A leaker with a reasonable reputation has dropped the news that variable aperture is only coming to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, not both Pro models as previously expected.
Variable aperture is a feature that could narrow the gap between iPhone and DSLR photography still further, and it’s been rumored to be coming since at least 2024. More recent reports have said the camera component is now in production, but a new leak says it will be confined to the top of the range Pro model.
According to Ice Universe writing on Chinese social media site Weibo, the variable aperture feature will be exclusive to the iPhone 18 Pro Max. There are no further details, but the leaker implies that it’s because the component needs the larger size model.
“Even Apple isn’t immune to the trade-off,” writes the leaker (in machine translation), “where experiencing top-tier imaging capabilities means having to put up with the weight of a ‘brick.'”
The majority of smartphones, and all iPhones to date, have had a fixed aperture camera system. A variable one increases and decreases the hole through which light gets to the sensor, but it requires more internal volume as compared to a camera without to do so.
It’s the extra room needed by the apparatus that has proven to be a problem. It has previously been speculated that Apple’s moving to a camera plateau instead of a bump could provide enough space.
Given how strong the repeated rumors of this feature coming were, it has increasingly seemed certain that Apple has managed to include a variable aperture component. Then given that the camera system is a key selling point of the Pro models, it was presumed that it would come to both the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Apple has done this before
There is a precedent for this with the iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2023. That model was the first to get Apple’s tetraprism system which meant it had a 5x optical zoom, compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s 3x optical zoom.
In that case, the tetraprism feature was added to the non-Max version a year later, with the iPhone 16 Pro.
It’s likely that this will happen again, but it’s believed that there will be more of a size difference between the Pro and Pro Max models for 2026. As well as the regular difference in screen size, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is said to be larger than its predecessor in order to house a bigger battery.
Conceivably, the increased size of the chassis for the larger battery could mean there being more room for the variable aperture mechanism.
Note that Ice Universe has a generally good track record for leaks. Their most recent ones have centered on the iPhone Ultra dimensions.