The first iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max reviews are out. While the iPhone 17 Pro models had a major design overhaul, the iPhone 18 Pro models look the same and offer incremental upgrades in cameras, battery life, and performance. With the new A20 Pro chip, the first 2nm chip in a smartphone, Apple claims up to 20% faster CPU and up to 40% faster graphics compared to the A19 Pro.

Gizmodo's Raymond Wong benchmarked the A20 Pro: The iPhone 18 Pro scored 4,027 single-core and 11,540 multi-core, versus the iPhone 17 Pro's 3,258 and 9,167—a 24% and 26% boost. A revamped vapor chamber cooling system is three times larger, allowing sustained peak performance. Wong noted the iPhone 18 Pros never got hot, even shooting 4K 60 fps video during a heatwave in Cupertino.

Battery life is longer, especially on the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple claims up to 15% longer offline video playback than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and fast charging to 50% now takes 15 minutes. Tom's Guide's test showed the iPhone 18 Pro Max at 18 hours 27 minutes, about half an hour longer than the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The Dynamic Island is slightly smaller and supports up to three Live Activities. The 48-megapixel Fusion camera has variable aperture (ƒ/1.48 to ƒ/4.0). PetaPixel's Jaron Schneider praised the choice, noting sharpness peaks at f/2.8.