What Upgrading to iPhone 18 Pro From iPhone 17 Pro Gets You

[MacRumors]

Apple's new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max largely build on last year's models with a series of targeted upgrades rather than a major redesign. The most notable changes dial in better performance, camera capabilities, battery life, and wired charging speeds.

Several key specifications remain unchanged from the iPhone 17 Pro models. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max retain the same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, 3,000-nit peak outdoor brightness, and 48-megapixel Ultra Wide and Telephoto cameras with 4x Telephoto and 8x optical-quality zoom.

MagSafe and Qi2 charging also remain capped at 25W, while the overall industrial design – minus the Dynamic Island – is largely unchanged. The Main camera, however, receives substantial upgrades, including the new variable-aperture system. Here's what you can expect if you're planning to upgrade from an iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max.

• A20 Pro chip replaces the A19 Pro, with up to 20% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU performance.
• 7-core GPU that's up from the 6-core GPU in the A19 Pro.
• Twice the AI processing performance, with a new Dual 16-core Neural Engine.
• Redesigned vapor chamber with three times the surface area, enabling up to 40% better sustained performance.
• Smaller Dynamic Island that can display up to three Live Activities at once.
• Variable-aperture 48MP Main camera with ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4 settings, replacing the fixed ƒ/1.78 aperture on the iPhone 17 Pro models.
• Around 50% better low-light performance from the Main camera.
• New manual camera controls for aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and histogram.
• New Apple Reference Image feature for creating authenticated, unalterable reference photos.
• Photographic Styles 3, with new texture and grain controls.
• Cinematic effects that can now be applied after capture to video shot at up to 60 fps.
• Cinematic mode at up to 4K Dolby Vision at 60 fps, up from 30 fps on the previous models.
• Time-lapse recording upgraded to 4K Dolby Vision.
• Improved Audio Mix with higher-quality voice processing and music isolation.
• New smart focus tracking for photos and video.
• Improved low-light video recording at 1080p.
• Up to 36 hours of video playback on iPhone 18 Pro, up from 33 hours on the 17 Pro.
• Up to 45 hours of video playback on iPhone 18 Pro Max, up from 39 hours on the 17 Pro Max.
• Faster wired charging: Apple says 50% in around 15 minutes, down from around 20 minutes.
• 2TB storage option on the 6.3-inch iPhone 18 Pro, up from a 1TB maximum.
• New Black, Silver, Glacier, and Burgundy finishes, replacing Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue.
• Heavier design: The iPhone 18 Pro is 5g heavier than its predecessor, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max is 16g heavier.
• $100 higher starting price: $1,199 for iPhone 18 Pro and $1,299 for iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available to pre-order starting Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time / 8 a.m. Eastern Time. The devices will then be released on Friday, September 18. If you're keen to be among the first to get your hands on one, we have some tips on how to give yourself the best chance come launch day.

Article Link: What Upgrading to iPhone 18 Pro From iPhone 17 Pro Gets You

 

[Berti10]

2014: iPhone 6 introduces TimeLapse
2015: iPhone 6S introduces 4K recording
2017: iPhone 8 introduces 4K60
2020: iPhone 12 Pro introduces HDR recording
2026: Timelapse in 4K-HDR 🤦‍♂️ that’s a joke, apple… that feature is backwards compatible

 

[Astuces iOS]

Nothing HELL NOTHING !... A bit wider aperture (who cares it will never beat a nifty fifty), a bit faster and better battery... that's it mate

 

[EugW]

This article gives me deja vu.

iPhone 17 Pro vs. iPhone 18 Pro: 35+ Upgrades Compared

Apple yesterday announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, succeeding the iPhone 17 Pro that launched last September. The new models are built around the A20 Pro chip, a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera with variable aperture, a redesigned vapor chamber, and a smaller Dynamic Island. Last...

www.macrumors.com

 

[akb]

Basic update suggests a twin approach from Apple: holding pattern for the big 20th anniversary phone next year - and aim all the headlines at the new, super-expensive option.

 

[MrRom92]

I would like someone to provide an actual measurement of the charging specification. iPhones 17 topped out at 40w if I’m not mistaken. If they publish a spec then people will know what charger to actually get for the fastest charging.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

A lighter wallet

 

[hagar]

I’m not even convinced I should upgrade from my 15 pro. Any thoughts?

 

[Jaziry]

Actually this is a far bigger jump than 16 pro, 15 pro, and 14 pro vs their last year's pros.

the similar jump scale would be 17 pro from 16 pro.

Only 13 Pro from 12 pro, and X from iPhone 7 jumped higher.

 

[Lindos]

Wow. If 5g extra with is a highlight I’d hate to see the lowlights.
I guess it fills the page though hey.

 

[freeman727]

Is it me or the newer style carrier upgrade offers (e.g. Xfinity Mobile Plus) make serial upgrading a thing again? For the past few generations I've done upgrades every 2 or 3 gen but now I think I'm going to trade in my 17 PM for an 18 PM. Also I've found I don't need 1TB. 512GB is plenty and most of my old photos are offloaded to iCloud now. Large capacity phones seem important mostly for recording long videos and content creators.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It gets people asking you "why"?

