Launch hub iPhone 18
Apple announced three phones on Wednesday 9 September 2026: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and its first foldable, iPhone Duo. Every figure on this page is Apple’s, read from Apple’s UK spec pages, store and newsroom, and links the page it came from. Nothing here is a rumour except the last section, where the rumours are scored.
3 phones12 hands-on videos38 rumours scoredBuilt
The phones
iPhone 18 Pro from £1,199, on sale 18 September; iPhone 18 Pro Max from £1,299, on sale 18 September; iPhone Duo from £1,999, on sale 23 October. Pre-orders: 13:00 UK on Saturday 12 September for the Pro models, 16 October for the Duo. No standard iPhone 18 was announced, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have left Apple’s store.
| iPhone 18 Pro | iPhone 18 Pro Max | iPhone Duo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK price | £1,199Official | £1,299Official | £1,999Official |
| On sale | Official | Official | Official |
| Dimensions | 150.0 x 71.9 x 8.75 mmOfficial | 163.4 x 78.0 x 8.75 mmOfficial | 117.8 x 84.1 x 11.3 mmOfficial |
| Weight | 211 gOfficial | 249 gOfficial | 254 gOfficial |
| Display size | 6.3 inOfficial | 6.9 inOfficial | 7.6 inOfficial |
| Peak brightness | 3,000 nitsOfficial | 3,000 nitsOfficial | 3,000 nitsOfficial |
| Chipset | A20 Pro chipOfficial | A20 Pro chipOfficial | A20 Pro chipOfficial |
| Main aperture | f/1.48 to f/4.0 (variable)Official | f/1.48 to f/4.0 (variable)Official | f/1.6Official |
| Telephoto | 48MP Fusion Telephoto, 100mm (4x), f/2.8, 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilisationOfficial | 48MP Fusion Telephoto, 100mm (4x), f/2.8, 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilisationOfficial | No dedicated telephoto lens; 12MP optical-quality 2x (52mm) crop from the 48MP Fusion MainOfficial |
| Front camera | 18MP Center Stage, f/1.9 aperture, autofocus with Focus PixelsOfficial | 18MP Center Stage, f/1.9 aperture, autofocus with Focus PixelsOfficial | 12MP Center Stage camera (outer display), f/2.2; under-display FaceTime camera (inner display), f/1.8Official |
| Claimed video playback | 34 hOfficial | 43 hOfficial | 31 hOfficial |
| Fast charging | 60 WOfficial | 60 WOfficial | Not published |
| Storage options | 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TBOfficial | 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TBOfficial | 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TBOfficial |
| Unlock | Face ID (TrueDepth camera)Official | Face ID (TrueDepth camera)Official | Touch ID (fingerprint sensor in the side button)Official |
| SIM | Dual SIM (nano-SIM and eSIM)Official | Dual SIM (nano-SIM and eSIM)Official | Dual eSIM (two active eSIMs; stores eight or more eSIMs); no SIM trayOfficial |
| Colours | Black, Silver, Glacier, BurgundyOfficial | Black, Silver, Glacier, BurgundyOfficial | Night Sky, Star WhiteOfficial |
Row by row, with the verdicts: 18 Pro vs 17 Pro, 18 Pro Max vs 17 Pro Max, Duo vs 18 Pro Max, Duo vs Galaxy Z Flip7. The launch report is on the news page.
What a 15, 16 or 17 Pro owner actually gets
We hold thresholds for when a difference is perceptible in use, and we apply them to Apple’s published figures the same way we apply them to every other phone. Below the marginal threshold is not something you will notice; below the noticeable threshold is not something you will reliably notice.
