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Posted by meetpateltech 19 hours ago

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max(www.apple.com)
375 points | 418 commentspage 5
diogenescynic 13 hours ago|
I just want a MacBook with a cellular modem. Why is this not sold?
nomel 13 hours ago|
I would assume it's because most people just tether to their phone with a USB cable or wireless with two mouse clicks.
jshier 11 hours ago|||
It's also because, until Apple's C-series models, they would've had to use Qualcomm modems which had a percentage-based royalty, and Apple would likely need a new contract for usage in Macs, so may had to pay even more. Even with their own modems they still have to pay Qualcomm's patent royalties, so it's likely just don't want to do that on devices which can cost over $10k today.
mrheosuper 9 hours ago|||
I don't want a seperate cable, and my iphone burn through battery like nothing when hotspoting.
theplumber 14 hours ago||
Ok so another “better” smartphone. To me it is very hard to get excited about the new smartphones. It really seems they have nothing new. I mean you have Apple Pay on any old iPhone and the software is more or less the same, the battery more or less the same…there is really nothing new. I am going to get a 12k or 16k camera to solve the “camera” issue and that would be it to avoid buying better iPhones every x years.
gib444 15 hours ago||
£1200 / £1300 and 256GB storage lol

(Pixel 11 512GB / 16GB RAM is also £1200 - not an endorsement)

edit: and Apple Care got a huge price increase (31%) on the new Pro: the 2 year £179 option is gone - now it's £129 for 1 yr.

sergiotapia 16 hours ago||
45 hours of video playback is insane?! Is this accurate, because if it is I will sell my phone and buy this. Normally my samsung discharges in about 12 hours or less when I'm out, not even watching 12 hours of video.

"On iPhone 18 Pro Max, five minutes of wired charging provides around seven hours of video playback"

Materially impactful feature holy moses! I can plug it in, brush my teeth and I'm set for the work day.

ChrisRR 42 minutes ago||
It's like electric car ranges. Their claim will be 45 hours under a very specific testbench. Real life results will be lower
dofm 16 hours ago|||
iOS video playback is pretty highly optimised and hardware-assisted, though, right?

Not sure you can really extrapolate non-video battery life from video battery life. I have an ageing iPad and I can get a couple of hours of video when the battery is at 30%, but it would be gone in 45 minutes if I was browsing.

phil21 12 hours ago||
Depends on which video codec. If it’s the most efficient one that has dedicated silicone embedded in the chip, it’s going to work great.

Web browsing is typically significantly harder on power. Plus these benchmarks usually mean in a perfectly dark room with the backlight at close to zero.

sergiotapia 11 hours ago||
I had no idea, I thought video was the most expensive thing to burn battery on since it's video, full screen motion, and loud sound. Interesting!
kccqzy 9 hours ago|||
Apple quotes 30 hours of mixed use or 45 hours of video playback. So video playback is almost 50% more efficient than general use.
mrheosuper 9 hours ago|||
It is gaming if you want to burn through your phone battery.
jmyeet 18 hours ago||
I don't know why we even have this event anymore. There's a new iPhone every September. It's incrementally better than the last iPhone. Phones keep getting more expensive while doing basically the same thing for some reason. Just buy whatever is out when you need a new phone.

I bought an iPhone 11 in 2019 I think? It last until 2 years ago when I limped along until the iPhone 16 Plus. I like the big screen area. The premium for Pro isn't worth it to me. I hope to get another 3 years out of it.

What I would like is an iPhone with Touch ID as an option and no, I don't mean the small one (SE?). I want a big screen. Put the Touch ID on the back of the phone like the samsung Galaxy did.

I literally hate Face ID with a passion and it's a massive accessibility issue for people with visual impairments.

No amount of slightly better CPU and camera is going to get me to upgrade every year anymore.

chrisbrandow 18 hours ago||
How is Face ID un-accessible for those with visual impairment? I hadn't heard that before.
jmyeet 18 hours ago||
If you have to hold your phone closer to your face because of poor eyesight, Face ID will constantly fail. So you have this dance of having to pull it away to get Face ID to pass when required. Touch ID just works.
havaloc 16 hours ago||
You can easily turn it off - it's a security feature:

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-face-id-and-at...

sgarland 18 hours ago||
You’re in luck, the Duo has Touch ID and a big screen.
ungreased0675 18 hours ago||
I’m still waiting on a mini
dijit 18 hours ago||
we’ll be waiting a while. The last Mini was iPhone 8 sized, when I considered anything larger than the 5 to be too much.

