iPhone 18 Pro: specs, price and full review

The iPhone 18 Pro has been on sale since 18 September 2026 from €1,479 (about 970,000 FCFA), which is €150 more than its predecessor. Apple uses it to introduce a chip built on a 2 nm process, a variable aperture on the main camera and a smaller Dynamic Island. Published reviews praise the power and the stamina, and are far less kind about the bill. This model speaks first to people who shoot video and photos seriously, or who have kept the same iPhone for three years or more.

Introduction: the iPhone 18 Pro, a year of consolidation sold at a higher price

Apple presented its two Pro models on 9 September 2026 at its September keynote. Deliveries began on the 18th. The range changes shape this year: the standard iPhone 18 has been pushed back to 2027, and the catalogue now makes room for the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable, which is expected on 23 October at €2,339 (about 1,534,000 FCFA).

Within that line-up, the iPhone 18 Pro keeps its role: the most compact of the high-end models, at 6.3 inches. It shares everything with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, except the size of the screen, the battery and a €150 difference.

The real issue is the price. At €1,479, it costs what the Pro Max cost in 2025. The increase is partly down to soaring memory prices, but it lands on a vintage that Journal du Geek describes as a generation of consolidation. What remains to be seen is who can actually justify the spend.

Verdict in brief: our take on the iPhone 18 Pro

The editorial team has not handled the device. This opinion cross-checks the spec sheet published by Apple against the reviews from Clubic, Phonandroid, Mac4ever, Gizmodo, The Verge, Engadget and 9to5Mac.

Three figures matter more than the others. First, the 2 nm process of the A20 Pro chip, a first for Apple, which explains both the gain in speed and the better stamina. Next, the f/1.48 aperture of the main camera, against f/1.78 last year, which means half a stop more light. Finally, the 4,056 mAh of the European battery: 68 mAh better than the 17 Pro, which is to say almost nothing.

iPhone 18 Pro design: the same chassis, five grams heavier

Aluminium, Ceramic Shield 2 and four colours

The iPhone 18 Pro keeps the aluminium unibody of 2025: 150 × 71.9 × 8.75 mm, flat sides and the wide camera plateau on the back. Last year’s cases still fit, Clubic notes. The scales show 211 g, against 206 g before, because the camera unit has grown thicker to house the mechanical diaphragm.

The colours change: black, silver, glacier and burgundy. Apple has brought the shade of the glass back closer to that of the metal, which erases the two-tone effect that the 17 Pro was criticised for. Mac4ever nevertheless points out that this finish picks up marks quickly.

A smaller Dynamic Island and Face ID partly under the display

This is the only visible change on the front. The infrared emitter of Face ID moves under the panel, which shrinks the Dynamic Island by around 25%. We covered this work in detail in our article on under-display Face ID. Mac4ever specifies that the resolution is halved in that spot, and advises against sticking an opaque screen protector over it.

The area now shows three live activities instead of two. The Verge finds the extra room barely noticeable in everyday use.

Durability: IP68 and a C grade for repairability

The IP68 rating allows immersion down to 6 metres for 30 minutes. The European energy label, relayed by LesMobiles, ranks the iPhone 18 Pro B for drop resistance and C for repairability, with 3.14 out of 5. Dry-season dust does not worry it, but a repair outside the authorised network remains complicated.

Display: a very accurate 6.3-inch OLED panel that is sensitive to heat

The numbers do not move

The Super Retina XDR display of the iPhone 18 Pro keeps its 6.3 inches, its resolution of 2,622 × 1,206 pixels (460 pixels per inch) and its adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz. Apple quotes 1,000 nits in typical use, 1,600 nits in HDR and a peak of 3,000 nits outdoors.

Phonandroid got the colorimeter out: an average Delta E of 1.0 and a gamma of 2.2, which means faithful colours without any adjustment. With brightness set manually, the outlet records 600 nits, since the peaks are only reached in automatic mode.

What that changes at 30 °C and above

Here is a point that spec sheets do not mention. Mac4ever observes that the display of the iPhone 18 Pro dims within a few minutes as soon as the ambient temperature goes past 30 °C, falling back to around 300 to 400 nits. That is how the phone protects its panel and its battery.

For a reader in Douala, Abidjan or Dakar, this behaviour weighs more heavily than it does for someone in Paris. At midday, outdoors, legibility will not always be what the 3,000 nits promise.

Performance: the 2 nm A20 Pro chip widens the gap

Measured gains of 20 to 27%

The chip in the iPhone 18 Pro combines six processor cores, seven graphics cores and two 16-core Neural Engines. Apple promises graphics that are 40% faster than those of the A19 Pro. The memory, which the brand never discloses, comes to 12 GB according to Clubic and Phonandroid.

