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iPhone 18 Pro Details Purportedly Leaked By Verizon's AI Assistant

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A series of screenshots shared with MacRumors today seemingly show Verizon's AI chat assistant answering detailed questions about the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, just hours before Apple's announcement event.

iPhone-18-Pro-Dark-Cherry-Feature.jpg

The screenshots were shared privately with MacRumors by X user "mehrtosh," who says the responses came from the "Ask Verizon" AI assistant built into the carrier's app. The conversation is timestamped September 8 at 1:48 to 1:52 p.m., the day before Apple's "Surprise and shine" event. According to the screenshots, the assistant made the following interesting claims about the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max:

  • The iPhone 18 Pro Max features the same variable aperture main camera lens as the iPhone 18 Pro.
  • Variable aperture lets the lens opening adjust between f/1.4 and f/4.0 for better low-light shots, natural bokeh, and sharper group photos.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro Max gets an "advanced" Sensor-shift OIS for improved low-light video stabilization and a larger main sensor for more detail and light.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro Max features a 48MP telephoto camera with up to 10x optical zoom, up from 8x on the iPhone 18 Pro.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro Max has 16GB of RAM, compared to 12GB on the iPhone 18 Pro.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,099.99, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max starting at $1,199.99.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro comes in four colors: Dark Cherry, Titanium Gray, Titanium White, and Titanium Black.

Several of these claims sit awkwardly next to what's already been reported. The pricing the chatbot gave, $1,099.99 for the iPhone 18 Pro and $1,199.99 for the Pro Max, exactly matches the iPhone 17 Pro's current starting prices, even though there is a general consensus from analysts that prices will increase this generation.

The color names are also seem to be incorrect. Recent leaks have pointed to Dark Cherry alongside Silver and Sky Blue, not the "Titanium Gray," "Titanium White," and "Titanium Black" names the assistant listed, which more closely resemble the finish names Apple used for the iPhone 15 Pro lineup back in 2023. This clearly raises the possibility that the chatbot pulled outdated or unrelated training data rather than surfacing a genuine leak. The assistant also made a series of more plausible claims:

  • The iPhone 18 Pro has a 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display.
  • The iPhone 18 Pro Max offers longer battery life than the Pro due to its larger size.
  • Both models feature a triple-lens rear camera system.
  • The main camera is 48MP with the f/1.4 to f/4.0 variable aperture and Sensor-shift OIS.
  • The ultra wide camera is 48MP, aimed at high-resolution macro and wide shots.
  • Both models support ProRAW and ProRes video recording.
  • Both models are powered by the A20 Pro chip.

We have been unable to independently verify or replicate the exchange, suggesting the chatbot may have since been patched, or that the original screenshots were altered or otherwise inaccurate. Given that, and the fact that AI chatbots are known to hallucinate plausible sounding but false information, the claims should be treated with skepticism rather than as a legitimate leak.

Article Link: iPhone 18 Pro Details Purportedly Leaked By Verizon's AI Assistant
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/iphone-18-pro-details-leaked-by-verizon/
Sounds like we're heading in the wrong direction with AI. Buying all the ram so everything becomes more expensive only to then have it "hallucinate" on us. "I have no idea what I'm doing but here's some answers I invented"

Might as well save all that effort and investment and just ask a homeless person in the street how much it will cost.
 
MacRumors said:
The color names are also seem to be incorrect. Recent leaks have pointed to Dark Cherry alongside Silver and Sky Blue, not the "Titanium Gray," "Titanium White," and "Titanium Black" names the assistant listed, which more closely resemble the finish names Apple used for the iPhone 15 Pro lineup back in 2023. This clearly raises the possibility that the chatbot pulled outdated or unrelated training data rather than surfacing a genuine leak.
Click to expand...

The pro phones switched back to Aluminium last year so i think we can safely say this is not correct. Either that or Apple has picked the strangest naming scheme for the Pro colour options.
 
Am I crazy or is 18PM looks like a decent upgrade even from 17PM? I usually hate on Apple here and everywhere else but damn, this looks like a lot of new stuff. (Done years ago by Chinese companies)
 
Dirk Pieters said:
Sounds like we're heading in the wrong direction with AI. Buying all the ram so everything becomes more expensive only to then have it "hallucinate" on us. "I have no idea what I'm doing but here's some answers I invented"

Might as well save all that effort and investment and just ask a homeless person in the street how much it will cost.
Click to expand...
No reason to conclude these assertions specifically are hallucinations.

Verizon probably (hopefully?) trains their own local model with appropriate customer service data. They undoubtedly already have access to the specs as they’ll be updating their own websites later today with info on the 18s. No different than a pre-release leak of a website.
 
It’s Ai. Anyone else seriously has more question? I have used Ai a lot over the past months and it makes things so often wrong it’s incredible. Whenever I say to the Ai that it’s wrong and tell the Ai how it really is it immediately apologises and says I’m right and so on with the correct facts.

So I wouldn’t believe anything from this Ai bot.
 
More AI slop lol. No titanium this year, same aluminium unibody chassis as the 17 Pro. And no way Apple is increasing RAM to 16GB in the midst of RAMageddon.
 
riverfreak said:
No reason to conclude these assertions specifically are hallucinations.

Verizon probably (hopefully?) trains their own local model with appropriate customer service data. They undoubtedly already have access to the specs as they’ll be updating their own websites later today with info on the 18s. No different than a pre-release leak of a website.
Click to expand...
The mere fact that we have to think about whether it was hallucinating or not, shows what's wrong with it.
 
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ibRckr said:
Am I crazy or is 18PM looks like a decent upgrade even from 17PM? I usually hate on Apple here and everywhere else but damn, this looks like a lot of new stuff. (Done years ago by Chinese companies)
Click to expand...
I go by RAM, which determines long term support, so 16GB RAM is the best change (if true — and this isn’t AI slop).
 
It's good for people who owns iPhone 13 or earlier to upgrade. I have both 15 and 17 Pro Max. 17 is a waste of money for me.
 
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