// 9TO5MAC — MOBILE & WEB
Will the iPhone 18 Pro’s biggest upgrade really deliver?
In general, we’re not expecting the iPhone 18 Pro to be a significant upgrade over its predecessor. Indeed, if you currently have an older iPhone there are arguments for buying the iPhone 17 Pro ahead of next week’s launch.
Of the few upgrades we are expecting, the biggest one on paper is going to be a variable aperture lens for the primary camera. But will this make a significant difference in reality … ?
One of the biggest differences in the results you can achieve with a DSLR or mirrorless camera over an iPhone photo is control over the depth of field (DOF).
With a conventional camera, a wide aperture will create a shallow DOF that is most commonly used to separate the subject of the photo from the background. Portrait shots are a classic example (and this is why Apple’s simulated shallow depth of field feature is known as Portrait mode).
Conversely, when shooting something like a landscape or cityscape, you would typically use a narrow aperture to ensure everything is in focus from foreground to background.
A variable aperture is therefore a standard feature of any conventional camera lens. iPhones, in contrast, have fixed aperture lenses. (There are some ways to achieve shallow DOF with an iPhone, and I’ll cover these in a separate piece after the launch of the new phone, but these are exceptions rather than the rule.)
We’re expecting this is to be the year that the iPhone gets a variable aperture lens for the first time. It’s as yet unclear whether this feature will apply to both iPhone 18 Pro models or only to the Pro Max. Either way, it’s expected to be limited to the main camera, not the wide-angle or telephoto.
On paper, this is big news. In principle, a variable aperture lens allows us to control the depth of field. In practice, we shouldn’t get overly excited about being able to achieve the effect shown in the main photo above – and that’s because of what won’t be changing.
The main limiting factor of iPhones is not the lens aperture – which is already rather wide – but rather the size of the sensor. Again, all else being equal, the larger the sensor, the shallower DOF you’ll be able to achieve. Compared to DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, iPhones have absolutely tiny sensors, and that isn’t going to change this year.
Given the same size sensor and a very slightly wider aperture, physics would suggest that we shouldn’t expect very much.