The measurements bear this out. In Geekbench, Gizmodo records 4,027 points in single-core and 11,540 in multi-core, against 3,258 and 9,167 for the 17 Pro. 9to5Mac puts the gain at between 22 and 27% on the processor side and between 40 and 45% on the graphics side.

Heat: reviewers do not agree

The vapour chamber covers three times more surface. Engadget and Gizmodo describe an iPhone 18 Pro that sheds heat quickly, and Clubic no longer finds a hot spot. Phonandroid measures 45 °C on the back and 47 °C on the front under sustained load.

Mac4ever is much harsher: up to 53 °C on the shell of a burgundy Pro Max, and more than ten safety shutdowns during three hours of filming. If you plan to shoot for a long time outdoors in a tropical climate, allow for some shade and a few breaks.

Storage and connectivity

Four capacities are offered: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB and, new for this size, 2 TB. Clubic reports that the 1 TB and 2 TB versions use QLC memory, which is slower than the TLC of the first two. The USB-C port delivers 10 Gbit/s.

The C2 modem designed by Apple replaces the Qualcomm chip, with no notable difference in reception or speed according to Mac4ever.

Camera: what the variable aperture changes on the iPhone 18 Pro

A six-blade diaphragm on the main camera

The camera unit still has three 48 MP sensors. The novelty lies in the 24 mm wide-angle lens: its mechanical diaphragm goes from f/1.48 to f/4, with two intermediate stops at f/1.8 and f/2.8. The sensor itself does not grow, it stays at the 1/1.28-inch format according to Mac4ever.

Wide open, the iPhone 18 Pro captures more light. Clubic estimates the gain at around 50% and finds that Night mode kicks in less often. The Verge and Gizmodo temper this: in ordinary use, the gap with the 17 Pro remains subtle. Stopped down to f/4, the lens extends the zone that is in focus, which is handy for a group photo.

The automatic mode rarely closes the diaphragm on its own. You have to go through the new Pro controls in the Camera app, which finally give you a hand on the aperture, the shutter speed and the white balance. The Verge sees it as the most useful change of the year, because it allows long exposures without a third-party app.

4x telephoto, ultra-wide and selfies

The 48 MP telephoto lens offers a 100 mm (4x) opening at f/2.8, and a crop to 200 mm (8x) at 12 MP. The 13 mm ultra-wide lens also handles macro. The front camera relies on an 18 MP Center Stage sensor.

Phonandroid lists three flaws: flare at night when facing light sources, autofocus that sometimes hesitates in the evening and imprecise edge detection in portrait mode. Against the Chinese camera phones, the shortfall is in the zoom. The Vivo X500 Pro Max and its 200 MP periscope play in another league beyond 10x.

Video: the ground where it stays in front

This is where the iPhone 18 Pro earns its name. It films in 4K Dolby Vision at up to 120 frames per second, in ProRes 4K 120 and in ProRes RAW.

The adjustable shutter speed removes the flicker of LED screens, a real problem at concerts. Since 29 September, the Final Cut Camera app also controls the diaphragm. For a content creator, no Android rival offers such a complete chain today.

iPhone 18 Pro battery life: a day and a half, with a European catch

4,056 mAh in France, more on the eSIM versions

Apple quotes up to 34 hours of video playback for the iPhone 18 Pro sold in France, against 31 hours for the 17 Pro. The American press release talks about 36 hours: the versions without a SIM tray carry a larger battery.

In the field, the verdicts converge. 9to5Mac and Clubic talk about a day and a half, while Engadget and Phonandroid mention up to two days of ordinary use. In a city where the power goes out regularly, that lead provides a comfortable margin.

Charging: 50% in a quarter of an hour, if the conditions allow it

Apple promises 50% in around 15 minutes with an adapter of 60 W or more, and 25 W wirelessly over MagSafe or Qi2. Phonandroid measures a little more than a quarter of an hour for the first half and 61 minutes for a full charge. Mac4ever adds a nuance: when the device is hot, it takes more like 20 to 25 minutes.

Software: iOS 27 and Apple Intelligence, what really works in France

Siri AI: French is on the way, but not in the European Union

iOS 27 was meant to be the release of the new Siri. The assistant, renamed Siri AI and backed by Google’s Gemini models, came out in beta on 14 September, in English.

In France, none of that reaches the iPhone 18 Pro. Apple confirmed as early as June that Siri AI would not be rolled out on iOS in the European Union, citing the Digital Markets Act, and gives no timetable. Changing the language of the phone does not unlock anything, Selectra points out.

French arrives with iOS 27.2, in beta since 16 September. It will first benefit French speakers in Switzerland and Canada, according to iPhoneAddict. The restriction targets the European Union and China: a reader in West or Central Africa, with a local Apple account, should therefore have access to it. That point still has to be confirmed country by country.

