iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max arrive with A20 Pro chip, smaller Dynamic Island and variable aperture main cams

The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are here, and they may look a lot like their predecessors, but they also bring enough new additions under the hood. On the outside, we have three new colors and a smaller Dynamic Island, while the internals bring the A20 Pro chip, larger batteries and variable-aperture main cams.

Burgundy is the new hero color, and it is joined by glacier (blue), black and silver.

The new Pros get the same 6.3 and 6.9-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED panels with the same resolution, refresh rates and brightness as the outgoing models. The new bit is the narrower Dynamic Island, which allows you to fit up to three live activities at a time. No upgrades to the selfie camera, though; it’s the same 18MP module.

Next up on the list of upgrades – the Apple A20 Pro chip. It’s built on a 2nm process and features a new GPU core and a second neural engine over the A19 Pro. Apple is touting 2x “desktop-class” CPU super cores. The 7-core GPU is said to offer 40% faster graphics processing compared to the A19 Pro chip. The A20 Pro also features updated neural accelerators with two Neural Engines with 32 cores. Apple is also boasting a 50% increase in memory bandwidth.

But it’s not just the faster chip; Apple updated its thermal management with a next-gen vapor chamber that features 3x the area of the one in the iPhone 17 Pro. Apple is also boasting an updated silicon packaging inspired by the M-series chips, which connects the silicon and memory chip directly to the vapor chamber for more efficient heat dissipation.

The two new phones still offer three 48MP cameras, but the main shooter now brings a variable aperture. It offers manual control with up to f/4.0 aperture and adjustable shutter speed. It can let in up to 50% more light in dark environments and allows you to capture cinematic video effects. Apple is also bringing new photographic styles with texture and grain control.

In typical Apple fashion, we did not get any meaningful battery details. The eSIM-only 18 Pro Max gets the “longest battery life” in iPhone history, with Apple claiming up to 45 hours of video playback. The eSIM 18 Pro now provides up to 36 hours of video playback. Charging speeds are also boosted, with a 50% charge taking 15 minutes.

On the software side, both phones ship with iOS 27 with the new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features. It now works with a wide selection of third-party apps, and the dedicated Siri app holds past conversations and syncs across your Apple devices.

Spoiler alert! The new Siri will not be available in the EU and China and is launching in beta later this month.

iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for the 256GB storage trim, while iPhone 18 Pro Max will go for $1,299. Pre-orders start on September 12, official sales kick off on September 18.