| Attribute | Marginal | Noticeable |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 15 g | 30 g |
| Peak brightness | 150 nits | 400 nits |
| Claimed video playback | 2 h | 6 h |
| Battery per charge | 2 h | 6 h |
| Fast charging | 10 W | 25 W |
| iPhone 15 Pro | iPhone 16 Pro | iPhone 17 Pro | iPhone 17 Pro Max | iPhone 18 Pro | iPhone 18 Pro Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 187 g | 199 g | 204 g | 231 g | 211 g | 249 g |
| Peak brightness | 2,000 nits | 2,000 nits | 3,000 nits | 3,000 nits | 3,000 nits | 3,000 nits |
| Claimed video playback | 23 h | 27 h | 31 h | 37 h | 34 h | 43 h |
| Battery per charge | — | 37 h | 47 h | 53 h | — | — |
| Fast charging | 20 W | 20 W | 40 W | 40 W | 60 W | 60 W |
| UK RRP | — | — | £1,099 | £1,199 | £1,199 | £1,299 |
If you have an iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max
On Apple’s own video-playback claim, the Pro Max goes from 37 to 43 hours, a gap of 6 hours that clears our noticeable mark; the Pro goes from 31 to 34, a gap of 3 hours that sits between our marginal and noticeable marks. The 18 Pro Max is 18 g heavier than the 17 Pro Max, which sits between our marginal and noticeable marks; the leak said about 240 g and was 9 g light. Charging moves by 20 W, which sits between our marginal and noticeable marks. Peak brightness is unchanged at 3,000 nits. The energy-label endurance figure the comparison engine prefers is not published yet for the new phones; before the event we said it would need to reach about 59 hours on the Pro Max to be reliably felt, and that row stays empty until Apple files the label. The variable aperture is a capability rather than a bigger number, and whether it is worth £1,199 depends entirely on whether you shoot in a way that uses it.
If you have an iPhone 16 Pro
Moving to an iPhone 18 Pro is +7 hours on Apple’s video-playback claim, +1,000 nits of peak brightness and +40 W of charging. All three clear our noticeable threshold. That is the generation gap that reads as a different phone, at £1,199, which is £100 more than the 17 Pro launched at. The 17 Pro itself has left Apple’s store, so the comparison to make is against a used one.
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro
Every threshold is cleared by a distance: +11 hours of video playback, +1,000 nits and +40 W. The 18 Pro is also 24 g heavier, which sits between our marginal and noticeable marks. The honest question is not 18 Pro or 17 Pro. It is whether a used 17 Pro, at whatever CeX is paying this month, does the same job for several hundred pounds less; the row-by-row comparison is where to check.
The price rose by less than most of the forecasts
The range being modelled was £100 to £300, converted from dollar estimates by journalists. Apple’s UK rise on the Pro is £100, at the bottom of that range, and the Pro Max starts at £1,299. The foldable, at £1,999, sat inside every forecast because the forecasts spanned seven hundred dollars.
Capacity is not endurance, and a maker’s claim is not a measurement. Apple’s video-playback hours are a loop test under Apple’s own conditions, stated as “up to”, and Apple publishes no milliamp-hour figure; the capacities on the device pages are GSMArena’s and are chipped as third party. The energy-label endurance row is empty for the new phones until the labels are published; when they are, the comparison pages pick them up without this page changing.
Hands-on videos
12 first looks from Apple’s press area, newest first. These are impressions from a few minutes with a phone, not tests, and the sentence under each one is ours. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
Mrwhosetheboss — iPhone Duo/18 Pro Hands On - Beyond Impressive.
The longest hands-on of the set, covering the Duo and the 18 Pro in one session at Apple Park, with the crease, hinge and outer screen shown close up.
Apple — Apple Event September ’26: Recapping announcements of iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and more
Apple’s own 95-second recap. It is marketing, and it is here because it is the primary source for what was announced.
CNBC Television — First impressions of the foldable iPhone Duo — Apple’s biggest iPhone redesign ever
A two-minute broadcast segment from the hands-on area: the shortest honest look at the Duo if you want one.
Brian Tong — iPhone 18 Pro & 18 Pro Max - First Look & Hands-On!
The Pro models only, three minutes, with the variable-aperture control shown in the camera app.
EMKWAN REVIEWS — iPhone 18 Pro All New Colors Hands-on
All four 18 Pro finishes side by side under the same light, which is the thing Apple’s renders never show.
AppleInsider — iPhone Duo & iPhone 18 Pro -- Hands On & First Impressions!
Both phones handled in the same video, useful for seeing the Duo’s thickness against the 18 Pro rather than against a spec sheet.
Brian Tong — iPhone Duo - First Look & Hands-On!
The Duo only, four minutes, with the fold and the outer display in use.
AppleDsign — iPhone Duo First Hands On All Colors!
Both Duo finishes, Star White and Night Sky, handled on camera.
Nikias Molina — iPhone Duo Hands-On: Apple Finally Made a Foldable
A ten-minute Duo hands-on that spends time on the inner display’s nano-texture finish and on Touch ID in the side button.
