Apple announces the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, with a similar design to 17 Pro and a new A20 Pro chip, in deep black, silver, glacier, and burgundy

The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have powerful new camera features. … Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at its event on Wednesday.

The Verge 2026-09-09 Jay Peters

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple's 2025 Pro refresh changed the hardware foundation with an aluminum unibody, vapor-chamber cooling, and three 48MP cameras. The 2026 models retain a similar design, concentrating the annual upgrade on the A20 Pro and camera capabilities rather than another chassis reset.

The Pro line has steadily made imaging and silicon central differentiators, from the larger-screen, A18 Pro-equipped iPhone 16 Pro generation to the 2025 redesign. Same-day coverage puts the new entry prices at $1,199 and $1,299, $100 above their iPhone 17 Pro counterparts.

First-order effects

Apple raises the starting price of both Pro models by $100 while offering buyers upgraded camera features and the A20 Pro as the principal new hardware reasons to move up.
The iPhone 17 Pro's aluminum-and-thermal design remains the visual baseline, making camera controls and chip performance the immediate distinction for shoppers comparing generations.

Second-order effects

Apple's upgrade pitch to iPhone 17 Pro owners shifts from a new industrial design toward photographic flexibility and performance, putting more weight on whether those features justify the higher entry price.
The A20 Pro becomes the common performance platform across both Pro sizes, while the Pro Max continues to segment the line through its higher starting price rather than a separate chip tier.

Third-order effects

If Apple continues alternating substantial chassis changes with refinement cycles, premium-phone replacement decisions will increasingly hinge on silicon and camera features rather than annual exterior redesigns.
The $100 increase tests a Pro strategy in which higher prices accompany component-led differentiation, potentially widening the gap between standard and Pro iPhone positioning if buyers accept it.

The trend: Apple's Pro iPhone cycle is concentrating premium differentiation in custom silicon and computational camera hardware while treating major industrial-design changes as less frequent resets.

