposure shot requires a hack: Take a Live Photo and set the Long Exposure effect to blend the video frames. Being able to capture real motion blur in camera is more satisfying and looks much better to my eye.

Does every photo need a starburst? I keep asking myself this question. There are apps that can do something similar digitally, as well as capture light streaks.

These images are not perfect, but they perfectly express what I felt and I believe that comes through. The iPhone 18 Pro has opened up a creative side of me that reminds me so much of using the Fujifilm X100 series and its film simulation looks, which has been my main camera (through various models) for 12 years. I get the same thrills experimenting with manual controls and photographic styles on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

Videos, especially filmed in low-light conditions and at night, look good! Watch the camera test video accompanying this review to see what the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are capable of in terms of video image quality.

As a big fan of third-party apps like Halide and Blackmagic Camera, it’s nice to see Apple finally add pro and manual controls to the native Camera app, but it does feel like the company might be stepping on some toes. Apple said that a lot of this technology (the APIs) can be used by third-party developers. So if you really like the 18 Pro and Pro Max’s pro controls, try a third-party app, which might take things even further.

Here are some other favorite images that I took with the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

iPhone 18 Pro Max cameras vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Galaxy S26 Ultra

You’ve already seen how this bad boy takes photos, but how do the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max compare against the orange iPhone 17 Pro Max, the Pixel 11 Pro XL, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra?

Let’s start with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which at $1,300 is the same price as the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Both phones take amazing images but there are some differences. In these ultrawide pics, the 18 Pro Max’s colors look more true-to-life, with the S26 Ultra really pushing the saturation.

Now, let’s see the 18 Pro Max against the iPhone 17 Pro Max. These pics of tree artwork are similar, except for the way each handles the sun. The 18 Pro Max turns it into a bold starburst. Let’s add the Pixel 11 Pro XL in with these shots of the city skyline from Dolores Park. 

The biggest differences are how each handles white balance and highlights. I like the 18 Pro Max’s shot and the texture in the trees. The leaves are better defined in the Pixel and 18 Pro Max’s photos.

Focus Tracking and Reference Image are welcome

Screenshot by Patrick Holland/CNET

One of the coolest new camera features in the 18 Pro is Focus Tracking, and it does just that in both images and videos. All you do is double-tap on whatever you want to be in focus – like a person or pet – and you’ll see a Focus Tracking label at top with a morphing yellow outline around what you’re tracking. I think it works incredibly well and is available across all of the cameras on the back of the iPhone. So if I’m on the ultrawide and I zoom in, it still follows my subject. I found it works pretty great on cats and dogs.

To combat the surge of fraudulent imagery, Apple added a new camera mode called Reference Image. You have to opt in to use it, after which you’ll see an option for Reference Image added to the mode dial at the bottom of the Camera app. Think of it as a digital version of a film negative. A Reference Image is created from the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max’s main camera sensor and grabs the pixel data at the time the image was taken before it goes through Apple’s image pipeline. 

If you edit the photo or use AI to alter part of the image, the Reference Image remains verifiable proof of what it looked like when you took the photo. Or if you’re viewing someone else’s photo, a Reference Image is a way to verify that it wasn’t edited or altered. 

As journalists, this could be a significant tool. I could even imagine this being used to reduce fraud and scams. But it does feel like having just a piece of cloth to keep yourself from getting wet in a rainstorm – I’m excited for this, but we need more tools like Reference Image available to consumers.

And this feels like a good place to stop. There is still more for me to test on both the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. But so far, I am quite impressed with what Apple has done and just how significant some of these updates are, especially if you’re photo-focused and battery-obsessed like I am.

iPhone 18 Pro specs vs. iPhone 18 Pro Max, Google Pixel 11 Pro XL, Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

How we test phones

Every phone CNET’s reviews team tests is used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using standardized benchmark tools such as GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions, from bright sunlight to dark indoor environments. We try out special features such as night mode and portrait mode, and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily, as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features such as support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds and foldable displays, among others that can be useful. We balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether the phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value. While these tests may not always be reflected in CNET’s initial review, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.

Patrick Holland

Director of Content

As Director of Content, Hardware, I lead CNET’s team of journalists and editors, covering news and testing on smartphones, laptops, wireless carriers, AI, and pretty much anything with a battery.

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