I see no reason for Apple to deliberately butcher the iPhone 18 Pro, but here we go again

While the Galaxy S26 and the iPhone 17 go toe-to-toe in the vanilla flagship battle (the light heavyweight class, if you like), the true heavyweight championship is a bit different.

That's because Apple releases two contenders—the iPhone Pro duo—against Samsung's single Galaxy S Ultra.

That could change and I'm not particularly fond of what Apple is (rumored to be) doing.

The smaller Pro isn't cancelled, relax!

The iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone 17 Pro are identical besides their obvious display and battery size differences. Hence, they both go toe-to-toe with the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

One doesn't have to compromise if they go with the smaller iPhone 17 Pro, since they still get the same chipset, features and… camera setup.

With the iPhone 18 Pro, things could be different.

Camera differences

As we reported the other day, the iPhone 18 Pro Max model could enjoy a variable aperture that, allegedly, won't be found on the iPhone 18 Pro variant.

There's a reason for that and it's difficult to circumvent it since we're dealing with physics: a variable aperture needs a bit more space. And, obviously, extra space is what the iPhone 18 Pro lacks and what the iPhone 18 Pro Max has in excess.

All things iPhone 18:

• iPhone 18 Pro Max reportedly getting exclusive camera upgrade that the iPhone 18 Pro won’t
• This rumor convinced me that Apple should cancel the iPhone 18 Pro Max right away
• The standard iPhone 18 isn’t coming this year after all

An unnecessary change

Although I'm firmly on team Android and I don't see how Apple would make me switch (the gauntlet is thrown; surprise me with the iPhone 20 Pro, Cupertino!) I was fond of the company's Pro duo strategy.

While I have no problems whatsoever with using ~7-inch phones, the same doesn't apply to everybody else. Some people have smaller hands and some people just detest large phones—they like to keep it as compact as possible.

That's why the decision to clone the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max was a welcomed one. One didn't feel he or she was sacrificing anything when going with the smaller model.

Variable apertures are overpraised

In mobile photography, I don't think variable apertures are that important.

This feature sounds impressive on a spec sheet, but it's something most people will actually notice in everyday photography. The main argument for it is controlling how much light enters the camera and changing the depth of field. But here's the thing: smartphone cameras already have a naturally large depth of field because their sensors and lenses are so small.

That means most of the scene is already in focus when you take a normal photo. You don't need to stop down the lens like you would with a traditional camera to keep more of the background sharp. And when you want the opposite (a blurry background) computational photography can already simulate that effect remarkably well.

A variable aperture can also help in very bright conditions by reducing the amount of light hitting the sensor. But again, phones already have other ways of dealing with excess light, including faster shutter speeds and electronic exposure controls.

Made you look

So yes, a variable aperture is a neat tool, and I certainly wouldn't complain about having one. But I wouldn't want Apple to use it as an excuse to make the smaller Pro look worse than the Pro Max.

Because this isn't only about what the camera can actually do. It's about how Apple would market the difference. Put one exclusive camera feature on the Pro Max, slap a few glossy words around it and suddenly the bigger phone becomes "the ultimate iPhone", while the smaller Pro starts looking like the compromised version.

And I can easily imagine how this plays out in an Apple Store. You walk in wanting the iPhone 18 Pro because you prefer a smaller phone. Then the salesperson tells you that the Pro Max has an exclusive variable-aperture camera. You may never actually need that feature, but suddenly you're thinking, Wait, am I buying the inferior iPhone?

The smaller Pro could remain an excellent camera phone while simultaneously being positioned as the lesser Pro. Those are two very different things.

I don't want Apple turning the Pro Max into the "real Pro" and leaving the smaller model as the "Pro, but with an asterisk". The whole appeal of the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max strategy was that you could choose the size you wanted without feeling like you had made a technical compromise. I'd hate to see Apple quietly take that away.

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