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The MacRumors Show: Everything We Know About iPhone 18 Pro

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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through everything the iPhone 18 Pro will feature, according to the latest rumors.


Following last year's major redesign, the iPhone 18 Pro models are expected to feature a very similar design to their predecessors. There is likely to be a smaller Dynamic Island, with Face ID's flood illuminator component moved under the screen to reduce the cutout's size. It is rumored to be approximately 35% narrower than the iPhone 17 Pro's. The Pro Max will be slightly thicker than its predecessor, rising to around 8.8mm and over 240 grams to accommodate a larger battery of 5,100 to 5,200 mAh, up from the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 5,088 mAh.

The rear will see a slight design shift as well. Apple is reportedly dropping the two-tone look found on iPhone 17 Pro models in favor of a more seamless aesthetic, with improved alignment between the Ceramic Shield back glass and the aluminum frame. The devices are also expected to come in a special red color.

The camera system will undergo more substantial changes. Both Pro models' main 48-megapixel Fusion camera are rumored to feature variable aperture, which would allow users to control the lens opening to manage light intake and depth of field. The aperture would function similarly to a DSLR camera, giving photographers greater control over focus sharpness and background blur in different lighting conditions. Additionally, Samsung is developing a new three-layer sensor for the iPhone 18 Pro, designed to reduce noise, improve dynamic range, and enhance camera responsiveness compared to Sony's current sensors.

The Camera Control button is also getting a simplification. Rather than supporting both capacitive touch gestures and pressure sensing as on the iPhone 17, the iPhone 18 will rely on pressure sensing alone, reducing manufacturing complexity and the cost of repairs, while improving ease of use.

The A20 Pro chip will mark Apple's debut of a 2-nanometer processor, with a reported 15% speed increase and about 30% better power efficiency compared to the A19 Pro. The chip will use TSMC's Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module technology, integrating RAM directly onto the same wafer as the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine rather than mounting it separately, which should improve performance and battery life while reducing the physical footprint of the chip.

The iPhone 18 Pro models will also feature Apple's C2 modem, which is expected to bring faster speeds, improved power efficiency, and support for mmWave 5G in the United States, a capability absent from the C1 and C1X modems used in earlier iPhones. Other upgrades include Apple's N2 wireless chip and 5G satellite internet.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to launch in September 2026, with the standard iPhone 18 and the lower-end iPhone 18e following in spring 2027. A foldable iPhone is also expected to debut alongside the Pro models in the fall. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



You can also listen to The MacRumors Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or other podcast apps. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your player.

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about Apple's announcement of its 37th annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where the company is expected to unveil a major Siri overhaul alongside iOS 27, macOS 27, and other next-generation operating systems.

Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kayci Lacob, Kevin Nether, John Gruber, Mark Gurman,... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: The MacRumors Show: Everything We Know About iPhone 18 Pro
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/03/the-macrumors-show-everything-we-know-about-iphone-18-pro/
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According to reports, the Air is selling better than the Plus, but it is taking sales away from the Pro rather than moving people up from considering a base 17. This year looks to be a very mild upgrade to the Pro as well, so I can see the Fold doing well and a lot of people just passing on the Pro this year. If the Air is indeed 6.8% of sales this year, the added complexities of the Fold production, the added costs for AppleCare, etc. are going to need the Fold to be about 8-10% of sales to not be instantly considered a failure (within Apple, anyway). That's a high bar for success, but a boring Pro makes it possible(?) It might be considered a weird strategy, but it does get Apple to launch an 18 Pro quickly and then go back to focusing on the Fold and what to do for iPhone XX, which is where their real interest/attention seems to be.

www.macrumors.com

iPhone Air Said to Be Roughly Twice as Popular as iPhone 16 Plus

While it certainly has its critics, the iPhone Air appears to have validated Apple's decision to retire the iPhone Plus, if new results from an independent analysis are anything to go by. Crowdsourced Speedtest data published by Ookla suggests the iPhone Air captured 6.8 percent of iPhone 17...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
 
You missed they’re probably rounding the edge of the plateau to prevent scratches or chipping of paint due to scratch gate.
 
HouseLannister said:
According to reports, the Air is selling better than the Plus, but it is taking sales away from the Pro rather than moving people up from considering a base 17. This year looks to be a very mild upgrade to the Pro as well, so I can see the Fold doing well and a lot of people just passing on the Pro this year. If the Air is indeed 6.8% of sales this year, the added complexities of the Fold production, the added costs for AppleCare, etc. are going to need the Fold to be about 8-10% of sales to not be instantly considered a failure (within Apple, anyway). That's a high bar for success, but a boring Pro makes it possible(?) It might be considered a weird strategy, but it does get Apple to launch an 18 Pro quickly and then go back to focusing on the Fold and what to do for iPhone XX, which is where their real interest/attention seems to be.

www.macrumors.com

iPhone Air Said to Be Roughly Twice as Popular as iPhone 16 Plus

While it certainly has its critics, the iPhone Air appears to have validated Apple's decision to retire the iPhone Plus, if new results from an independent analysis are anything to go by. Crowdsourced Speedtest data published by Ookla suggests the iPhone Air captured 6.8 percent of iPhone 17...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
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I downgraded from the 16pro to the AIr. These phones are getting too big and heavy. As much as I miss the cameras, the weight of the AIR is worth the tradeoff so far.... The titanium frame is a must have I feel with how durable my 16pro has been with enduring countless drops.
I still would rather an iphone mini pro with titanium frame even if it were over $1k.
 
