Summary

An iFixit teardown shows that the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max use six magnetically actuated blades for their variable-aperture main cameras. The phones also combine a screwed-in battery tray and larger vapor chamber with a screen-first repair path that damaged three of four display frames opened by iFixit.

iFixit’s teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max has exposed the engineering behind Apple’s first variable-aperture iPhone camera, along with a mixed repair picture. The main camera uses six overlapping polymer-composite blades that move magnetically to alter the lens opening, while the phone retains a screwed-in battery tray and gains a much larger cooling system.

The design also creates new repair tradeoffs. iFixit found that the main camera module is relatively easy to replace, but reaching the battery still requires removing the glued display. In three of the four phones it opened, the display’s surrounding plastic frame cracked or separated during removal.

Contents

Six blades bring a variable aperture to the iPhone

The iPhone 18 Pro’s main camera has four aperture settings in Apple’s camera app: ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8 and ƒ/4.0. The aperture is the opening that controls how much light reaches the image sensor. At ƒ/1.48, iFixit calculates that the camera receives about 7.3 times more light than at ƒ/4.0.

Inside the module, six tiny blades overlap to form an opening that remains almost circular as it changes size. Each blade is about as thin as a human hair and contains slots and holes that engage with pins in the drive mechanism. A nearby magnet can trigger the aperture after the supporting hardware has been removed, demonstrating how the mechanism is actuated.

The widest opening is about 4.6 mm on the iPhone’s 6.8 mm focal-length main lens. That is large for an iPhone camera, but much smaller than the opening of a dedicated camera using the same ƒ-number. In iFixit’s comparison images, the aperture produced visible changes in background blur between ƒ/4.0 and ƒ/1.48, while objects in the background remained fairly recognisable even at the widest setting.

The mechanism therefore offers control over light and some depth-of-field change, but it also introduces six moving parts with very tight clearances. iFixit says a bent blade, dust particle or other obstruction could prevent the mechanism from moving correctly. Disassembling and reassembling the aperture requires specialised tools and careful handling, making replacement of the complete camera assembly the practical repair route in most cases.

Battery replacement still begins with the screen

The back glass opens relatively easily, but it exposes only the wireless charging coil rather than the battery. The battery is accessed from the front, so a battery replacement begins with removing the glued display.

Once the display is out, the battery design is considerably more repair-friendly. A metal tray is secured with 13 screws, allowing the tray and battery to be removed together without fighting the usual stretch adhesive. The battery cell itself is attached to the tray with electrically releasable adhesive; iFixit removed it using approximately 90 seconds at 12 volts with its FixHub and VoltClip equipment.

The eSIM version of the iPhone 18 Pro battery is labelled 16.76 Wh, or 4288 mAh. The Pro Max battery is labelled 21.751 Wh, or 5567 mAh. Physical-SIM models have smaller batteries, according to the teardown.

The main obstacle is the display frame. The panels in all four openings continued to work, but the white plastic frame cracked or pulled away in three cases. Because the frame is part of the display assembly, fresh adhesive cannot restore broken plastic or guarantee that the replacement display will sit flush and seal properly.

A larger vapor chamber changes the internal layout

The A20 Pro chip sits on the outside of the logic-board sandwich, with memory positioned beside it rather than stacked above it. This creates a more direct thermal path to a new vapor chamber. iFixit says Apple specifies the chamber’s surface area as three times larger than before.

A vapor chamber spreads heat through a sealed enclosure. Working fluid evaporates near the hot processor, moves as vapour to cooler regions, condenses, and returns through a wick by capillary action. A thermal interface material between the A20 Pro and the chamber helps transfer heat into that system.

The new arrangement improves access to cooling hardware, but the board layout makes some storage repairs more involved. NAND storage is now inside the logic-board sandwich, so reaching it requires separating board layers and adds heat, labour and the risk of damage. That is also relevant to data recovery work, since iPhone encryption means the storage cannot simply be transplanted into another device.

The teardown also identifies an under-display infrared camera near the upper-left of the display. Gaps in the OLED pixel pattern allow infrared light through, while the selfie camera and infrared dot projector remain in the central opening.

A provisional 7/10 repairability score

iFixit gives both models a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10. The removable camera modules and screwed-in battery tray improve serviceability, while the front-entry design makes nearly every major repair pass through the display. The USB-C port is a separate component, but its long flex cable is obstructed by screws, adhesive and other parts, making removal difficult.

The display-frame result is still preliminary. Four openings are too few to establish a failure rate, and iFixit identifies heating, adhesive strength, technique or variation in the plastic as possible factors. Parts-availability and software-pairing checks were still ongoing at the time of the teardown, while Apple had not yet released iPhone 18 camera parts. For now, the new camera is an impressive miniature mechanism, but one whose repair is likely to mean replacing the entire module rather than servicing its individual blades.

Sources