The Duo is drool-worthy, but the iPhone 18 Pro camera features win for me

If ever there was a head versus heart moment in terms of Apple tech, it was in yesterday’s unveiling of the new iPhones.

I already started the morning by wiping the drool from my desk after watching the iPhone Duo sections of yesterday’s keynote, but the true hero of yesterday’s show for me was the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max, thanks to the new camera features …

The variable aperture – with caveat

Given the supply chain needed to introduce a variable aperture lens to the iPhone, it was no surprise that this was well and truly leaked prior to the launch. The only thing that wasn’t completely clear is whether the feature would be included in both iPhone Pro models or just the Pro Max, and the good news is that the former applies.

Apple also confirmed that while the iPhone will vary the aperture automatically in some cases, we can also take full manual control. I said beforehand that we might need to temper our expectations of just how much difference the feature will make.

The main limiting factor of iPhones is not the lens aperture – which is already rather wide – but rather the size of the sensor. Again, all else being equal, the larger the sensor, the shallower DOF you’ll be able to achieve. Compared to DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, iPhones have absolutely tiny sensors, and that isn’t going to change this year. Given the same size sensor and a very slightly wider aperture, physics would suggest that we shouldn’t expect very much.

But I also speculated about whether Apple might have improved the Portrait mode capabilities in this latest model and actually be using a combination of the wider aperture and computational photography in order to deliver a more impressive result than would be obtained from the hardware alone. That remains to be seen, but based on some of the sample photos shown, I do suspect I may have been right about this.

I’ll be experimenting with this and will of course share the results.

Low-light photography and videography

The widest aperture is also close to one stop brighter – up from f/1.78 in the iPhone 17 Pro to f/1.48. While it may not make much difference to depth of field in itself, it should be a worthwhile improvement for low-light captures, including night shots.

Manual control of shutter speed

In addition to being able to manually control the aperture, we can also select the shutter speed for both still photos and video.

For still photos, that means the ability to take long exposure photos. The promotional video demonstrated using this to achieve motion blur. We don’t yet know the maximum exposure time possible, and whether a combination of the narrowest aperture and computational trickery will allow 30-second exposures, which are commonly used to make flowing water look silky smooth. The same technique can also be used to remove passers-by from a scene.

With conventional cameras, that requires a neutral density filter to cut down the amount of light, but there are third-party iPhone apps that can combine a whole series of photos into a single image to achieve a similar effect. I quite frequently use the Spectre app in this way.

For video, manual control of the shutter speed allows us to use the 180-degree rule. When shooting at 24 frames per second, we want the shutter speed set to 1/48th of a second to achieve the most natural-looking motion blur. This is something we can do in third-party pro camera apps like Blackmagic Cam, but it’s great to have the same capability in the stock Apple one.

White balance control

Another feature found in third-party apps is white balance control, and this too now comes to the stock app.

For still photography, this allows us to adjust the color temperature to our taste, but it’s most important in video footage. Automatic white balance means that the color temperature, and thus the whole look of the scene, can change during a clip. This creates a very visibly amateurish look. Being able to lock white balance for the duration of a clip is a huge improvement.

Cinematic mode is the video equivalent of Portrait mode, allowing us to apply an artificial shallow depth of field effect. So far, we’ve always had to choose between shooting standard video and Cinematic mode footage – though the latter does actually give us a flat file also. The iPhone 18 Pro lets us decide afterwards to apply Cinematic mode effects to standard video footage.

Additionally, we can now shoot Cinematic video at up to 60 frames per second, allowing it to be used for slow motion footage.

Smart focus mode for video

Existing iPhones already allow us to set the focus to track a particular person within a scene, but the iPhone 18 Pro introduces a significantly more advanced version of this.

In particular, it appears to use AI to identify a particular individual so that it can continue reliably tracking them even when somebody else passes between us and our subject. Additionally, it will re-lock on them if they leave the frame and re-enter it while shooting.

Histogram

This feature was reported ahead of yesterday’s keynote, so I’ll simply echo what I said then.

Judging exposure visually can be extremely unreliable, especially when viewing the iPhone screen in bright sunlight. Most dedicated cameras support a histogram feature intended to provide an accurate depiction of the exposure.

Battery life

Shooting video can burn through battery life, so an improvement here is welcome. We don’t know the specifics for this use, but since the maximum life of the Pro Max is up from 39 hours to 45 hours, that suggests we should expect to get around 15% more shooting time over last year’s model.

Apple Reference Image

Finally, there is a way to prove the authenticity of a photo should that be required. This is obviously a specialist tool most relevant to roles like photojournalism and law enforcement.

Wrap-up

Sure, some people are going to have eyes only for the iPhone Duo, and that’s perfectly understandable. But if your iPhone is an important part of your camera lineup, then the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are the champions here.

All images: Apple