Review: The iPhone 18 Pro is Apple's coolest smartphone (but only literally)

As Apple's Tim Cook era draws to a close, we're seeing more experimentation with the iPhone's design than we've seen in a long time, but you wouldn't know it from the iPhone 18 Pro. This absurdly fast, full-featured handset might be eclipsed by the hype around the iPhone Duo this year, but it's still just as good as its immediate predecessor.

Of course, not too much has changed since the iPhone 17 Pro. There's the new variable aperture and other camera controls for those who want to get granular with their mobile photography, a welcome addition given the iPhone's reputation for inflexibly opinionated computational photography.

Beyond that, though, all the most important changes are under the hood: a new chip, better battery life, and much-improved thermals that both give the phone better sustained performance and make it cooler to the touch in many situations.