iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max: Apple’s First 2nm Phone Lands

By Sarah Jenkins • 3 October 2026 • 7 min read

Apple released the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on 18 September, and for once the headline numbers justify the attention. This is Apple’s first 2-nanometre phone, and the gains show up where people actually notice them — battery and cameras — rather than in benchmark charts.

The A20 Pro

A 6-core CPU with integrated Neural Accelerators and a 7-core GPU that Apple says is up to 40% faster than the A19 Pro. The more consequential change is the Neural Engine: a dual 16-core design, 32 cores in total, which Apple describes as double the AI processing power of the previous generation. Apple has also added a next-generation vapour chamber to manage thermals.

Alongside it sit two in-house chips: the N1 for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, and the C2 cellular modem. Apple has now replaced almost all the third-party silicon in its phones.

The camera change that actually matters

The 48MP main camera gains a variable aperture, adjustable from f/1.48 to f/4. This is a genuine piece of hardware, not a software blur: the phone physically changes how much light reaches the sensor. Wide open it gathers more light and gives shallower depth of field; stopped down to f/4 it holds focus across a deeper scene.

Apple has paired it with a new computational imaging pipeline, Photographic Styles with texture and grain controls, and Cinematic effects applied after capture at up to 60fps.

There is also Apple Reference Image, a digital signature attesting that a photo came from the camera and has not been manipulated. In an era of generative fakes, that is a quietly significant feature.

Battery, and the eSIM catch

Up to 36 hours of video playback on the Pro and up to 45 hours on the Pro Max, with the Pro Max also rated for up to 30 hours of general use. Charging reaches 50% in around 15 minutes wired, or 30 minutes wireless.

One important caveat: Apple quotes those battery figures for the eSIM-only models. The iPhone 18 Pro is eSIM-only, so anyone still relying on a physical SIM, or who swaps SIMs when travelling, needs to check their network supports eSIM before buying. Every major UK network does, but smaller providers and many foreign pay-as-you-go SIMs do not.

Should you upgrade?

From an iPhone 16 Pro or older: a straightforward yes if you are due. Two generations of chip progress, a materially better camera, and a large battery improvement.

From an iPhone 17 Pro: no. The variable aperture is the only genuinely new capability, and £1,199 is a lot for one lens trick.

If you want a Pro camera on a budget: the iPhone 17 Pro has been discounted since this launch, and most of what makes a Pro a Pro is still there.

Check iPhone 18 Pro price on Amazon UK →

Check iPhone 18 Pro Max price on Amazon UK →

Prices are Apple’s UK RRP as of 3 October 2026 and change frequently. Source: Apple Newsroom UK. We may earn a commission from links on this page.