Going from a 17 pro to an 18 pro is consumerism run amok, and a massive waste of resources.

"how about find something charitable to do with the money instead?"

 

[CharlesShaw]

• It broadcasts to other MR readers that you're at the top of the food chain. 😅

 

[IIGS User]

I’m coming from a 16PM which overheats constantly when I use it with CarPlay. If I run Music and Waze while the phone is charging and the ambient temperature is over 80. It stops charging.

I’m in the upgrade period with my carrier so basically all I’m paying is the activation fee for a new phone so 🤷

 

[klasma]

Wow. If 5g extra with is a highlight I’d hate to see the lowlights.

It’s sub-inflation rate so there’s that.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I’m coming from a 16PM which overheats constantly when I use it with CarPlay. If I run Music and Waze while the phone is charging and the ambient temperature is over 80. It stops charging.

I’m in the upgrade period with my carrier so basically all I’m paying is the activation fee for a new phone so 🤷

A. I don't blame you for wanting to get that fixed

B. How shameful is it that a TOP of the line iPhone from 2 years ago is "overheating constantly during CarPlay"?

Maybe we should all stop lauding Apple year over year and insist they make better devices and software that last longer, while working fully correctly?

 

[TechieGeek]

I'm surprised the author included bullets like "7 core instead of 6 core" as if the # of cores is a measure of performance, but didn't include something like the C2 modem which is literally an improvement on how quickly the phone can reconnect to towers, hold on to weak connections, etc.

 

[BeatsByTim]

It gets you about $1000 poorer and none the wiser.

 

[JeremyPilcher]

I’m coming from a 16PM which overheats constantly when I use it with CarPlay. If I run Music and Waze while the phone is charging and the ambient temperature is over 80. It stops charging.

I’m in the upgrade period with my carrier so basically all I’m paying is the activation fee for a new phone so 🤷

Heck, I have to prop my 17P in the vent of my car to keep it charging with all those things running. I've been considering one of those actively cooled MagSafe mounts

 

[Nautilus007]

Heck, I have to prop my 17P in the vent of my car to keep it charging with all those things running. I've been considering one of those actively cooled MagSafe mounts

my iPhone Air has no issues, outside of the glue inside melting through the sides 🙂.

 

[kevinwinsper]

This article gives me deja vu.

iPhone 17 Pro vs. iPhone 18 Pro: 35+ Upgrades Compared

Apple yesterday announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, succeeding the iPhone 17 Pro that launched last September. The new models are built around the A20 Pro chip, a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera with variable aperture, a redesigned vapor chamber, and a smaller Dynamic Island. Last...

www.macrumors.com

I hope you are not thinking of X vs XS cuz that one is a big jump in performance at the time at least from my personal perspective

 

[JulianL]

I get it that on these forums quite a lot of people seem to hate all things AI but for those of us who don't the A20 could be a game changer.

I watched quite a few YouTube videos of people demoing Siri AI in the iOS 27 betas and some of the context aware personal assistant stuff looked quite useful (e.g. "What time did I agree to meet Jane tomorrow?", "How long will it take me to get there and what time do I need to leave?" (hopefully personal context would tell Siri that I don't have a car so that is walking or by public transport), "What was the booking reference for my next flight to New York?" etc.). While the responses looked good the time taken to start generating a response (in the videos where the content creator hadn't edited out the delays) was more often than not slow enough to be quite frustrating for me in real use.

Of course some of that could have been code that hadn't been fully optimised yet and/or debugging code overheads but if the A20 really can double AI performance and that ends up cutting those response times in half (at least for stuff that is being processed locally) that on its own would be reason enough for me to upgrade to the 18 Pro Max.

 

[Reeneman]

• Cinematic effects that can now be applied after capture to video shot at up to 60 fps.

This is the only thing I think is interesting.
But nevertheless, easily and of course sticking with my 17 Pro for at least one more year 🙂
Looking forward for this anniversary phone.

 

[EugW]

I hope you are not thinking of X vs XS cuz that one is a big jump in performance at the time at least from my personal perspective

No. I'm saying they published a similar article just yesterday, from a different author in a different format, but with roughly the same content. In fact, you actually included that article in your post quote.

I’m coming from a 16PM which overheats constantly when I use it with CarPlay. If I run Music and Waze while the phone is charging and the ambient temperature is over 80. It stops charging.

I’m in the upgrade period with my carrier so basically all I’m paying is the activation fee for a new phone so 🤷

FWIW, my 17 Pro does the same thing, but probably to a lesser extent judging by reports online. However, I have mine in a case too.

I’m not even convinced I should upgrade from my 15 pro. Any thoughts?

Considering I keep my iPhones 4-5 years, that would be a definite no from me.

 

[Entilzha]

I’m not even convinced I should upgrade from my 15 pro. Any thoughts?

I went from a 15 Pro Max to a 17 Pro last year and haven’t regretted it one bit. Cameras were better, battery was slightly better than my 15PM. All in all I’m very satisfied and plan on holding onto this for quite a while.

I suspect you’d feel the same way with a 17 Pro or 18 Pro!