Apple unveiled its new premium smartphones, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, in Cupertino, California on Tuesday.

Both models feature a 48MP Fusion main camera and, for the first time on an iPhone, a variable aperture. Six laser-precision blades smoothly shift aperture values, and users can manually adjust 4 aperture settings in the camera app. Developers can also control the aperture range in apps through an API. A new image sensor improves low-light shots and detail in group photos, and cinematic recording now supports video up to 60 frames per second.

A new feature, Apple Reference Image, leaves a signature in sensor data at the time of shooting and separately creates an unchangeable original image. Users can compare it side by side with edited versions in the Photos app, and it is used to verify photo authenticity. It will not be supported at launch in China due to regulations, and the shooting feature will also be removed for the time being in the European Union.

The A20 Pro chip, made on a 2-nanometre process, has a 6-core CPU with integrated Neural Accelerators, and its 7-core GPU is up to 40 percent faster than the previous model. The dual 16-core Neural Engine doubles AI processing performance. A new vapor chamber triples surface area and improves sustained performance by up to 40 percent. Battery life increases to up to 36 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro and up to 45 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The operating system is iOS27, supporting Siri AI and Apple Intelligence.

Greg Joswiak (그렉 조스위악), Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said, "iPhone 18 Pro has made a tremendous leap across camera, performance, battery and intelligent features," and added, "the variable aperture makes it easy for anyone to take great photos while giving pros more refined control."

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at 1,990,000 won and the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at 2,190,000 won, and they come in 4 colors: black, silver, glacier and burgundy. Storage options range from 256GB to 2TB. Preorders begin at 9 p.m. on Sept. 12, and official sales start on Sept. 18. iOS27 will be released as a free update on Sept. 14.