iPhone 18 Pro Gets Adjustable Aperture, Manual Controls

The iPhone 18 Pro's headline camera addition is a six-blade adjustable aperture on the main 24mm equivalent lens, with stops at F1.48, F1.8, F2.8 and F4. That maximum F1.48 is a genuine step up from the fixed F1.78 on the 16 and 17 Pro. Apple is also finally baking manual controls into the native camera app, covering white balance, shutter speed and aperture, with a live histogram. Third-party apps including Halide will get API access to the variable aperture. The sensor itself is unchanged in size from the last two generations, so the claimed 50% light improvement is down to the faster maximum aperture, not a bigger chip. Starts $100 more than the 17 Pro at launch.