The Mini thus, undersold, because if you were fine with the 8 then iPhones of that size were still available (2nd Gen SE). Nobody bought: So Apple thinks theres no market.

Jtsummers 18 hours ago|||
> The last Mini was iPhone 8 sized

It was smaller than the iPhone 8. It was slightly thicker (0.01"), shorter (by 0.27") and narrower (0.13"). And it had a bigger display despite being overall smaller. It was bigger than the 5, though.

dijit 15 hours ago||
maybe I'm misremembering the dimensions of the 8.

I did, however, take a series of photos comparing the Mini to the SE- and the packaging of the 6 (I think I gave the phone away but still had the box).

https://imgur.com/a/iphone-mini-vs-iphone-5-vs-iphone-6-case...

Jtsummers 15 hours ago||
https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-13-mi...

The SE was the one that shared the 8's dimensions, the Mini was smaller than both. That Mini appears to be in a case, so the comparison photos aren't as useful as they'd be otherwise.

(Also, it looks like I couldn't do arithmetic earlier or typo'd the number, the Mini is 0.12" narrower, not 0.13").

dijit 15 hours ago||
I'm not sure I understand how you think the mini is in a case from those photos.

Maybe because it's the dark version of the phone you can barely make out the shiny apple logo, but it's there, you can see the metal edge of the phone.

It's not in a case.. obviously, that would be a stupid comparison.

Jtsummers 15 hours ago||
Fair, zooming in I guess I can see that. You may want to correct the label on the photo though, it shares dimensions with the 5 but you've clearly photographed an SE (original, it turns out, which was part of my confusion since you switched at some point from talking about the 2nd gen to the 1st gen) not an iPhone 5.
dijit 14 hours ago||
No, I was comparing the size difference of the 5 (and lineage) to the 6 (by way of case) and Mini.

"SE" is a nondescript product line and the only physical differences are the tone of the chassis and a stamp; it's a fair representation of the size of a 5.

ocd 18 hours ago|||
Always seemed like a marketing issue on Apple's part. People have different opinions when they actually see and handle the Mini. Apple appended so many "Pro" and "Max" names to everything which ended up creating a "status symbol" that was contrary to the actual needs of the consumer to have a more reasonably sized phone. "Fablets" weren't particularly popular for that reason, and Apple still managed to lead people down this road.
permanent-overc 18 hours ago||
I think you forgot the history.

Apple was the last hold out with small phones, years after everybody else moved to huge phones.

But even Apple couldn't resist the pressure from the consumers, and eventually yielded.

layer8 17 hours ago|||
The mini was released six months after the SE2 was released, which many SE1 owners holding out for a new smaller iPhone had already migrated to. Then Apple presented the mini in a joke-y manner in the keynote, didn’t do any publicity afterwards, and neither did the carriers (because the mini was lower-margin for them I presume). Lastly, the iPhone 12 gen had particularly bad battery life, which also hurt the mini. With today’s battery improvements, it would be much better (as demonstrated by the iPhone Air’s good battery life). Apple could at least have taken the option to make the “e” line mini-sized.
happymellon 17 hours ago|||
Yet they sold more minis than Google sells Pixels.

And somehow we ended up with more Pixels and not minis.

ocd 18 hours ago|||
Despite the Lightning port, I prefer my 13 Mini to upgrading.
rootusrootus 18 hours ago|||
An updated 13 Mini with USB-C and modern chipset would be fantastic. That would get me to upgrade. My hope is that Apple decides the world needs an iPhone Mini once in a while, just not a new one every year.
eumenides1 18 hours ago|||
My contention is every 5 years release a mini spec with hardware bumps. Everyone jumps in and everyone upgrade. It only has the larger size space spec.

Rinse and repeat.

If you have a "known" or "expected" cycle, people can rely on that.

jghn 16 hours ago||
This has been my hope. Relase one, say "oops no market", and then come back several years later
stoneman24 13 hours ago||
Me too, still surviving on 12 mini. Issue a new mini and you’ll have my money the minute that the shop opens.
mrheosuper 18 hours ago|||
With SiC battery no less.
pixelesque 18 hours ago|||
Same, got battery replaced 5 months ago.

