iPhone 18 Pro Max Review
The iPhone 17 Pro Max was a standout handset for us back in 2025, giving the iPhone 18 Pro Max a high bar to reach. We’re happy to say that – despite there being a number of similarities between the two devices – the 18 Pro Max reaches said bar with confidence and is a sure-fire recommendation if you want the best from Apple.
Specifications
• Release date – 18th September 2026
• Dimensions – 163.4 x 78 x 8.75mm
• Weight – 249g
• OS – iOS 27
• Display – 6.9” Super Retina XDR, 120Hz refresh rate
• Resolution – 2622 x 1206
• Processor – A20 Pro
• RAM – 12GB
• Storage – 256GB; 512GB; 1TB; 2TB
• Rear cameras – 48MP Fusion main; 48MP ultrawide; 48MP telephoto
• Front camera – 18MP
• Battery – Up to 43 hours video playback
• Water & dust resistance – IP68
When did the iPhone 18 Pro Max release?
The iPhone 18 Pro Max was announced on the 9th September 2026, with a release date of 18th September 2026.
Design
Similar to its sibling 18 Pro model, the 18 Pro Max is very much the same device from a core design perspective as its predecessor. It’s available in the new Burgundy and Glacier colour schemes, combined with an aluminium body and Ceramic Shield 2 front screen.
In terms of dimensions, the 18 Pro Max also borrows from the 17 Pro Max; it’s the same height, width and depth. However, one thing we noticed right away is how much heavier this device is, weighing in at 249g compared to 231g on the 17 Pro Max. This is substantial, and it was quite tiring to hold the 18 Pro Max for long periods of time. That being said, the additional weight is likely to accommodate the larger vapour chamber which helps keep the phone cool, so you’re sacrificing portability for improved performance. In the long run, it’s probably worth it.
Display
If you know what a 17 Pro Max display looks like, you’ll have a very good idea of what to expect on the 18 Pro Max. Rather than making any significant changes to the screen, Apple have maintained what worked so well on 2025’s entry, such as the 6.9” Super Retina XDR display, 2868 x 1320 resolution and 3,000 nits peak brightness.
Whilst there’s nothing new really to unpack here, you’re still getting one of the best smartphone display experiences on the market.
Performance & software
For all the 18 Pro Max’s design and display similarities, the software experience is a different story. The 18 series represents a seismic shift in the role of AI on iPhones, led by Siri AI and powered by the A20 Pro CPU.
Make no mistake; AI is a central part of the 18 Pro Max tapestry. How much you enjoy using Siri AI and the Apple Intelligence features will depend on your own tolerance for AI as a whole, but if you do find AI to be a useful addition, the 18 Pro Max is by far the most intelligent Pro Max model by some margin.
We found Siri AI to be very good at the assistant work, be it drafting a response to an email or gathering all of your conversations across apps into one organised space. None of this is necessarily new to smartphones, but they represent gaps where previous iPhones didn’t quite match the AI functionality of other handset options. In this sense, the 18 Pro Max feels like a distinctly different – but ultimately more useful - phone to its predecessor.
Cameras
We mentioned earlier that the software experience of the 18 Pro Max is a profoundly different one to the hardware side of things, and that extends to photography, too. The camera array itself is the same 48MP Main, 48MP ultrawide and 48MP telephoto trio, but there’s a new addition that produced excellent results in our testing: a variable aperture. If you don’t have much experience in tinkering with lighting or depth of field, the variable aperture will automatically handle this for you.
An exclusive feature of the 18 Pro Max is Apple Reference Image. In a nutshell, what it does is basically ‘sign’ each pixel in an image and create a second reference photo. It’s niche, but this feature is potentially useful for photographers as a way to check if an image has been altered after capturing it.
We’ve reached the point where Pro Max devices are consistently being used in professional filmmaking, and the 18 Pro Max is undoubtedly the best video capture phone we’ve ever used. Cinematic Mode now supports 4K Dolby Vision recording at 60fps instead of 30fps, smart focus tracking helps mitigate blurriness when a subject is moving in a video, and low-light videos look much clearer without losing the stunning contrasts that come with balancing dark and light image elements. This is a substantial amount for filmmakers to chew on, and it’s hard to argue against the 18 Pro Max being a new benchmark that even Apple itself might struggle to top. Hardly a bad thing, and we’re excited to see where Apple goes from here.
Battery
Having all of these amazing camera features wouldn’t mean much if battery life was an issue. Thankfully, the 18 Pro Max comes with a sizeable increase in video playback time; up to 43 hours is possible with general use, and up to 38 hours when performing more strenuous tasks like streaming or recording videos.
Recharge speeds were also much improved. It’s possible to get the 18 Pro Max back up to 50% in ~15 minutes with a 60W charger, which in itself is impressive given that the 17 Pro Max supported a 40W charger at most.
Final thoughts
If you’re reading a Pro Max review, you already likely know that picking up the 18 Pro Max would come with a sizeable price tag. What you instead want to know is whether this phone offers meaningful improvements to the 17 Pro Max, which we can wholeheartedly say “yes” to. Some elements like the display and design are unchanged, but there’s enough new stuff here to make the 18 Pro Max an easy recommendation; even if you still own the previous handset.