{"id":636403,"date":"2026-09-26T06:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/636403\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T06:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:50:08","slug":"apple-iphone-18-pro-review-new-smartphone-makes-advances-but-feels-like-a-place-holder-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/636403\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple iPhone 18 Pro review: New smartphone makes advances but feels like a place holder \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It is a strange situation for the iPhone 18 Pro. Usually the centrepiece of Apple\u2019s iPhone event each year, the flagship smartphone has found itself usurped by a newcomer \u2013 the upcoming iPhone Duo that is set to hit the market next month. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">So it has been relegated to second place, being neither the most interesting device that Apple will launch this cycle, nor the cheapest. That honour will go to the devices that Apple is expected to unveil in the first half of next year, as it has usually done for the past few years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It doesn\u2019t mean that the iPhone 18 Pro isn\u2019t worth considering. The Duo will probably be a niche device, thanks to the eye-watering price and the sacrifices that have to be made to get to that folding phone format. That leaves plenty of room for the iPhone 18 Pro to mop up the demand for Apple\u2019s premium smartphones, but on a tighter budget than the Duo allows. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">If you have already invested in an iPhone 17 or 16 Pro in the past couple of years, an upgrade to the 18 Pro probably isn\u2019t \u2013 or shouldn\u2019t be \u2013 on the cards. The new iPhone doesn\u2019t bring enough of a leap in terms of performance or features that it would warrant an upgrade from either of those devices. The improvements are incremental or aimed at a niche audience. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">So what exactly is Apple offering? <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/technology\/consumer-tech\/2026\/09\/10\/duo-is-the-most-pricey-iphone-to-date-reactions-to-apples-foldable-phone\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Duo is the most pricey iPhone to date\u2019: reactions to Apple\u2019s foldable phoneOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">First the nerdy stuff. The new iPhone has, as expected, the new A20 chip. That comes with a seven core GPU and is built in the 2 nanometre process. It\u2019s also has a dual neural engine. In practical terms, what does that mean? It means the new iPhone will work faster and more efficiently than its predecessor, although not noticeably enough that it is worth ditching the iPhone 17 Pro. Apple has once again improved how the phone deals with heat, and at the same time improved the battery life by a few hours. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Camera improvements usually get attention. If you are a fan of pro controls on your smartphone\u2019s camera, the iPhone 18 Pro won\u2019t disappoint. The new device gives you a physically adjustable aperture. That means better depth of field and improved low light, and if you like to exert a bit of control over your images, you can ditch the automatic option and twiddle about with the settings. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The dynamic island has also been redesigned, adding a third live activity but making the area it takes up a bit smaller. You get screen space back, while still getting the use out of the feature. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">For EU users, one of the big upgrades that comes with iOS 27 \u2013 the smarter Siri \u2013 will not be available for the time being. That is down to ongoing discussions with the EU over access for third-party digital assistants. Until those discussions play out, we are stuck with a slightly smarter but still quite irritating version of Apple\u2019s digital assistant. That is across the board for iOS 27, however, and not just the iPhone 18 Pro. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">At the heart of it, the iPhone 18 Pro is an excellent smartphone but the changes are incremental. The cases from the iPhone 17 Pro will even fit the updated phone. <\/p>\n<p>Good<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The iPhone 18 Pro is another solid smartphone, with a few extra features and upgrades that justify slapping a new number on it. The adjustable aperture will keep photography fans happy, while the improved battery life will squeeze more out of the day. <\/p>\n<p>Bad<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">If you were looking for a big leap, that has been saved for the Duo. This is more of the same from Apple, which isn\u2019t necessarily negative, but lacks a bit of the magic and unexpectedness that the iPhone used to have. <\/p>\n<p>Everything else<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Upgraded chips are great, but at the time of writing, the lack of the promised smarter Siri in the EU means you might not notice the improved performance as much. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It comes with a couple of new colours, including a nice glacier blue and a burgundy. <\/p>\n<p>Verdict<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A good upgrade from the iPhone 15 Pro or earlier. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is a strange situation for the iPhone 18 Pro. Usually the centrepiece of Apple\u2019s iPhone event each&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,13254,80],"class_list":["post-636403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tech-tools","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}