Apple iPhone 18 Pro Series Design Elements Reiterated

Apple’s iPhone 18 lineup is already beginning to attract its fair share of rumors and associated supply chain leaks, despite the fact that the next iPhone variants are not expected to launch until the tail-end of the third quarter of 2026.

Now, a fairly respectable tipster has laid out key design elements of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, illustrating a radical shift in Apple’s prevailing design philosophy.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max rumored to undergo a radical redesign

According to the noteworthy tipster, Digital Chat Station, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are slated to undergo a radical redesign, perhaps in anticipation of the Cupertino giant’s 20th anniversary iPhone that is due in 2027 and expected to resemble a seamless slab of glass.

Digital Chat Station has asserted in a Weibo post that Apple is currently testing a “special HIAA hole-punching solution,” indicating that the iPhone 18 Pro series might sport a punch-hole cutout for the front camera. The post does not clarify if Apple will retain its now-iconic Dynamic Island with the punch-hole cutout.

The Information previously reported that Apple might place the TrueDepth camera system under the display, eliminating the need for a pill-shaped cutout. This possible design facet was disputed by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, however.

Additionally, Apple is also testing a variable-aperture solution for the main camera on the iPhone 18 Pro series. Do note that Digital Chat Station disclosed towards the end of October that the iPhone 18 Pro duo will sport a 48-megapixel telephoto lens.

Also, Apple is expected to retain its large, horizontal DECO (camera module structure) for the Pro duo, replete with a transparent/translucent back cover. If Apple does end up going down this road, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max would resemble the Nothing Phone, which has carved out a niche for itself by deliberately exposing parts of its internal components via a transparent back cover.

Finally, Digital Chat Station believes that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will feature a steel-shell battery for the first time, constituting a marked evolution in Apple’s power management module.

Previous important tidbits about the iPhone 18 series

As per an aggregation of the various tidbits and rumors surrounding the iPhone 18 lineup, we now know the following about Apple’s upcoming design and tech choices for the next iPhones:

1. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are likely to feature a 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display, respectively, matching the display sizes found on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
2. The iPhone 18 Pro duo might also sport a stainless steel vapor chamber.
3. Apple is likely to eliminate the capacitive induction layer within the camera control button of next year’s iPhone 18 lineup, retaining only a pressure-sensing layer.
4. The duo is also expected to sport a three-layer, stacked image sensor.
5. Apple is testing at least one new color option for the iPhone 18 Pro, with either brown, purple, or burgundy likely to end up as a final color option on Apple’s next iPhone lineup.
6. The iPhone 18 Pro duo are expected to sport the A20 Pro SoC, which will leverage TSMC’s 2nm process node and CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate) packaging, facilitating a tighter integration between the processor, unified memory, and the neural engine.
7. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will also use Apple’s in-house C2 modem.

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