Apple is hard at work on the iPhone 18 Pro line. Not only is the company predicted to use a more aggressive pricing strategy for it, but it'll also be the first phone released under John Ternus as CEO, making it a big deal.
But what will make the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max stand out from the iPhone 17 Pro series? One recent leak suggests that Apple is finally going to shrink the often-criticized Dynamic Island.
To say this is a long-requested change would be an understatement, with iPhone fans and detractors alike calling for Apple to adjust the useful but excessively large part of its screen.
What's up with the iPhone 18 Pro Max Dynamic Island?
It's been four years since Apple introduced Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro. Since then, the feature hasn't evolved much from a hardware perspective, though Apple and third-party developers have found some interesting ways to make use of the cutout (I personally use it during golf tournaments to see who's in the lead when I can't watch).
A leaked image shared by Majin Bu, who has a decent enough track record, shows what they claim is an iPhone 18 Pro Max with a significantly smaller Dynamic Island. It's probably a mockup of the phone and not an actual device, but either way, Bu claims the image was published by mistake.
Another leak from YouTuber Vadim Yuryev showed that the iPhone 17 Pro's Dynamic Island is 20.06mm compared to 14.98mm on the iPhone 18 Pro dummy unit they saw. If accurate, that's nearly 25% smaller. Ice Universe, another notable Apple leaker, claims the Dynamic Island will drop to 13.5mm, an even larger 35% reduction.
Sure, we're talking about a few millimeters if these leaks are accurate, but when you're talking about something stealing your screen real estate, every bit of extra room is nice to have.
iPhone 18 Pro: Other biggest rumors
As usual, we expect Apple to release the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, with both debuting in September. The long-rumored iPhone Fold (or iPhone Ultra, as it may be called) is expected to debut at the same time. The base iPhone 18 is expected to come out later in 2027.
We've heard reliable leaks suggesting the iPhone 18 Pro will feature a variable-aperture lens, a big upgrade for smartphone photographers. We could also see improvements to Camera Control features.
On the design side, we've heard that Apple will offer its Pro phones in some interesting colors like burgundy, purple and brown. And the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max should be quite powerful with the rumored A20 Pro chip, which could be Apple's first 2nm chipset.