Discussion

@samkohl Sam Kohl on x
The new iPhone 18 Pro clear case might be the ugliest thing I've ever seen
@christianselig Christian Selig on x
That burgundy is the best color iPhone I've ever seen, argh
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
Price increase on the iPhone 18 Pro is... $100 Much lower than anyone was expecting
@nirave @nirave on x
Big battery claims for Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series. Can't wait to test these out! #AppleEvent
@patrick_orourke Patrick O'Rourke on x
The iPhone 18 Pro is here. The notable battery life upgrades definitely interest me, but the phone seems a lot like the iPhone 17 Pro (which was a pretty significant redesign). https://www.xda-developers.com/ ...
@vadimyuryev Vadim Yuryev on x
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are by FAR the best gaming phones ever made thanks to the new updated cooling system! 40% faster sustained performance than iPhone 17 Pro!
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
iPhone 18 Pro battery is as good as 17 Pro Max, but the 18 Pro Max is the best yet And they have an actual battery usage model that translate to real usage metrics 18 Pro is 24-hours 18 Pro Max is 36-hours
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Find yourself someone who loves you as much as Apple loves vapor chambers. #appleevent
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
$AAPL revenue for next March is too low. They kicked off keynote with the new iPhone Pro Models and did not lead up with the 18, 18e and Air. That means it's confirmed they're splitting the upgrade cycles. 1. I expect we get 18, 18e and Air in the spring. 2. That will squeeze peo…
@shishirshelke1 Shishir on x
Ternus wearing a burgundy T-shirt and Apple Watch band to match the iPhone 18 Pro is such a nice detail
@vadimyuryev Vadim Yuryev on x
looks so much better than the weird purple deep red dummy models!
@joannastern Joanna Stern on x
iPhone 18 Pro (Ron) Burgundy.
@davidimel David ImeI on x
Burgundy color is beautiful
@vadimyuryev Vadim Yuryev on x
iPhone 18 Pro is here with variable aperture and dual Neural Engines. @mweinbach was right!
@christianselig Christian Selig on x
That burgundy omg
@davidimel David ImeI on x
True Matte Black phones are back baby. Also Blue is Glacier, and Red is Burgundy.
@aaronp613 Aaron on x
Oh Apple is MILKING this iPhone going to the moon bit #AppleEvent
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
“This is what happens when you go to the moon and back” a nice nod to the Artemis II mission iPhone 18 Pro
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
Apple positioning the iPhone as your personal intelligence hub. Apple historians will remember that once upon a time Steve Jobs positioned the iMac/Mac as the hub of your digital life. Also, making the point the iPhone isn't replaced by anything anytime soon.
r/apple r on reddit
Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
r/technology r on reddit
Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
@highyieldyt @highyieldyt on x
The new Apple A20 Pro SoC seems to use the new “Super-cores” that come with a private L2 cache. Interesting.
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
A20's 2nm efficiency plus improved vapor chamber means biggest battery claims for iPhone yet: 18 Pro should be same as 17 Pro Max. And 18 Pro Max should be “30 hours of usage” and charges faster: 50% in 15 minutes. Not ground breaking, but definitely welcome
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
Apple now dual Apple Neural engine with new A-series and M series SoC. Also wider memory bandwidth and advanced packaging for memory now sitting next to compute blocks.
@davidimel David ImeI on x
A20 silicon is now connected directly to the vapor chamber, which Apple says should dramatically increase thermal performance.
@christianselig Christian Selig on x
I've never seen an uneven amount of cores. Is it binned?
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
A20 Pro chip - 2nm process node - 6-core CPU - 7-core GPU - Doubled 32-core neural engine - 50% more memory bandwidth
@davidimel David ImeI on x
Apple touts “up to 40% GPU performance increase” - might be a pretty strong swipe at Tensor
@viticci Federico Viticci on x
Apple is really going hard on gaming and local LLM performance with the A20 Pro. 40% faster graphics, M series-like chip packaging, another Neural Engine for a total of 32 cores. Very keen to see what local models run on this thing. #AppleEvent
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
The A20 Pro has a massive improvement It now has Super cores (same as M6, they said desktop class), 7-core GPU with FP8 neural accelerators for 2x perf, new microarchitecture changes Oh and dual-ANE with 8-bit support and 50% higher memory bandwidth all around
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
Huge feature in the age of AI generated images. Especially for regulated industries who use their phone cameras on the job.
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
Apple Reference Image is new. It grabs sensor level data to create a reference image, basically digital negative, that you can keep alongside an edited photo. Helps verify real, authentic, unedited photos.
@basicappleguy Basic Apple Guy on x
Neat to see some pro controls like a Histogram, White Balance, Aperture, and Shutter speed come to iPhone 18 Pro...
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
Variable aperture on iPhone 18 Pro is going to be a hit. 4 aperture settings which depending on how you look at it “technically” gives you more lenses.
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
iPhone 18 Pros have a variable aperture lens on the main camera. This is definitely not the first time we've seen this (See: Samsung Galaxy S8/S9) But notably: These are much larger sensors than we had all those years ago, so the difference between f/1.8 and f/4 can potentially m…
@wholemars @wholemars on x
Great feature for the world we live in today
@panzer @panzer on x
Apple photo verification not avail in EU or China oop
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Watching the Apple launch event and I thought this was interesting: a feature called Apple Reference Image makes an unalterable original version of each pic you take, so you can prove it was real and what it actually captured if AI fakes start circulating
@joannastern Joanna Stern on x
Well, this is where we are now. Apple is introducing Apple Reference Image, its way of digitally watermarking photos to verify that they were actually captured by a camera—not generated by AI.
@fabrohl Fabian on x
Apple Reference Image NOT available in the EU and China makes zero sense to me, what exact regulation prevents them from launching globally? It's such an incredible important feature
@nandoprince93 Fernando Silva on x
New Reference photo feature to allow us to confirm that a photo was actually taken by an iPhone I like it #appleevent
@thecomputerclan @thecomputerclan on x
iPhone's camera will include metadata to verify authenticity of a shot. Good! Anything to help combat fake garbage on the internet!
@dnvrsn @dnvrsn on x
OH WAIT THIS IS COOL! Apple Reference Image will prove the authenticity of a photo taken on iPhone 18 Pro. (AI images get tagged with SynthID). now i need all social media platforms to recognize the signature.
@davidimel David ImeI on x
Apple is officially adopting SynthID, but they're also announcing their own “Apple Reference Image” standard for image authenticity.
@jagmeets13 Jagmeet Singh on x
Apple has sharply raised prices of older iPhones in India following the new iPhone launch. These hikes range from ~21% to 41%, appearing significantly steeper than in several other major markets.
@aaronp613 Aaron on x
Apple has raised the prices on 4 iPhone models by $100 each: iPhone 16 iPhone 17 iPhone 17e iPhone Air Apple also got rid of the 256GB option of the iPhone 16 and is no longer selling the iPhone 16 Plus
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
surprise and shine! Apple is raising iPhone prices by $100 on all of its old models https://www.theverge.com/...
@trolling_isart @trolling_isart on x
First time seeing this: a new iPhone series launches, and older iPhone prices go UP instead of down. iPhone 17 & iPhone Air prices have jumped significantly. This is an insane level of brand value. Apple is playing a different game.
@dylanmcd8 Dylan on x
iPhone 17e, 17, and Air all got $100 more expensive :/
r/technology r on reddit
Apple is raising iPhone prices by $100 on all of its old models
r/hardware r on reddit
Apple Unveils A20 Pro as First 2nm Smartphone Chip
r/gadgets r on reddit
Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
r/iphone r on reddit
Apple Raises Prices of iPhone 16, iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17e

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