Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are now available — here’s what you need to know

To cool everything off, the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max get a new vapour chamber that has three times the surface area compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. Paired with 80% recycled stainless steel, a copper layer and more thermally conductive graphite, this vapour chamber enables the iPhone 18 Pro series to get up to 40% more sustained performance compared to its predecessor. 

Bigger battery, faster charging

Thanks to the increased silicon efficiency and a new battery design, Apple is touting even better battery life for the iPhone 18 Pro series.

Wired charging is also getting faster, with a 50% charge in just 15 minutes for the iPhone 18 Pro, which is supposed to last up to 24 hours on a full charge. The iPhone 18 Pro Max will get seven hours of video playback time with just five minutes of charge, with up to 30 hours of usage on a full charge. 

Variable aperture for better photos

Most people purchase a Pro model phone because they want the best iPhone camera system available, and the iPhone 18 Pro series doesn’t disappoint. This year, Apple is upgrading the 48MP main camera with real aperture blades and a new sensor.

Six laser-cut blades made of a special polymer composite make up the variable aperture mechanism, along with a new rotor mechanism and a custom-designed lens. The aperture adjusts automatically based on the scene and can let in more light, down to f/1.48 at its widest.  

Aside from that, Apple is also upgrading the photo-taking experience with Pro controls. Not only can you customise the white balance and shutter speed, the new controls include aperture adjustment and access to a histogram for checking exposure levels. 

For photographers worried about AI edits and authenticity, Apple is introducing Apple Reference Image, essentially the company’s own take on a similar C2PA standard. To prove image authenticity, this process starts in the sensor, where photo data is securely signed at the pixel level when the image is taken. However, this won’t be available in the EU or China. 

Smaller Dynamic Island and iOS 27

For people irked by the Dynamic Island taking up too much screen space, Apple has heard you. Not only is it smaller now, but it can also track up to three activities at once. 

Running iOS 27 out of the box, the iPhone 18 Pro series will also offer nice quality-of-life features like 80% faster AirDrop transfers, customisable Liquid Glass and a new feature called iPhone Handoff that will let you share a single phone number across two iPhones. This feature is only supported by four carriers, however, and it seems unlikely that iPhone Handoff will come to Singapore any time soon. 

Siri AI

We saw a lot of Apple’s new Siri AI at WWDC 2026, and we had the pleasure of trying it out for an extended period of time. 

It will, of course, be available on the new iPhone 18 Pro series, with the ability to pull information and work across over 300,000 third-party apps, including WhatsApp, Audible, Outlook, Snapchat, and more. 

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max devices will have a dedicated Siri app on the homescreen, and features like Siri mode in Camera will make Siri even more useful, with the ability to add events and ask questions simply by scanning or taking a photo. 

Siri AI’s beta will be available in English, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish support coming in October. Unfortunately, Siri AI will not be available in the EU or China.

Pricing and availability

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro (starting from S$1,899 for 256GB) and iPhone 18 Pro Max (starting at $2,099 for 256GB) come in the Burgundy, Glacier, Black and Silver colourways. 

Preorders in Singapore begin at 8PM on 12 September 2026 onwards on the Apple Store, with general availability starting from 18 September.