Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max review: It’s what’s on the inside that counts

This is an unusual moment for Apple's iPhone Pro.

Last year’s model was a big redesign; this year’s is all about refinement.

At the same time, the company launched its first-ever foldable, the iPhone Duo .

While it doesn’t have all the top features of the Pro models, the Duo is, by virtue of its massive inner display and the novelty of it all, the more intriguing model.

What can the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max do, then, to grab your attention? They don’t look very different , and the new phones lack the types of flashy upgrades that you can point to as must-haves in 2026.

Inside, however, the refinement has been substantial.

But whether you need the more expensive iPhone 18 Pro Max very much depends on the type of user you are.

Not everyone should upgrade their phone this year. iPhone 18 Pro Max review: By the numbers Here are the key specs for the iPhone 18 Pro Max: Display : 6.9-inch, Super Retina XDR display with 120Hz refresh rate / 6.3 inches for the iPhone 18 Pro Design : Aluminum unibody with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and Ceramic Shield on the back Rear cameras : 48 megapixel triple rear camera array with 8x optical-quality zoom (main camera has variable aperture) Front camera : 18-megapixel selfie camera Processor : A20 Pro chip (6-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine) Storage : 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB Battery life : Up to 45 hours of video playback (36 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro) Fast charging : Up to 50 percent of charge in 15 minutes with a 60W adapter Software : iOS 27 Water and dust resistance: IP68 rating Special features : Improved vapor chamber cooling system, spatial reframing for photos The new iPhone Pro looks the same, except for the colors Apple says the colors on the back are a little more uniform than before, but it doesn't make a big visual difference compared to last year's design.

Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable Starting with the design, the new Pro-level iPhones are pretty much the same as the 17 Pro.

This year you can choose from four colors — black, silver, glacier blue, and burgundy, with silver being a carry-over from last year — and the colors are slightly more uniform on the back.

The Dynamic Island is also smaller than before.

Oh, and the new model is quite a bit heavier than the last one; we’ll go into reasons for that later.

In a briefing following the launch, Apple showed us just how much work went into reducing the size of the Dynamic Island.

The company hid the infrared sensor underneath the display, roughly halving the number of pixels in that area to let the light in, but arranging them in a different way.