Wish I'd got the biggest storage size when I bought it though :(

havaloc 16 hours ago|||
Having used a Z Fold 8, it's sort of a Mini. I'd love to see a non-folding phone in the same passport form factor, I think they'd sell a ton.
azibi 16 hours ago|||
I really liked my iPhone 12 mini. But Apple also makes a lot of money from app sales, so I wonder if there’s a connection between screen size and app purchases. Maybe users with larger screens spend more time in apps and are therefore more likely to buy apps or make in-app purchases. The more screen real estate people have, the more they might engage with apps, which could translate into higher spending.
haunter 18 hours ago|||
The new iPhone Duo in single screen mode is the same size (5.4") as the iPhone 13 mini but with a different aspect ratio

https://photos.reportinglive.com/p/2026-09-09/f-bf86c6f5adb3...

layer8 17 hours ago|||
Same diagonal doesn’t mean same size. The Duo is also much thicker (the camera plateau in particular) and heavier, and the front screen is so wide (a good bit wider than the Pro Max) that it’s hardly suited for one handed use.
Firaxus 18 hours ago||||
I think the screen might be the same diagonal length but it looks wider overall…
pixelesque 18 hours ago||||
It's wider though, and surely going to weigh more...
kgwgk 14 hours ago||
A lot more. Almost twice as much (+80%).

  Height
  4.64 inches (117.8 mm) closed / 4.64 inches (117.8 mm) open
  5.18 inches (131.5 mm)

  Width
  3.31 inches (84.1 mm) closed / 6.48 inches (164.6 mm) open
  2.53 inches (64.2 mm)

  Depth
  0.44 inch (11.3 mm) closed / 0.21 inch (5.2 mm) open
  0.30 inch (7.65 mm)

  Weight
  8.96 ounces (254 grams)
  4.97 ounces (141 grams)
idontwantthis 18 hours ago|||
I wouldn’t mind buying half of one of those for 1/4 the price.
pixelesque 18 hours ago|||
I wish they'd alternate each year or something between iPhone / iPhone mini if they're struggling for sales.

The body shapes and cases seem to change each year anyway now, so it's not like people get to re-use cases that much anyway...

idontwantthis 18 hours ago||
Me too. Everyone who sees my phone loves it, and I always share a nod with my fellow mini owners. I really don’t want a huge phone and it is still more than fast enough (a 12 at that!) iPhones got Good Enough at least 6 years ago. Same with macbooks.
486sx33 13 hours ago||
[dead]
permanent-overc 18 hours ago||
[flagged]
jdgoesmarching 18 hours ago|||
I swear only Apple brings out comments where people will insinuate a whole nefarious conspiracy over phones being sold in different colors.
petesergeant 17 hours ago||
I'm an Apple fanboy, and I think OP is probably right? Having a distinctive colour that marks a phone as being the latest one is definitely a great marketing idea.
MattDamonSpace 16 hours ago||
Yeah it’s just not nefarious conspiracy some people are just anti-commerce
acheron 18 hours ago|||
99% of people put their iPhone in a case that covers up the color. This is not something anybody actually thinks.

Sometimes I tell my teenage daughter “stop inventing things to be mad about”. Good advice for HN commenters, too.

OkGoDoIt 18 hours ago|||
I don’t know, in both the USA and Vietnam I see a massively disproportionate amount of people with the orange iPhone 17 Pro. Personally I like the orange color, but based on how ubiquitous the color choice seems to be, is does look a lot like conspicuous consumption to me.

And even in a case now that they have those huge camera plateaus you can still definitely tell what color iPhone someone has.

spiderice 10 hours ago||
Oh my god, I think you might be on to something. If you follow the evidence, it does in fact seem like people like color. Of course Apple would exploit this by offering colored phones!
sdcfgy 18 hours ago|||
Yeah I had a pink iPhone 13 for ages when my 15 pro got stolen.
NDizzle 18 hours ago||
Mine is in a blue case. My last case was black. Only when my cases wear out do I remember that my phone is actually white.
jchook 18 hours ago|
[flagged]
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