MacRumors — iPhone Duo Hands-On: I’m VERY Impressed
MacRumors’ hands-on with the Duo, from an outlet whose written coverage dates and attributes its claims; the title is theirs, the verdict is theirs.
iPhonedo — iPhone Duo hands-on
A quiet, narration-light look at the Duo’s hinge and fold from a long-running iPhone channel.
Alex Vassios — iPhone Duo: First Impressions
Fifteen minutes on the Duo, the most detailed look at the software side: split view, the outer-to-inner handoff, and the crease under different light.
Videos play through YouTube’s own embedded player; we host nothing. Being listed here is not an endorsement, and a channel’s verdict is the channel’s.
How the rumours did
Before the keynote this page held 38 claims from other people, in our words, each attributed and dated. 38 of 38 claims scored against Apple’s own figures: 15 confirmed, 12 partly right, 4 wrong, 7 that Apple did not address. The misses stay on the page. A register that quietly deletes them is not a register.
Dates5
- Confirmed
Apple's autumn event runs on Wednesday 9 September 2026 at 10:00 Pacific, which is 18:00 UK time, streamed from Apple Park under the tagline "Surprise and shine".
Claimed by Apple, Apple Developer News, MacRumors, TidBITSSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- Confirmed
Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected to open on Saturday 12 September rather than the usual Friday, because Friday 11 September is the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.
Claimed by MacRumors, 9to5Mac, MacRumorsSettled by Buy iPhone 18 Pro — Apple (UK)
- Confirmed
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected on sale on Friday 18 September 2026.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- Confirmed
The foldable may be announced on 9 September but not reach buyers until the fourth quarter, with Ming-Chi Kuo comparing it to the iPhone X, which was unveiled alongside the iPhone 8 in 2017 and shipped weeks later.
Claimed by Benzinga, MacRumorsSettled by Apple unveils iPhone Duo
- Confirmed
This is the first product keynote under John Ternus, who replaced Tim Cook as chief executive on 1 September 2026 with Cook moving to executive chairman.
Claimed by Apple, AppleInsiderSettled by Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman; John Ternus to become Apple CEO
The line-up3
- Confirmed
Three phones are expected in September: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple's first foldable.
Claimed by MacRumors, AppleInsider, TechRadarSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- Partly right
There is no standard iPhone 18 this autumn: the iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 are reported to have been moved to spring 2027, splitting the line-up across two launches for the first time.
Claimed by Nikkei Asia, MacRumors, AppleInsider, TechRepublic, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone — Apple (UK)
- Partly right
Apple staff reportedly call the foldable the "Ultra" internally, though Gurman has been explicit that internal shorthand is not the same as the shipping name.
Claimed by MacDailyNews, MacworldSettled by Apple unveils iPhone Duo
Chip5
- Confirmed
The Pro models and the foldable are expected to use an A20 Pro built on TSMC's 2nm N2 process, Apple's first chip using gate-all-around transistors.
Claimed by MacRumors, AppleInsiderSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- Unaddressed
The A20 Pro is claimed to be roughly 15 to 18 per cent faster than the A19 Pro and to draw about 30 per cent less power at the same work.
Claimed by MacRumors, AppleInsider
- Unaddressed
12GB of RAM is expected as the baseline on the Pro models and the foldable, packaged onto the same wafer as the processor using WMCM, which Nikkei says adds more than $100 to the bill of materials.
Claimed by Nikkei Asia, MacRumors
- Confirmed
A late report claims the A20 Pro carries a seven-core GPU with a wider memory interface and a larger L2 cache.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Confirmed
Apple's second-generation C2 modem is expected in most markets, with US units possibly keeping a Qualcomm modem to retain mmWave 5G.
Claimed by MacRumors, AppleInsiderSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
Display3
- Unaddressed
- Partly right
The Dynamic Island is reported to shrink to roughly 13.5mm wide from about 20.7mm, a cut of around 35 per cent.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by Apple debuts iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
- Partly right
Whether Face ID moves under the display is disputed: some roundups treat under-display Face ID as expected, others report the technology was found not ready and deferred.
Claimed by AppleInsider, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
Cameras5
- Confirmed
The main rear camera is expected to gain a variable aperture, a mechanical iris that changes the physical opening rather than simulating depth of field in software.
Claimed by MacRumors, AppleInsiderSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Wrong
One Chinese leaker claims the variable aperture is exclusive to the Pro Max rather than shared with the smaller Pro.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Wrong
The telephoto lens is reported to get a wider maximum aperture for low light, and Apple is said to have considered a three-layer stacked Samsung sensor for the main camera.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Wrong
The front camera is reported to move to 24 megapixels.
