Variable Aperture main camera is something long-rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro series. But we’ve found out that the claim is partially true. The standard Apple iPhone 18 Pro won’t be getting this feature, apparently. Only the iPhone 18 Pro Max will. This was reported in a leak by Ice Universe, so there must be some weight to it.
These new Pro iPhones will end up launching in September (allegedly). They are going to have bigger batteries this year. And the best part is the chip upgrade to the 2nm Apple A20 Pro. These definitive changes also included the variable aperture at one point. But now you can’t be sure if it will be seen on both iPhones.
Ice Universe made a prediction that the only meaningful upgrade they have for the cameras in 2026 is reserved for the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The variable aperture hardware seems to be missing on the base iPhone 18 Pro. And there’s a painfully obvious reason as to why this was inevitable.
Variable aperture lenses take space. So it’s actually feasible on the 18 Pro Max’s large body. But not so much on the standard iPhone 18 Pro, which will be way smaller in size. This camera hardware has already increased the profile of their new iPhone Pro Max.
Ice said that the iPhone 18 Pro Max might have bumped the phone’s thickness to 9mm. And the whole frame weight is now 240g. It’s basically a metal slab at this point. People buy the smaller iPhone 18 Pro to evade the hassle of a heavy device. So putting a variable camera defeats the purpose there. Not a smart play.
And for those people who are used to seeing zero disparity between the Pro and Pro Max. Well, it’s hardly the first time Apple has made something exclusive to its pricer model. We need to face reality here. Recall the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which had the tetraprism telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, and the 15 Pro scraped by with just a 3X normal telephoto sensor. Let’s see if the claim made by Ice Universe pans out. Keep watching the news for more updates.
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