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I appreciated the call out on talking about chips from an average consumer perspective. These companies don't really explain chips that well for the average consumer, other than to say that it makes the machine run faster or something. I mean on this M series, they are up to what, M5 now? What is the difference between M5 and M4, really?

One example of this is I'm typing on my M1 MacBook Air right now, and it still works really well. It's 5 years old, but it still does what it needs to do. I don't know what the useful life is on this machine, but it still feels pretty new other than the newest software update.
 
MacRumors said:
Following last year's major redesign, the iPhone 18 Pro models are expected to feature a very similar design to their predecessors
Click to expand...
What was the major redesign from last year? The extension of the camera housing? You can’t even tell the difference between an iPhone 16 and a 17 from the front!
 
I'm not sure why MacRumors keeps reporting that the thing that will make the cutout for the Face ID and front-facing camera hardware smaller, is just moving the Face ID flood illuminator under the display. The flood illuminator is relatively tiny, so doing that alone wouldn't seem to free up the amount of space needed to get as much cutout width reduction as has been rumored.

In fact, the leaked photos recently shown on MacRumors of the 18 Pro/Pro Max display and one or more screen protectors for it, show (or at least imply) that the narrower cutout pill to the left of the selfie camera's circular cutout has room for only only one full-sized component (Face ID's infrared camera, or the infrared 3D dot projector) plus room for something smaller, so maybe one of those two components has been shrunk. It's also possible that either the dot projector or the infrared camera will go under the display. Of these two, the more likely is the IR camera.

At least that's where the evidence points so far.
 
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Finalcountdown said:
What was the major redesign from last year? The extension of the camera housing? You can’t even tell the difference between an iPhone 16 and a 17 from the front!
Click to expand...
Sure you can. The width of the bezel around the display of the 17 series is a tiny bit smaller, I think, at least just eyeballing it, though you've got to get your eyes in pretty close.
 
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From the sound of it all this new model is an incremental update and since that is the case I likely just keep rocking my 16 Pro.
 
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If the 18 PM is even heavier than the 17, I might have to reconsider my decision. I can't stand these big chunky phones pulling my pants down. I wear belts, of course, but it still feels like I'm trying to smuggle a boat anchor in my pocket. I'm getting tired of lugging around my 14 PM, even though it's still a good phone. Long way of saying "I want an Air 2," but oh well.
 
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darngooddesign said:
Why wouldn’t you just press the volume buttons to take a photo.
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Ergonomics. The Camera Control button is a big improvement in users' ability to properly capture images. The placement allows a stable handhold position for landscape photos. Unfortunately many users did not learn camera technique on cameras, but instead learned the awful technique based around early smartphone cameras; so they need to relearn to get better hand position.

IMO simplification of the CC button should be a good improvement.
 
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Allen_Wentz said:
Ergonomics. The Camera Control button is a big improvement in users' ability to properly capture images. The placement allows a stable handhold position for landscape photos. Unfortunately many users did not learn camera technique on cameras, but instead learned the awful technique based around early smartphone cameras; so they need to relearn to get better hand position.

IMO simplification of the CC button should be a good improvement.
Click to expand...
Why is pressing the CC button more ergonomic than pressing the volume button? You’d an even rotate the phone so the volume button is in the same location, relative to your hand, as the CC button.
 
Allen_Wentz said:
Ergonomics. The Camera Control button is a big improvement in users' ability to properly capture images. The placement allows a stable handhold position for landscape photos. Unfortunately many users did not learn camera technique on cameras, but instead learned the awful technique based around early smartphone cameras; so they need to relearn to get better hand position.

IMO simplification of the CC button should be a good improvement.
Click to expand...
The issue I had always with the camera control button goes back to being left handed. It is not ergonomic for a left handed person and favors the right handed person. All I ever had with the button placement was an annoyance with accidentally pushing the button so I did the logical thing and totally disabled the button in settings. I did give it a fair chance but never could get it to work for me as I pushed to hard with a blurred picture or not enough and so disabled it is for me on my 16 Pro. To me the camera control button is give the folks something they never asked for and that nobody needed.
 
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Mikeske said:
The issue I had always with the camera control button goes back to being left handed. It is not ergonomic for a left handed person and favors the right handed person. All I ever had with the button placement was an annoyance with accidentally pushing the button so I did the logical thing and totally disabled the button in settings. I did give it a fair chance but never could get it to work for me as I pushed to hard with a blurred picture or not enough and so disabled it is for me on my 16 Pro. To me the camera control button is give the folks something they never asked for and that nobody needed.
Click to expand...
You dont need to use your finger; if you rotate your phone you can press it with your thumb.
 
darngooddesign said:
You dont need to use your finger; if you rotate your phone you can press it with your thumb.
Click to expand...
I tried that and still got blurred pictures. I just did not have the patience to learn as this would mean for a left handed person either the phone would be upside down for a right handed person and you are pushing upwards on the phone or clumsily trying to use the opposite hand which I am having hard time. I just stick to the setup of using the screen button that is centered where I can use.
 
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