At the recent "Surprise and Sunshine" keynote, there wasn't any talk about the standard iPhone 18. We did, however, get the news of the release of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to contend with. We've spent time with the latter and it has the usual upgrades: longer battery life (43 hours of video playback on iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is 6 more hours than the 17 Pro Max model); new A20 Pro chipset (best possible graphics performance; 40 per cent faster than previous Pro Max model); improved Siri AI; better vapour chamber among many others.

One of the highlights that Apple touted was the new camera system. Previous models used a fixed lens, meaning the physical glass opening cannot mechanically widen or collapse. For the 18 Pro and Pro Max, we have a physical aperture feature on its 48MP Fusion camera. (Apple isn't the first to add a physical aperture; Huawei, Xiaomi, and Samsung, had them before.)

Using a six-blade mechanical diaphragm inside a 24mm wide-angle lens, users have access to four distinct aperture settings: ƒ/1.48: for low-light shoots; ƒ/1.8: default balance setting; ƒ/2.8: increased depth of field; ƒ/4.0: for a moderate bokeh effect that strikes a balance between a blurry background and subject sharpness.

Another thing that Apple added (which I thought was fantastic) is a provenance tracker for photos that were shot by any iPhone 18 Pro models. Called the Apple Reference Image, these are the original unalterable photo that can be pulled up to determine if any edits were made on the final image. Think of them as receipts, proof that you took the original photo. May this be another knife into the face of unsanctioned and wanton AI usage.

On the screen, you can see a difference in the Dynamic Island. It's now smaller, reduced by 25 per cent, and that's possible due to the moving of the Infra-Red camera (used for Face ID) behind the display. Now the Dynamic Island can feature up to three activities at once. (Opening up four or more programmes, would prompt the AI to push time-sensitive activities to the Dynamic Island.)

Size-wise, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is the same as the previous iPhone 17 Pro Max. Which means—and this wasn't recommended—that, if you have last season's model, the protective cover (you are using a protective cover, right?) can be reused for the latest 18 model. Technically.

The layout of the iPhone 18 Pro Max's inside had to be rearrange, due to the improved vapour chamber. So, previous models' covers may not line up with the MagSafe. But this shouldn't be a big deal if you don't utilise MagSafe.

Available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities, the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max come in four colourways: burgundy, glacier, silver, and black. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at SGD1,899, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at SGD2,099