Apple iPhone 18 Pro review
Design, build quality and handling
Titanium on iPhones seems to be gone for good, ever since last year's iPhone 17 series reintroduced the lighter aluminum body to the Pros. It's not that these are light phones, but if anything, with Apple you can usually count on the added weight going into more substantial hardware rather than just bulk.
The design is unchanged from last year, so we get the same aluminum unibody with a large area on the back covered by frosted glass since a metal back would have interfered with the wireless charging.
We again have an IP68 rating against water and dust, with the phone submersible up to 6m depth for 30 min.
The front panel is once again protected by Ceramic Shield 2 glass, and that's where you will find the only design change. The Dynamic Island is now a bit smaller, taking up a smaller chunk of the screen real estate. In turn, it allowed Apple to fit more live activities there at once.
There's also an anti-reflective layer in addition to the Ceramic Shield 2, which isn't new, but it's worth mentioning. With it, you get slightly better sunlight legibility compared to other iPhones, say 16 generation and older.
You have four color options for both Pro models - Black, Silver, Glacier and Burgundy.
The colors are all new except Silver, which, however, gets a back in the same color as the rest of the frame, whereas last year, the glass cutout there came in white specifically for this colorway.
Our review unit is in the Glacier colorway, but it's fair to say that Burgundy is the hero color this year, though it's nowhere near as bold as last year's Orange.
Face ID remains your only biometric security, and despite the smaller pill, it works just as well as always. Our only complaint is that Apple refuses to give users more flexibility when it comes to unlocking, so there is still no under-display fingerprint reader on this year's iPhones.
The side frame is business as usual. There's the big power button on the right, flanked by the pressure-sensitive Camera Control key, which is also a physical button. The left is where you will find the customizable Action Button, also known as the successor to the silent switch. The separate volume keys are positioned right below it, while the SIM card tray (for units with a physical SIM card slot) is located near the bottom-left corner. It can take up to one nano SIM card. Your second SIM card has to be an eSIM.
iPhone 18 Pro
Overall, the iPhone 18 Pro feels solid and premium as always. The design as a whole is a bit polarizing and has been widely discussed already. It's definitely not your typical iPhone in that sense, but a fresh new look is appreciated.
