If you’re keeping your eye on the iPhone 17 Pro right now, there’s a reason to hold off before making your buying decision. Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro is still a few weeks out, expected to drop in the first half of September, but the leaks building around it aren’t the usual random guesses. Several of them are coming from multiple reliable sources, like a smaller Dynamic Island, a variable aperture camera, a new chip built on a 2nm process, a bigger battery, and a price that’s expected to climb for sure. Of course, none of those are confirmed until Apple actually says it on stage, but even though not everything is confirmed, enough different sources are saying similar things that it’s worth knowing before you plan to spend your hard-earned cash on the current model.
According to multiple leaks, Apple may be shrinking the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro, and the reason behind it is changes inside the phone, not just to make it look better. Some Face ID components are said to be moving underneath the display, which frees up space to reduce the size of the cutout. One leak said Apple may reduce the Dynamic Island by 35 per cent narrower than the current generation. Still, that specific number isn’t confirmed yet. On the other hand, Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station said the iPhone 18 Pro will not come with a smaller Dynamic Island.
Whatever the case may be, if Apple does manage to incorporate a smaller Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro, without compromising Face ID’s reliability, the display should look noticeably cleaner. The phone is also expected to come in new colour options, including Dark Cherry, Light Blue, Dark Grey, and Silver.
One of the highlighted features of the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro might be the camera. Rumours suggest the iPhone 18 Pro may get a variable-aperture 48MP main sensor, something which was earlier attempted almost a decade ago by Samsung for the Galaxy S9.
Every iPhone camera to date has used a fixed aperture, meaning the amount of light hitting the sensor can’t physically change. A variable aperture lens can open and close, reducing light in bright conditions to prevent overexposure, and opening up in darker scenes to let more light in. It also affects depth of field, giving photographers more control over how much of a scene stays in focus and giving more natural background separation.
This isn’t a single unverified leak either; it’s been reported multiple times, and supply chain sources suggest Apple has already moved into the production of the component. One report claims the new lens system may cost Apple around 50 percent more than its current setup, which says a lot about how important this change could be.
On the performance side, the iPhone 18 Pro is expected to move to Apple’s A20 Pro chip, built on TSMC’s 2nm process rather than the current 3nm process. That shift alone typically brings more transistors, better efficiency, and higher performance. The A20 Pro chipset is also rumored to use WMCM packaging, which places memory and processor components closer together. Because of this, we could see improvements in performance, power efficiency, and AI processing all at once.
Along with the A20 Pro processor, there’s the C2 modem. Apple has been slowly moving away from Qualcomm for years, and the C2 may potentially mark a real step toward the company controlling its own cellular technology entirely. It’s expected to be more capable than Apple’s current C1 modem.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max already carries one of the largest batteries Apple has put in an iPhone, and the iPhone 18 Pro looks set to take things further. Leaks suggest the US variant may have a 4,288mAh battery, while the global and Indian versions may feature a slightly lower battery capacity of 4,056mAh.
Now, if you pair a bigger battery with a more efficient 2nm chip and a more power-efficient modem, and you’re looking at a phone that may end up with the best battery life Apple has ever shipped, not because of one change, but because several changes are reportedly working in the same direction at once.
Of course, if all these changes make it to the final product, it will definitely cost Apple money. On top of that, there is a shortage of memory chips worldwide that has pushed up the cost of RAM and storage for all tech companies, making these improvements even more expensive. A Wall Street Journal report, based on estimates from TechInsights, suggested the cost of making the iPhone 18 Pro may increase noticeably this year.
That analysis suggests Apple may need to price the iPhone 18 Pro at around $1,299 in the US just to maintain its current profit margins. If the new camera upgrades add more to production costs, that price might potentially go beyond $1,400. In India, early estimates put the Pro somewhere around Rs 1,40,000 to Rs 1,50,000. For context, the iPhone 17 Pro currently starts at Rs 1,34,900 in India and $1,099 in the US.
This begs the question: what would you, as a consumer, do now? Will you buy the iPhone 17 Pro at slightly slashed prices, i.e., if it gets a price cut, given the current market conditions? Or are you firmly in the iPhone 18 Pro camp? Either way, it’s going to be an expensive affair.