iPhone 18 Pro Jumps to $1,199 With Variable Aperture Camera, A20 Chip

Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max on September 9, marking a $100 price increase from last year’s model. The flagship feature is a 48-megapixel camera with variable aperture, controlled by six laser-cut blades that adjust between four f-stops. The A20 Pro chip, built on 2nm process, delivers 40% faster GPU performance and doubles the Neural Engine to 32 cores. Pre-orders start September 12, with phones arriving September 18.

Variable aperture camera brings manual control to iPhone

The 48MP Fusion Main camera uses a variable aperture system that automatically adjusts for depth of field and lighting, or lets photographers manually select any of four aperture settings. The system widens to f/1.48 for low-light shots and uses six laser-cut blades with a rotor mechanism. Apple says this improves low-light photography, sharpens group photo backgrounds, and enables creative manual control. Pro controls in the Camera app let users adjust shutter speed, white balance, aperture, and histogram in real time.

A20 Pro chip moves to 2nm, doubling AI processing

The A20 Pro is Apple’s first 2nm smartphone chip, featuring a 6-core CPU with two super-cores up to 20% faster than the A19 Pro. The GPU jumped from 6 to 7 cores with 40% improved performance. The Neural Engine doubled from 16 to 32 cores, supporting Apple Intelligence and the new Siri AI launching in October. A redesigned vapor chamber with 3x more surface area improves sustained performance and thermal management.

Price rises $100 as battery life reaches record levels

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for 256GB, up from $1,099 last year. The Pro Max begins at $1,299. Both models offer identical external design to the iPhone 17 Pro but gain battery capacity increases, with the Pro Max delivering 45 hours of video playback and the Pro reaching 36 hours. The Dynamic Island shrunk and now tracks three live activities instead of two. Pre-orders open September 12 in the US, with retail launch September 18.

Siri AI delayed in Europe, but camera features available globally

Siri AI will not launch in the EU initially, with Apple citing privacy and security concerns but providing no timeline for availability. The Apple Reference Image authentication feature is also restricted in Europe and absent entirely in China. However, the variable aperture camera, A20 Pro chip, and standard camera controls are available worldwide at launch. The phones come in black, silver, glacier (light blue), and burgundy.

Final Thoughts

With Meyka grading AAPL a B and the stock up 3.56% on the announcement, the variable aperture camera and A20 Pro chip represent meaningful upgrades, though the $100 price increase may limit upgrade rates among recent Pro owners.

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