The iPhone 18 Pro will not be worth the money and you’re better off waiting another year

This year, Apple will enact its new iPhone release schedule when it launches the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max alongside the foldable iPhone. Notably, the base model of the iPhone 18 and a successor to the iPhone Air will be missing. Instead, those two phones will come out early next year alongside the Galaxy S27 phones from Samsung and the iPhone 18e.

At first, the iPhone 18 Pro models were said to feature a promising new development. This was the main reason that I thought that the iPhone 18 Pro would be a passable, if not necessarily spectacular upgrade.

That, apparently, is not happening anymore, and what’s there is very…insignificant. There are three reasons why I think that the iPhone 18 is going to be a very unimportant upgrade. One you should really just skip while Apple works on something better behind the scenes.

No smaller Dynamic Island

The biggest expected upgrade this year was going to be a smaller Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro models. This is because Apple had been working on moving the Face ID component under the display, leaving only the selfie camera exposed.

Though not a game-changing upgrade by itself, it would have signaled that everything is progressing according to schedule for Apple’s special iPhone 20 Pro. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, and the company is reportedly working on a Pro model that will have a perfect edge-to-edge display with no cutouts at all. Even the selfie camera was expected to be moved below the screen.

If the iPhone 18 Pro isn’t getting an under-display Face ID, then the iPhone 20 Pro seems to be in jeopardy as well. That’s not even mentioning the other huge issue that arises because of this: stagnation.

Don’t expect the iPhone 18 Pro to look different

The smaller Dynamic Island would have also given at least some small reason to upgrade for a handful of iPhone 17 owners. It would have been something new and would have kept Apple’s flagships feeling fresh until the iPhone 20 Pro. However, according to new reports, the iPhone 18 Pro will look the same as the iPhone 17 Pro.

There is still a chance that the rear glass panel’s highly contrasting tone might be improved, as reported earlier, but nothing major is changing here. The iPhone 18 Pro models will allegedly look the exact same with the same large camera island and have the same overall feel as their predecessors.



If there’s one difference here, it’s that the iPhone 18 Pro is thicker, though not by much, than the iPhone 17 Pro. While some might not like that, I welcome that with open arms because that hopefully means a larger battery. As I’ve suspected before, Apple will likely try to position the iPhone Air as the go-to iPhone model for the average consumer.

No meaningful hardware upgrades

Lastly, if you were at least expecting some decent hardware upgrades to make up for the other disappointments, you’re out of luck. Just like its looks on the outside, the iPhone 18 Pro won’t be much different on the inside.

Admittedly, the iPhone 18 Pro will feature some firsts. For example, the chip that Apple will use is expected to be the first 2 nm processor to have ever been found in an iPhone. As mentioned above, the battery capacity will likely be ever so slightly higher as well. Lastly, Apple will probably use a newer version of its in-house cellular modem.

However, none of these upgrades will be noticeable for an average customer coming from an iPhone 17 Pro or even an iPhone 16 Pro. Sure, performance scores will be a little better and the phone might last half an hour more than its predecessor, but that’s about it.

I don’t expect anything groundbreaking with the iPhone 18 Pro. It’s just going to be a phone that fills the gap and keeps the annual release routine alive while Apple works on a model that’s actually worth your money.

So do yourself a favor and either skip the iPhone 18 or throw in some extra cash and get the foldable iPhone instead.

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