The Apple Intelligence features you can already use

Not everything is blocked. The Apple Intelligence features launched in French with iOS 18.4 remain available, and iOS 27 adds a few photo tools to them according to Clubic.

• Available in France: writing tools, notification summaries, an improved Clean Up eraser, the assisted Reframe crop.
• Missing from iPhones in the European Union: Siri AI, its conversation app, the Siri mode of the camera.
• Fixed by iOS 27.2: a flaw in French dictation that Mac4ever has reported since launch.

Software support

The European label guarantees the iPhone 18 Pro at least five years of security updates. In practice, Apple does better: the iPhone 11 from 2019 still receives iOS 27, Clubic notes, which makes seven years of support.

iPhone 18 Pro price and availability in France and in West and Central Africa

Official prices in France

The price list published on Apple’s French website is as follows:

• 256 GB: €1,479 (about 970,000 FCFA)
• 512 GB: €1,729 (about 1,134,000 FCFA)
• 1 TB: €2,229 (about 1,462,000 FCFA)
• 2 TB: €2,979 (about 1,954,000 FCFA)

The 512 GB version is the best compromise if you film in 4K, because 256 GB fills up quickly in ProRes. In the United States, the price starts at $1,199, or roughly €1,035 (about 679,000 FCFA) before tax, according to Apple’s press release.

Where to buy the iPhone 18 Pro at the best price

Écran Super Retina XDR 6,3 pouces ProMotion, caméra principale 48 Mpx à ouverture variable, 256 Go.

• AmazonSee at Amazon
• CdiscountSee at Cdiscount
• FnacSee at Fnac
• DartySee at Darty

Some links on this page are affiliate links: Wanda-techs may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. This does not influence our opinion.

iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro: doing the maths

Launched at €1,329, the iPhone 17 Pro could already be found at €1,129 (about 741,000 FCFA) on Amazon in August, according to LesMobiles. The gap therefore reaches €350 for the same display and a very similar camera unit. Clubic, Phonandroid and Mac4ever all conclude that the 2025 model remains the most sensible purchase, unless you have a specific need in video or night photography.

Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal: importing and the traps to avoid

Apple has no official store in West and Central Africa. In Abidjan, the retailer Djokstore lists the 256 GB iPhone 18 Pro at around €1,777 (1,165,900 FCFA), with a 12-month warranty, but it was out of stock in early October. In Dakar, AppleDakar offers it to order. We did not find any reliable public price in Cameroon.

Many devices arrive from Dubai, where the price starts at 5,099 dirhams, or roughly €1,200 (about 787,000 FCFA). Watch out for the version: Apple sells eSIM-only models in eleven countries or regions, including the United States, Canada and Japan. Without a SIM tray, they are useless if your carrier does not offer eSIM. Also check the 5G bands of the exact model you are buying and the warranty outside the country of purchase.

Pros and cons of the iPhone 18 Pro

Pros

• The power of the A20 Pro chip, with no equivalent at 6.3 inches.
• A day and a half of battery life with 4,056 mAh.
• Pro controls and a variable aperture, useful at night and for long exposures.
• 4K video at 120 frames per second, ProRes RAW, USB-C at 10 Gbit/s.
• Long software support and good resale value.

Cons

• A €150 increase, and very expensive storage options.
• Siri AI missing in the European Union, with no timetable.
• Heat during long shoots, and a display that dims in hot weather.
• Design and sensors almost identical to those of the 17 Pro.
• No charger supplied.

These scores are based on the spec sheet and on the reviews cited, not on a trial by the editorial team. The software score applies to France: outside the European Union, the arrival of Siri AI would push it back up.

The 17 Pro is the obvious alternative for staying with Apple while spending less. The Pro Max, at €1,629 (about 1,069,000 FCFA), adds a 6.9-inch display and up to 43 hours of video playback as advertised. On the Android side, the Xiaomi 18 Pro is the most intriguing compact rival: two 200 MP Leica sensors and 7,000 mAh in China, for around €750 before import costs. The Galaxy S26 and the Pixel 11 Pro have the advantage of being sold officially in France.

Conclusion: should you buy the iPhone 18 Pro?

Yes, if you are coming from an iPhone 15 Pro or an older model. You will gain a longer telephoto lens, clearly better battery life and a camera that can finally be set by hand. Yes again if video is your job: ProRes RAW and a diaphragm you can control have no equivalent in this format.

No, if you own a 17 Pro. The progress is easier to measure than to see, and a €150 increase makes it hard to defend. No again if you are buying in France for the artificial intelligence: the promised assistant is not there, and nobody knows when it will arrive.

Frequently asked questions