iPhone 18 Pro: 1 Week Later — The Good & The Bad

I’ve been using the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max for about a week. I’m still working on my full review, but there are already a few things I really like, and at least one thing about the new camera that I really don’t.

This video was sponsored by Anker.

Design, and Pro vs Pro Max

These look and feel great, and I really like Apple’s aluminum finish. Burgundy, blue and black all look good, but I went silver again. I’m always worried I’ll drop or scratch it, and on a colored iPhone you’d see aluminum show through anyway.

Once again, I think I prefer the regular Pro. I went back to it last year because I was tired of carrying the giant Pro Max. The bigger display and battery are nice, but the Pro fits my hand and pocket better.

Siri AI

If you stopped using Siri years ago because, frankly, it was awful, give it another shot. It now has broad world knowledge for the random questions I’d have taken to Google or ChatGPT, a dedicated Siri app with your past conversations, and full voice conversations. I asked about the iPhone Duo, its colors (star white and night sky), and when pre-orders start (Friday, October 16), and it answered.

What I find more useful is personal context: Siri searches your email, messages, photos, calendar and more. I don’t need my iPhone to generate weird pictures of cats wearing sunglasses. I want it to remember the restaurant address someone sent me three months ago, or find the reservation email. And it works. Old Siri would have gone unresponsive and broken all your things.

Battery and charging

It seems better, but I’m not ready to give a full opinion, since I’ve been switching phones and running benchmarks and camera tests. On Thursday I ended the day at 12% after six and a half hours of screen time; probably unhealthy, but I still went to bed with power in reserve. Apple rates the Pro at 36 hours of video playback and the Pro Max at 45, versus 39 for last year’s 17 Pro Max. After a year on the smaller 17 Pro, my battery anxiety wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, and this should help even more. With a 60 W or higher USB-C charger, it charges to 50% in about 15 minutes.

Cameras

The new Pro controls are awesome: shutter speed, aperture and white balance right in Apple’s Camera app. I’m excited about white balance because iPhones have always struggled with my studio lights. Most people can leave everything on automatic, but for people who care about composition, it’s really nice.

The variable aperture on the 48 MP main camera has f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4, with six tiny physical blades, not simulated. At f/1.48 you get more light and natural background separation; at f/4 more of the scene is in focus. It won’t transform everyday photos, but it’s noticeable up close. My indoor low-light shots are noticeably brighter; I haven’t done outdoor night shots yet.

But there’s one side effect I really don’t like: starbursts. Bright points of light make very noticeable starburst patterns from the aperture blades, and Apple showed this off as a creative effect. Maybe some people will love it, but right now it’s my least favorite thing about the camera. In bright environments it defaults to f/1.8 or f/1.48, so you shouldn’t see it often, but in a club, bar, or concert you probably will. Unlike a filter, it’s coming from the physical aperture.

New Photographic Styles add skin smoothing, which works pretty well, glow, which brightens skin, film texture, and grain. Film texture adds grain, which I think looks bad; with grain off, I can barely tell film from standard. Every time I dig into all these options, I end up confused about what I’m adjusting.

Display and heat

1,000 nits typical, 1,600 HDR, up to 3,000 outdoors. The more interesting part is how long it stays bright: Apple redesigned the thermal system with a much larger vapor chamber. Because I live in Texas, I tested this in a very scientific way, leaving it outside in about 95 °F heat next to an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The 15 started dimming after two minutes; after six minutes the 18 Pro still hadn’t noticeably dimmed, and then I got hot and went inside. That was one of my biggest issues with the 15 and 16 Pros.

The smaller Dynamic Island now shows three Live Activities, like Maps directions, a podcast and a timer.

Performance

I’m putting this last because in 2026 I don’t think raw iPhone performance matters nearly as much as it used to. The A20 Pro is ridiculously fast, but in normal use I can’t really tell, and iOS 27 already brought big speed improvements I’ve used all summer. The real advantage is longevity: if you keep a phone five to eight years, there’s enormous headroom.

After one week

A very solid iPhone. The camera controls are something I’ve wanted for a long time and the variable aperture can make a real difference, but I really don’t like the starbursts, and Photographic Styles are getting overly complicated. One of my favorite upgrades isn’t exclusive to this iPhone at all: going from never using Siri to actually thinking “I should ask Siri” is a massive change. I still need more time with battery, low-light photos, and Siri reliability.

Links

• AMZ link
• Website link
• GameSir G8 Galileo controller
• TechWoven case for iPhone 18 Pro
• TechWoven case for iPhone 18 Pro Max
• Get a PopSocket
• iPhone 18 Pro Setup and Migration

In this video

• 00:00 iPhone 18 Pro: One Week Later
• 00:11 Design and Colors
• 00:36 iPhone 18 Pro vs Pro Max
• 00:59 The New Siri AI
• 02:23 Siri Personal Context
• 03:08 Battery Life
• 04:09 Faster Charging
• 04:20 Anker Nano Smart Display Charger
• 05:29 New iPhone 18 Pro Cameras
• 06:07 Variable Aperture Explained
• 06:57 The Camera Problem I Don’t Like
• 07:37 New Photographic Styles
• 08:24 Display and Brightness
• 08:41 Thermal Improvements
• 08:48 Testing the iPhone in 95° Heat
• 09:24 Smaller Dynamic Island
• 09:36 A20 Pro Performance
• 10:20 iPhone 18 Pro: One Week Verdict