Fresh iPhone 17 and iPhone Air owners are already asking the same thing. If battery is the only reason to spend more, do the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max actually earn the upgrade. Tech Chap tried to answer that by running those two new Pros against last year’s 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and the thin iPhone Air until every phone died, then he ran the whole thing a second time with a Galaxy S26 Ultra in the mix.

REWA Technology posted one of the first teardown videos of the iPhone 18 Pro hours after the phone reached stores, working on the physical SIM version rather than the eSIM-only models sold in the United States and a few other markets. That choice matters because the SIM tray model carries a slightly smaller battery than the versions without a tray. The unit they opened weighs 209.3 grams and looks almost identical on the outside to last year’s phone, so older cases still snap on without trouble.

Photo credit: MKBHD
Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro keeps last year’s aluminum frame, 8.75 mm thickness, and camera plateau almost unchanged, so first glance will fool most people into thinking nothing moved. Engineers did color-match the rear glass to the frame, killing the two-tone look that marked the 17 Pro. Burgundy shifts between deep red and purple with the light and has become the color most reviewers mention first. Glacier is a quieter light blue, Silver finally looks clean, and Black is the darkest Pro finish Apple has offered.

Apple spent Wednesday morning rolling out iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, a pair that look familiar until you start poking at the main camera and the battery ratings. Same aluminum unibody as last year’s Pros, same camera plateau across the back, same Action Button and Camera Control on the side. Ceramic Shield 2 still covers the front glass, Ceramic Shield still covers the rear, and IP68 still covers a six-meter dunk for half an hour. Four finishes this time: black, silver, glacier, and a new burgundy.

Apple spent years watching other companies ship foldable phones. John Ternus used his first September event as CEO to close that gap with iPhone Duo, a short, wide book-style handset that closes like a passport and opens into a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display. Ternus called it the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.

Photo credit: Sonny Dickson
Apple’s long-awaited foldable phone has reached the hands of a small group of early testers, and the feedback arriving through Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter is largely positive. People who have spent time with the prototypes, referred to internally as the iPhone Ultra, keep coming back to how the device feels when closed and how it works once opened.