Apple’s smaller Pro iPhone gets the best kind of spec bump for 2026: longer battery life, faster chips and a fancy new variable aperture for the main camera. The iPhone 18 Pro is one of a pair of slab phones launched alongside Apple’s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, and is the cheapest of the new phones, with a regular iPhone 18 yet to be announced. It isn’t exactly low cost, priced from £1,199 (€1,449/$1,199/A$2,099), with a £100 or equivalent rise over previous models courtesy of RAMageddon.
Having fully revamped the design of the body for the iPhone 17 Pro, the new model is a modest refinement. It is 7g heavier and the back glass now matches the colour of the aluminium body, which is available in a handful of new shades. Apple has shrunk the amount of the screen taken up by the Face ID camera, allowing the dynamic island to show three continuing tasks, up from two on previous devices.
It also now shows the 3/4/5G indicator next to the signal level when playing music, which is a most appreciated feature for public transport commuters sorely missed on previous models. Otherwise, the 6.3in screen is one of the very best on a phone: super bright, crisp and smooth, while being big enough without making the phone enormous. An anti-glare coating makes it much easier to see outside, too.
Screen: 6.3in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi) Camera: 48MP + 48MP UW + 48MP 4x, 18MP front-facing Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins) The 18 Pro has Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, which is about 27% faster than the A19 Pro in last year’s model, with about 45% faster graphics performance. Since the A19 Pro was no slouch, that’s quite the leap and puts it miles ahead of the competition, ready to handle anything. The phone has a redesigned cooling system for longer peak performance, too, which is especially useful for running games on top settings.
The battery lasts a solid six hours longer than the iPhone 17 Pro, managing to stretch to about two days between charges with more than six hours of active screen use across apps, browsing, messaging and photos. Even with the heaviest of use while out and about, the 18 Pro managed to end the day with 40% left in the tank. Most people will only need to charge it every other day.
The 18 Pro ships running iOS 27, which was released for the rest of the iPhone line on 14 September. It refines the relatively controversial Liquid Glass redesign from last year and speeds up the system, including app launches. But the big new addition is Apple’s revamped Siri, backed by Google’s AI technologies.
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