iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max: What’s New and Which One to Buy

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max have been available in Australia since Friday 18 September 2026. The big changes are a camera with a variable aperture, a new A20 Pro chip and longer battery life. This guide covers what is new, the prices and how to choose between the two sizes. It is part of our September 2026 event coverage.

Sizes and design

The iPhone 18 Pro has a 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display and weighs 211 grams. The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display and weighs 249 grams. Both are 8.75 mm thick, and both have a ProMotion display that goes up to 120Hz.

They have an aluminium unibody with a Ceramic Shield 2 front and a Ceramic Shield back. The front has three times better scratch resistance than the iPhone 16 Pro. Both are rated IP68 for water and dust resistance, and both come in four colours: black, silver, glacier and burgundy.

Apple has redesigned the Dynamic Island. It is smaller, and it can show up to three Live Activities at once. Both models keep the Action button and Camera Control.

The camera

The main change is a new 48MP Fusion Main camera with a variable aperture. Six laser-cut blades open and close the aperture, from f/1.48 to f/4.0, to adjust for depth of field and light automatically. It improves low-light photos and video and gives a better depth of field.

New Pro controls let you set the lens aperture, shutter speed and white balance, and view a histogram. These are manual controls that earlier iPhones did not have in the Camera app.

The rest of the camera system is a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide and a 48MP Fusion Telephoto at 4x. The system also gives you a 2x and an 8x optical-quality zoom, and a 16x optical-quality zoom range.

Performance and battery

Both models use the A20 Pro chip, cooled by a next-generation vapour chamber for the highest sustained performance in an iPhone. It has a dual 16-core Neural Engine, the part of the chip that handles Apple Intelligence tasks.

Apple says the iPhone 18 Pro Max gets up to 43 hours of video playback, up to six hours more than the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Software and Siri AI

Both models run iOS 27 with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI. Siri AI is a beta that works in English to start, and Apple says usage limits apply. See our iOS 27 guide and our Siri AI guide.

Price and availability in Australia

The iPhone 18 Pro prices on Apple’s Australian store are:

1. 256GB, A$2,099¹.
2. 512GB, A$2,499¹.
3. 1TB, A$3,299¹.
4. 2TB, A$4,499¹.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at A$2,299¹ for 256GB. Pre-orders opened at 10pm AEST on Saturday 12 September. As with earlier models, there is no power adapter or EarPods in the box.

Pro or Pro Max?

The two share the same chip, camera system and storage options. The Pro Max starts A$200¹ higher than the Pro at 256GB. For that you get the larger 6.9-inch display and the longer battery life Apple quotes. The Pro is lighter at 211 grams, and easier to use with one hand.

If you want a folding screen, see our iPhone Duo guide. It uses the same A20 Pro chip, with two cameras instead of three.

Moving to a new iPhone

Back up your old iPhone before you switch, and make sure you can sign in to your Apple Account. If you would like help with the move, see our Mac and Apple device setup and troubleshooting service, or contact Your Mac Tech.

1. Prices shown are current as at September 2026.