Claimed by AppleInsiderSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Confirmed
The foldable is expected to carry two rear cameras only, a 48-megapixel main and an ultra-wide, with no telephoto, plus front cameras on both the outer and inner screens.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone Duo — Technical Specifications
Battery3
- Unaddressed
- Confirmed
Longer battery life is expected from the combination of a larger cell, the 2nm process and the LTPO+ panel, but no source gives an hours figure.
Claimed by MacRumors, 9to5MacSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Partly right
The foldable is reported to split its battery across two cells totalling roughly 5,400 to 5,800mAh, which would be the largest ever fitted to an iPhone.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by Apple unveils iPhone Duo
Design and colours2
- Partly right
The Pro models are described as a refresh rather than a redesign, with the Pro Max around 240 grams and roughly seven grams heavier, a body between 8.8mm and 9mm thick, and a camera plateau about 2mm deeper.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
- Partly right
Three finishes are expected — Silver, Dark Cherry and Sky Blue — with no black option.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone 18 Pro — Technical Specifications
The foldable6
- Partly right
The foldable is described as a book-style design about 4.5mm thick unfolded and 9 to 9.5mm folded, built around a titanium frame and a liquid-metal hinge, with a crease reported at under 0.15mm deep.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacworldSettled by iPhone Duo — Technical Specifications
- Partly right
The foldable is expected to pair a roughly 5.5-inch outer screen with an inner screen of about 7.8 inches at a 4:3-ish shape, on a custom Samsung panel process with touch sensing integrated into the display stack.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone Duo — Technical Specifications
- Confirmed
The foldable is expected to authenticate with Touch ID in the side button rather than Face ID, a trade-off attributed to the space Face ID hardware would need in a 4.5mm body.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone Duo — Technical Specifications
- Confirmed
Two finishes are reported for the foldable, a silver-white and a deep indigo, and it is said to be eSIM-only with no SIM tray in any market.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumorsSettled by iPhone Duo — Technical Specifications
- Unaddressed
Gurman reported that people who have used the foldable praised its pocketability, hinge feel and iPad-style layouts on the inner screen, and criticised the camera.
Claimed by MacRumors
- Unaddressed
Production plans for the foldable are disputed, with Kuo estimating 7 to 8 million units in the second half of 2026 against Nikkei's report that suppliers were told to prepare for about 10 million.
Claimed by Benzinga, Nikkei Asia, CNBC
Price5
- Wrong
TrendForce estimates the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,249 to $1,299 and the Pro Max at $1,349 to $1,399, roughly $150 to $200 above their predecessors.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by Buy iPhone 18 Pro — Apple (US)
- Partly right
Jeff Pu's estimate of a $250 to $300 increase has been read in the UK press as a £250 to £300 rise on the £1,099 iPhone 17 Pro, with other UK coverage putting the increase nearer £100 to £200 and a starting price of £1,199 to £1,299.
Claimed by uSwitch, uSwitchSettled by Buy iPhone 18 Pro — Apple (UK)
- Partly right
Other forecasts cluster in the same direction but not the same place: IDC has suggested up to $200 more, the Wall Street Journal reported a possible $1,399 starting price, and Counterpoint expects the 1TB Pro Max up $300.
Claimed by MacRumorsSettled by Buy iPhone 18 Pro — Apple (US)
- Unaddressed
Every pricing forecast traces to the same cause: TrendForce says the cost of a 256GB memory chip has risen nearly 400 per cent year on year and puts the bill of materials for a 256GB Pro up about 38 per cent, driven by AI datacentre demand for memory.
Claimed by MacRumors, Nikkei Asia, CNBC
- Confirmed
Foldable price estimates are the least settled figures in this file, ranging from $1,800 to $2,500 for the entry model depending on who is asked, with top storage tiers put above $3,000.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumors, BenzingaSettled by Buy iPhone Duo — Apple (US)
Everything else1
- Partly right
Non-phone announcements expected alongside the iPhones include Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, two AirPods 5 models with an H3 chip, and possibly a home hub, an Apple TV 4K and a HomePod mini refresh, plus release dates for iOS 27.
Claimed by MacRumors, MacRumors, AppleInsiderSettled by Newsroom archive — Apple (UK)