Apple iPhone 18 Pro

Similarly, while none of the iPhone 18 Pro's latest features are things you should run out the door to spend money on, it's certainly a meaningful improvement for anyone on an iPhone 16 Pro or older. Of all the iPhones you can buy now, it has the best camera setup, and anyone with the slightest interest in manual photography will appreciate the new variable aperture controls.

The iPhone 18 Pro's camera system is fun without feeling overwhelming. You can pick and choose what degree of control you want, tweak Photographic Styles to your tastes, and add more depth after the fact, whether it's for videos or photos. Who knew people liked having more control? There aren't any sweeping improvements to the camera lenses or sensors, but this is a system that shutterbugs will love to experiment with, and that's what the Pro iPhone is all about.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max raise the bar for performance in a phone with the new A20 Pro chip. You also get a versatile new variable aperture camera that takes brighter images and gives you more creative control. The battery life from both devices is awesome, too, and you get the fastest charging yet from an iPhone. You have to pay $100 more for both Pro phones, and they’re heavier than their predecessors, but overall these are easily the best phones money can buy.

And this feels like a good place to stop. There is still more for me to test on both the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. But so far, I am quite impressed with what Apple has done and just how significant some of these updates are, especially if you’re photo-focused and battery-obsessed like I am.

As far as I'm concerned, Apple's iPhone 18 and 18 Pro Max are its "Ultra" phones.

Apple's updates sounded incremental on paper but in practice, the photographic experience feels markedly improved.