These rumored iPhone 18 Pro features might tempt you to upgrade later this year

Later this year, Apple will once again unveil a full set of flagship iPhones. It may feel like iPhone 17 Pro is still pretty recent, but actually – it’s already been five months. Out of everything in the rumor mill, iPhone Fold certainly sounds the most interesting – but there’s still a few interesting upgrades coming to the iPhone 18 Pro.

More colors

One of the awesome benefits of switching from aluminum to titanium is the fact that it’s much easier to produce more appealing colors. We saw that last year with Cosmic Orange, and Apple could choose to do even more.

Rumors are always rumors, especially when they come nearly a year in advance. One Weibo leaker claims that Apple is considering three additional color options on iPhone 18 Pro: brown, purple, and burgundy.

Funnily enough, they say that there still won’t be a black color option on iPhone 18 Pro, despite that being the one color that most people would like to see. Nonetheless, iPhone 18 Pro sounds like it’ll be a lot more colorful!

Smaller Dynamic Island

Ever since its introduction in 2022, Dynamic Island on the iPhone has remained the same size, even with bezels getting significantly slimmer.

That’s seemingly set to change this year, with Dynamic Island getting slightly smaller. This is largely thanks to some Face ID components being able to move underneath the display. Earlier rumors threw around the idea of a hole punch cutout, but that seemingly won’t be the case.

Better cameras

There are two key camera rumors with iPhone 18 Pro.

For starters, both models are potentially going to gain an even better telephoto lens. Currently, iPhone 17 Pro offers an f/2.8 telephoto lens, and that’s been the norm for quite some time. With iPhone 18 Pro, we’re expected to get a wider aperture per one leaker – though they don’t go into specifics.

Additionally, Apple is considering a variable aperture for the main sensor, at least on iPhone 18 Pro Max. This will give users additional depth control and flexibility during daytime shooting.

Apple modem

While Apple started debuting its in-house modems last year across iPhone 16e and iPhone Air, all other iPhone models are yet to join in on the fun. That’s primarily because Apple’s first generation modems didn’t support mmWave 5G.

That should be changing with iPhone 18 though. This year, all iPhone models should utilize the C2 chip. One big advantage to that transition is the fact that Apple’s modems are much more efficient, resulting in much longer battery life without significantly larger batteries.

Additionally, some rumors indicate that Apple’s C2 modem might support 5G connectivity via satellite, allowing you to have full access to data while away from a cellular network. Right now, satellite connectivity is mostly useful for sending texts.

A20 Pro chip

As is the case with nearly every new iPhone, Apple will be introducing new cutting-edge silicon. Expect the new A20 Pro chip to use the new 2nm process for the very first time, resulting in noteworthy performance and efficiency gains.

Similarly, Apple might introduce an improved networking chip with N2, after initially debuting the N1 in the iPhone 17 lineup last year. We don’t have additional details on N2 at this time.

Bigger battery

Lastly, iPhone 18 Pro is going to include an even larger battery than iPhone 17 Pro. This sounds like a given, but there have actually been a few times where Apple has decreased battery capacity between iPhone generations.

Early leaks indicate that iPhone 18 Pro Max will come with around a 5200mAh battery, compared to 5088mAh on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. That isn’t a whole lot, but as my colleague Ryan writes: battery capacity isn’t everything.

With a slightly larger battery, efficiency gains from Apple modems, and the latest generation Apple Silicon, the battery gains could feel larger than the numbers would suggest.

Wrap up

Overall, if you’re an Apple fan who skipped iPhone 17 Pro – iPhone 18 Pro might offer the level of polish that makes you feel like upgrading.

To put the cherry on top, rumors currently indicate that there’ll be no price increase. iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max should remain at $1099 and $1199 respectively.

My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:

Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram