I recently purchased an iPhone 18 Pro and have been enjoying all the things I can do with it. I typically upgrade my iPhone every two years, so I was ready to jump ship from my 16 Pro. But this year, the choice was even easier because of the new and improved features on the 18 Pro model.
Also: iOS 27.0.1 released: Apple fixes annoying iPhone 18 Pro issues
Here are my five favorite features and how you can use them if you also own an 18 Pro (or Pro Max).
1. Customize Siri’s pace and expressivity
On any iPhone with Siri, you can personalize the chatbot with a specific voice and variation, letting you choose the gender, tone, and accent. But on an iPhone 18 Pro, you can also adjust the pace and expressivity to flesh out Siri’s voice with more personality. Here’s how this works.
On your phone, go to Settings, select Siri, and tap Voice. Tap the drop-down menu with the current accent to pick American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish, or South African. You then choose a specific voice by tapping one of the colored circles. Depending on the accent you pick, you can then tweak the pace and expressivity. On my phone, I found these additional options available for the American and British accents.
Move the slider for Pace to determine whether you like a faster or slower speaking rate. Next, move the one for Expressivity to equip the voice with more or less expression. I chose the orange circle for the familiar Siri voice, but I amped up the expressivity to give it a bit more pep.
2. Zoom way in with the telephoto camera
I shoot a lot of photos from far away, so I need a good telephoto camera to capture a person, place, or thing from a distance. I’ve been shooting with the telephoto lens on the 18 Pro and see a big difference compared with my past iPhone Pro models.
The camera on the 18 Pro can achieve an 8x zoom, equal to 200mm on a digital SLR, while the one on my old 16 Pro is 5x, equivalent to 120mm on a DSLR. Even at a longer zoom, the 18 Pro provides an “optical quality” setting that aims to maintain the details of your photo. Collectively, this means that the 18 Pro is able to capture far finer and sharper pixels on a scene than my iPhone 16 Pro, even when zooming in all the way.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET3. Adjust the aperture and shutter speed
Apple outfitted the camera on the 18 Pro with four advanced controls. The goal is to give you more power over your photos, just like on an SLR. The controls include a variable aperture, a shutter speed adjustment, white balance, and an exposure histogram. I’ve been using all four, but I especially like the aperture and shutter speed controls.
Also: Your iPhone’s Action button can trigger a whole folder of shortcuts in iOS 27
The variable aperture control on the main camera lets you adjust the iris, or f-stop, of the camera. The wider the iris, the more light, but the less depth of field. The smaller the iris, the less light, but the greater the depth of field. You’re able to switch the aperture among f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4.0. The smaller the number, the wider the iris.
If I’m photographing a dark scene and don’t need the background in focus, I can open up the aperture by choosing f/1.48. If I’m shooting a bright scene and want both the foreground and background in focus, I can close the aperture to f/4.0.
To use the aperture control in the Camera app, line up your shot and then tap the six-dot icon at the bottom to trigger the Controls menu. Tap the icon for Lens Aperture. By default, the control is set to auto. Try each of the four manual f-stops to see what effect each has on the scene you want to capture.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNETThe shutter speed control lets you set how long the shutter stays open. The longer the shutter is open, the more light it receives. The shorter it stays open, the less light. A shorter shutter speed is ideal for shooting fast-moving objects. A longer shutter speed is better suited for static scenes or for fast scenes where you purposely want to capture some blur.
To try this, open the Controls menu and tap the control for Shutter Speed. The default speed will vary based on the scene. Swipe your finger on the slider to the right to increase the speed and to the left to decrease it.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET4. View up to three live activities at the Dynamic Island
I like the ability to view and switch between live activities at the Dynamic Island. I’ll often use this when playing music, getting walking directions, talking with someone on the phone, or setting a timer. In the past, you could view and switch between two activities; now with the latest Pro models, you can juggle as many as three activities.
To fire this up, open a few different apps. Play a song in the Music app. Ask for walking directions. Set a timer. Each of the three live activities appears at the top of the display with one in the center. Tap any of the three to view it full screen. As long as all three activities are running, you can see and switch among them at the Dynamic Island.
5. Enjoy better battery life
The final feature on my top five list is one I can really appreciate, namely better battery life. For the new phone, Apple upped the size of the battery and increased the energy efficiency on the CPU and modem. The net result is a longer time between recharges.
Also: iOS 27 draining your iPhone battery? 7 ways to extend battery life
With the 18 Pro, you’re promised 36 hours of offline video playback on a single charge, up from 33 hours on the 17 Pro and 27 hours on the 16 Pro. Plus, the 18 Pro recharges faster, reaching up to 50% of charge capacity when using at least a 60-watt adapter.
I’ve seen the difference. My iPhone doesn’t run nearly as low on juice as I work with it throughout a typical day. In the past, I would always recharge my phone at night. But I’ve gone several nights without plugging it in, and the charge shows a minimal drop in the morning from the previous evening.
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
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