The iPhone 18 Pro Max teardown has arrived, settling several rumours that circulated throughout the year while exposing a fragile weak point during disassembly. Four handsets were opened for the full teardown, and three of them sustained damage at the same step.
The results confirmed the leaked battery sizes precisely. The eSIM-only US iPhone 18 Pro carries a 4,288 mAh cell, while the Pro Max houses a 5,567 mAh unit, matching earlier certification figures down to the last mAh.
Battery tray and display frame findings
Apple has retained last year’s screwed-in metal battery tray, meaning there is no stubborn adhesive to fight through when removing the cell. A screwed-in battery is generally welcomed by repairers, as a glued-in unit turns a simple swap into a lengthy task.
The catch is reaching it. The only route in is through the glued-down screen, and the plastic frame around the display cracked or pulled away on three of the four phones opened. One screen did come off cleanly, and four handsets are too few to establish a genuine failure rate.
The main camera’s variable aperture runs on six blades, each roughly as thin as a human hair, and is described as close to unrepairable. Both phones received a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10, with the frame damage not yet counted against them.
Face ID, C2 modem and variable aperture
Not every rumour held up. Reports had suggested Apple would move Face ID under the screen, but only the infrared camera made the move, while the dot projector remains in the Dynamic Island beside the selfie camera.
The C2 modem story carried a caveat too. Apple’s own modem features in every version except the US iPhone 18 Pro Max, which still uses a Qualcomm chip, apparently owing to an existing agreement with Qualcomm that runs through 2026.
The variable aperture did arrive as promised, though its impact on photos may be modest, and the reason is size. An f-stop is a ratio between the lens’s focal length and the width of its opening, not a fixed measurement, so the same number can mean very different openings on different cameras.
At f/1.48, the iPhone’s opening measures just 4.6 mm across, while a regular camera with a 50 mm lens opens to 33.8 mm at that setting. The widest setting lets in about 7.3 times more light than f/4.0, yet the background stays fairly sharp, which helps more in a dim room than for a heavily blurred backdrop. Samsung previously used a dual aperture on its Galaxy S9 and S10, where some owners reported the aperture becoming stuck.
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Image: phonearena.com
