Apple iPhone 18 Pro: Top 5 features you must know before buying it

Apple has just introduced the iPhone 18 Pro in the global market. The device comes with a series of upgrades, including performance, camera, and Apple Intelligence. And once you start using it, the real upgrades become obvious. Among all, the camera upgrades are worth talking about. It can now adjust itself better in different lighting, and the Camera app finally gives you proper manual controls. Well, these aren’t the flashy features Apple will market, but they are the ones you will actually appreciate after using the phone for months. And if you are planning to buy the iPhone 18 Pro, check out these 5 features.

Smarter video tools in the Camera app

If you shoot a lot of videos, these two camera upgrades are actually useful. The first one is that you no longer need to turn on Cinematic Mode before recording. You can shoot your videos normally first and then add that blurry background, cinematic effect afterwards, as long as the video is recorded at up to 60fps.

The second feature is Smart Focus Tracking, which uses on-device AI to lock onto a subject and keep them even if they briefly go out of frame and come back. So if you’re recording something like a football match or someone running around, your iPhone 18 Pro will keep the subject in focus without you constantly tapping to refocus.

Pro Controls

The Camera app finally gets a proper manual mode, called Pro Controls. Instead of letting the phone decide the settings, you can now adjust settings like aperture, shutter speed, and white balance like on a professional camera.

You can also use a live Histogram to check if your photo is properly exposed, and tweak Photographic Styles with more control over texture and grain. These features have already been there in third-party camera apps for years, but the good thing is that they’re now built right into the Camera app, so you don’t need to download any third-party apps.

Variable Aperture

This is probably the biggest camera upgrade on the iPhone 18 Pro. For the first time, Apple has added a camera lens that can physically open and close, instead of staying fixed all the time. We already saw this one on the Samsung Galaxy S9. Now, on the iPhone 18 Pro, there are six laser-cut blades inside the 48MP main camera that shift between four aperture settings: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. They can shift automatically based on the scene, or you can manually control it if you want.

In low light, it opens wider to let in more light, so your night photos look brighter and cleaner with more detail. In daylight, it can close down to keep more of the scene in focus, which is great for group photos, or open up again to create a more natural background blur for portraits. Unlike software tricks, this is a real hardware change that gives the camera more flexibility in different situations.

A20 Pro chipset

The iPhone 18 Pro runs on Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, built on a 2nm process with a 6-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, and a redesigned Neural Engine tuned specifically for on-device AI work. Apple is claiming up to 40 pct faster graphics than the iPhone 17 Pro, which sounds like a typical yearly upgrade until you factor in the other half of the equation.

Good thing? It comes with a next-generation vapor chamber that is 3x larger than last year’s cooling system. Whether you’re playing games for a long time, editing a 4K video, or using AI features, it won’t slow down as quickly.

The iPhone 18 Pro also comes with fast charging that can charge the device to 50 percent in 15 minutes, and in total it will give you up to 34 hours of video playback; it’s less a spec-sheet flex and more a phone that just doesn’t slow down when you actually need it not to. However, to see how this iPhone 18 Pro really performs in day-to-day life and at our Digit Test Labs, you’ll have to stay tuned for the full review.

A smaller Dynamic Island

The Dynamic Island has been the same size since it first appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro back in 2022, and Apple has finally shrunk it on the iPhone 18 Pro. That means you get a little more screen while watching videos, gaming, or scrolling, and it’s one of those changes you don’t realise until you use it.

Now the Dynamic Island is more useful, not just smaller for the sake of it. The Dynamic Island can now show up to three Live Activities at once, so you can keep track of your food delivery, a timer, and your cab status all together at the same time without opening different apps.