iFixit’s teardown of Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max shows how the models’ new variable-aperture lens works and raises concerns about repairs.
The lens uses an adjustable mechanical iris that opens and closes magnetically to control how much light reaches the sensor. It contains 6 overlapping, leaf-like blades, each about as thin as a human hair. iFixit photographed the scale comparison with an Evident DSX2000 microscope.
Fitting the mechanism into the same main-camera footprint as the iPhone 17 Pro series impressed iFixit, which called the lens “a feat of precision engineering.” However, The Verge’s iPhone 18 Pro review found that it delivered a “generally marginal” improvement in overall photography, meaning some users may not notice a difference.
According to iFixit, the iris itself is close to impossible to repair because fixing it would require specialist tools, techniques, and knowledge. If it fails, users will likely need to replace the entire camera assembly, although the assembly is easy to access.
Apple has not released components for its latest iPhone models. The iPhone 17 Pro camera assembly costs $249, so iFixit expects the variable-aperture lens could make repairs to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max more expensive.
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