iFixit's teardown reveals Apple's iPhone 18 Pro features a magnetically-controlled variable aperture lens with six hair-thin blades that improve light control, though the mechanism is effectively unrepairable and would require replacing the entire camera assembly if damaged. While praised as precision engineering, the feature delivers only marginal photographic improvements for most users.
iFixit tears down the iPhone 18 Pro to examine its new variable aperture camera mechanism, a precision-engineered system with six hair-thin polymer blades controlled by magnetism. While the engineering is impressive, the upgrade offers minimal photo quality improvements for most users, and the complex mechanism introduces repair risks similar to those seen in other smartphones with variable apertures.
iFixit published a teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, revealing battery capacity increases of 0.8% and 9.4% respectively, along with details on the new variable aperture system and larger vapor chamber. The teardown noted that NAND storage is now integrated into the dual-layer logic board, complicating repairs, and identified potential screen durability concerns.
iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro reveals a new variable aperture mechanism controlled by electromagnets and an under-display Face ID infrared camera, but also identifies a concerning issue where plastic display frames were damaged on three of four test units. The company notes that component-level repairs would be impractical, particularly for the camera assembly and USB-C port, though it's unclear if the frame damage represents a broader repairability concern.