Stellar performance and cooling. Great battery life. Excellent and fun cameras with a customizable camera app. Bright, responsive screens with a smaller Dynamic Island. TIRED

Pricier than ever. No base model (yet). Living in the iPhone Duo's shadow. There is no iPhone 18 this year. If you were hoping to upgrade your smartphone right now, Apple is only offering the new iPhone 18 Pro models (and a very expensive folding iPhone coming next month). Don't let that be a reason to spend extra money on a phone you might not need. Apple hasn't confirmed the next base-model yet, but the iPhone 18 is expected in spring 2027 alongside a mid-tier iPhone 18e. If you've historically been more than satisfied with the base iPhone model, you should absolutely wait to upgrade. Don't let the hype machine sway you.

That said, if you're a Pro connoisseur, the iPhone 18 Pro ($1,199) and its bigger sibling, the 18 Pro Max ($1,299), are very good phones, despite the $100 price hike over last year’s Pro models. No, you don't need to upgrade if you're coming from an iPhone 17 Pro, 16 Pro, or even a 15 Pro—hold onto your devices for longer!—but Apple's flagships deliver where it matters, even if they feel eclipsed by the spectacle of the foldable iPhone Duo.

Minor Refresh

Battery life has been stellar on the Pro models over the last few years, and that remains true here. The Pro Max is the more notable of the two because it packs a denser battery. With average use (around 5 hours of screen-on time), I hovered around 50 percent by the end of the day, and easily made it through day two on a single charge. I spent a little less time with the smaller Pro, but so far it has also comfortably gotten me through a day with around 40 percent left by bedtime. Safe to say, most people will very much enjoy the battery life, but the update doesn't feel drastic.