Hands-on iPhone 18 Pro review: what’s new in cameras

While the iPhone Duo was the standout product at Apple’s September event, the second biggest news was the addition of a camera to the iPhone 18 Pro lineup.

For the first time, iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max feature a true variable aperture. Combined with a new set of manual controls, updated video features, a new A20 Pro chip, and a fresh approach to photo fidelity, this is perhaps the most significant camera upgrade Apple has released in years.

It’s also a significant shift in how Apple wants the iPhone to be. For example, Apple’s presentation began with various cinematic scenes shot on the iPhone 18 Pro. With variable aperture, manual shutter speed, manual focus, and a live histogram, the iPhone 18 Pro is essentially an entry-level DSLR that can call and text your friends.

However, it will be worth seeing how long Apple sticks with the hardware. Variable aperture is nothing new for smartphones; Samsung shipped a version of this feature with the Galaxy S9 and S10 and then dropped the feature entirely.

So, whether the feature sticks around or not, here’s a closer look at everything new in the iPhone 18 Pro’s cameras. It’s also worth noting that Mashable’s Stan Schroeder tested the new camera tools for his iPhone 18 Pro Max review, and you can see plenty of test photos in his full review.

Variable aperture

The new physical variable aperture uses laser-cut components thinner than a human hair.
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The main feature is a 48-megapixel main camera with physically adjustable aperture, something never seen on an iPhone before. In cameras, the aperture is the hole in the lens through which light passes and hits the camera sensor. A wider aperture lets in more light (better for dim rooms or night shots) and blurs the background more; a narrower aperture lets in less light but keeps more of the scene in sharp focus, which is useful outdoors or in group photos where you want everyone’s faces to be clear.

The standard for most smartphone cameras was a fixed aperture of one size (for example, the iPhone 17 Pro had a fixed aperture of ƒ/1.78). Apple says the 18 Pro and Pro Max’s aperture uses six thin, laser-cut blades that can be physically adjusted between four aperture settings, automatically widening or narrowing depending on the lighting and depth of field required for the shot.

Apple says this change improves low-light photography and provides clearer background detail in group photos, while giving photographers a level of manual control not previously available on a phone. That’s definitely true, but as Schroeder noted in his review, these “Pro” settings would be overkill for the average user: “That’s not to say the average user won’t get any benefit from it, but I’m sure most people will try manual aperture once and then leave it on auto.”

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As mentioned earlier, variable aperture settings existed before, but they were not retained for long. The biggest reason is durability and performance. There’s a lot of fragile moving equipment to cram into the device that regularly gets dropped, thrown into bags, and generally gets treated worse than a dedicated camera. Even current generation stabilization systems can behave unpredictably after a hard enough drop, so the mechanical aperture creates a new point of failure.

The Galaxy S27 was rumored to have its own variable aperture system just eight months ago. However, August reports suggested that Samsung abandoned these plans as they made the phone bulkier and the addition was costly, which Samsung said was a “marginal improvement in image quality.”

Whether Apple’s designs will prove more reliable than Samsung’s, or whether variable aperture will quietly disappear from the iPhone lineup in a generation or two, remains an open question.

Professional hand controls for photographers

For people who prefer to fine-tune their shots rather than let their phone call the shots, there’s a new Professional Controls panel built right into the Camera app.

It displays the aperture setting mentioned above, as well as shutter speed (how long the sensor is exposed to light—stopping motion faster, creating blur slower, or letting in more light) and white balance (color correction that makes white colors appear white rather than orange in indoor lighting or blue in shadow).

Look at this graph in the left corner.
Credit: Apple/Screenshot Mashable

There is also a histogram, which is a small graph that shows how exposed the image is. This looks technical, but the practical use is simple: if the graph is clustered on the left, your photo is probably too dark; clustered on the right, they are probably burnt out and too bright.

In his review for Mashable, Schroeder wrote:

I welcome the ability to set white balance manually; Auto white balance often gets it wrong (not just on iPhones, but also on standalone cameras), causing photos to look too cool or too warm. The aperture setting can be used to create certain interesting effects, but I won’t use it regularly, and the same goes for most of the other new settings.

Smart tracking, clearer video

Apple has redesigned what it calls its “computational image pipeline” to create cleaner, more detailed images. It’s a neat and modest upgrade because smartphone photos are typically heavily processed by algorithms (combining multiple exposures, reducing noise, sharpening details) rather than being raw, untouched snapshots.

Photographic Styles, a tool that lets you set the same color and mood settings for your photos, now also includes texture and grain controls. On the video side, cinematic effects can now be applied after the fact to footage at up to 60 frames per second; Slow motion supports 4K and Dolby Vision HDR; and Audio Mix algorithms have been updated to deliver clearer voices and more effectively isolate background music.

There’s also a new AI-powered Smart Focus system designed to lock and track a single moving subject in the frame, which should help when shooting kids, pets, or anything else that won’t stay still.

Apple reference image

Perhaps the most unusual and frighteningly necessary addition is Apple Reference Image, a new authentication feature built on top of an upgraded main camera sensor.

Credit: Apple/Screenshot Mashable

When a photo is taken in the new Reference capture mode, sensor data is cryptographically signed and processed via Apple’s private cloud computing into an immutable reference version of the image. In short, it’s a digital negative.

This reference photo sits next to a regular photo in the Photos app, which you can compare to the final image to see if it has been edited. Combined with image metadata and upcoming support for the SynthID watermarking standard, which tags images created or edited by AI.

Apple is pitching the feature as a way for photojournalists and everyday users to check whether a photo is what it claims to be, at a time when edited and AI-generated images are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

Improved low light photography

In our testing, it was clear that the new iPhone definitely takes better photos at night and in low-light conditions, but you may have to upgrade your settings to fully appreciate the difference. (Pro tip: Ironically, you may need to manually turn off Night mode to take better photos at night.)

Left:
The iPhone 18 Pro Max produced clearer and less noisy images.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Right:
The iPhone 17 Pro Max did a great job, but if you turn off Night Mode, the differences become obvious.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Schroeder wrote: “When testing the camera, I often got better results on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. But that’s because its night mode automatically kicked in for 3 seconds, whereas the 18 Pro Max only needed 1 second, precisely because the sensor received more light. When I manually turned off Night Mode, the results were clearly better on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, with much more detail and overall sharper photos with less noise.”

New AI photo editing tools

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Technically this is not a camera update, but a software update. However, this is an important update that will help you take better photos.

In iOS 27, users now have new tools at their disposal when editing photos, including new cleanup tools, the ability to expand a photo, and spatial framing. The last tool is the most interesting because it allows you to change the angle of the photo after it has been taken.

Pre-order new Apple products

Apart from the iPhone 18 Pro and Duo, Apple also launched new AirPods and Apple Watch. With the exception of the iPhone Duo, all of these devices are already available for pre-order.