Apple announced the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which are essentially identical phones in different sizes. The new party piece for both is the variable aperture, which, while new among Apple phones, is not new for smartphones as a whole. At any rate, the folks at iFixit gave both variants the usual teardown treatment, giving everyone a better look at the new feature in action, as well as the rest of the phones’ innards.
The aperture blades used in the mechanism are truly thinner than a human hair as Apple claims, but just barely. Each blade comes with tiny slots that allow them all to move in unison as part of the system, which itself is driven by magnetism. The blades themselves are noted to be made of a “polymer composite”, which allows them not to be affected by the magnetism that drives the entire system.
As you’d expect, many moving parts mean many points of failure. And per the teardown, the mechanism is intricate enough that repairs will be difficult, if not impossible. Chances are if that happens, you’ll need to replace the whole camera assembly on the iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max. Apple hasn’t shared what that will cost yet, but for what it’s worth, the iPhone 17 Pro equivalent, without the complicated variable aperture, costs US$249 (~RM1,015).
Most of the rest of the iPhone 18 Pro components, though, are accessed by removing the screen, according to iFixit. This is similar to the previous Pro models, which is not exactly surprising considering the similarity in design. The similarity extends to the battery as well, which sits on a metal tray held down by screws. This makes battery replacements easier, assuming the screen gets removed cleanly without issues in the first place. Also as you’d expect, eSIM models get slightly bigger batteries.
Familiar battery tray aside though, iFixit says that the layout of the logic board is new, and is part of the new thermal design. As a result, the NAND storage now sits inside the logic board switch, making storage repair harder than before. All in all, iFixit gave the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max a provisional score of 7/10, with the outfit saying it is “keeping the teardown table hot”.
(Source: iFixit)
