Apple has unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, its next generation of flagship smartphones, alongside the separate foldable iPhone Duo. The Pro models look similar to last year's iPhone 17 Pro lineup at a glance, with a smaller Dynamic Island and new colors, but include several under-the-hood upgrades, according to Tom's Guide hands-on coverage.
The headline change is the A20 Pro chip, described as Apple's first 2nm chip in a phone. Apple says the chip has 50% more memory bandwidth and is 40% faster than the A19 Pro, with a 6-core CPU featuring two super cores up to 20% faster than the A19 Pro and a new 7-core GPU up to 40% faster at graphics than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. A leaked Geekbench listing, spotted by X user never_released and reported before official benchmarks were confirmed, showed single-core and multi-core scores of 4,719 and 12,677 — about 25% faster than the A19 in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which scored in the 3,800s and roughly 9,900s. Tom's Guide cautioned that Geekbench listings can be faked and said it would run its own lab tests. The outlet also noted the A20 Pro's Geekbench multi-core score fell short of Apple's M5 MacBook Pro chip in that particular comparison.
The new chip is paired with a larger vapor chamber cooling system Apple says delivers up to 40% better sustained performance than the iPhone 17 Pro, with memory placed to the side rather than stacked to help dissipate heat. In hands-on testing, Tom's Guide reported smooth gameplay in a pre-release build of Monster Hunter at up to 120 frames per second.
Battery claims are less consistent across sources. Apple's press materials and imagery suggested larger batteries in the new Pro models, and Tom's Guide's hands-on report described 'enhanced battery life' with rated video playback of 36 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro and 45 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, up from 33 and 39 hours on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max respectively. However, since Apple does not list battery capacity in U.S. specs, a separate Tom's Guide report pointed to EU capacity listings spotted by MacRumors showing the SIM-tray iPhone 18 Pro at 4,056 mAh versus 4,252 mAh for the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro — a decrease — while the iPhone 18 Pro Max rose to 5,391 mAh from 5,088 mAh, about a 12% increase. The report noted that eSIM version capacities for the new phones have not yet been released, and that comparing SIM to eSIM 17 Pro models can be misleading since the eSIM iPhone 17 Pro already had a larger cell. Tom's Guide said any battery-life gains for the smaller Pro model would likely come mainly from the A20 chip's efficiency rather than cell size.
On the camera side, the 48MP main camera on both new Pro models gains a variable aperture using six laser-cut blades that can automatically adjust between settings, plus new pro controls letting users manually choose aperture from f/1.48 to f/4.0, as well as adjust shutter speed. iOS 27 also brings an updated Siri that Tom's Guide said is 'mostly' smarter, including Visual Intelligence features like recognizing dates on a poster to add to a calendar, and better handling of personal context such as flight details, though the outlet noted Siri still lacks a live, real-time conversational mode comparable to Gemini Live or ChatGPT Voice.
Both new Pro models cost $100 more than last year, with the iPhone 18 Pro starting at $1,099 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,199 — compared to $1,299 for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, per Tom's Guide. The phones are also heavier: the iPhone 18 Pro weighs 7.44 ounces (211 grams) versus 7.27 ounces (206 grams) for the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max weighs 8.78 ounces (249 grams) versus 8.22 ounces (233 grams) for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Charging also improves, with up to 50% charge in 15 minutes using a 60W charger, or 30 minutes via 35W MagSafe. A separate Tom's Guide roundup of phone cases for the new models reiterated the 48MP camera, AI-capable vapor-cooled A20 Pro chip and improved battery life, particularly on the Pro Max, as key selling points.