iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders enter their first full day

Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max pre-orders are now in their first full day after opening Saturday, September 12. The devices start at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively and are scheduled to reach stores on September 18. Both use the new A20 Pro processor, a redesigned thermal system and an upgraded 48MP main camera with variable aperture.

The timing makes today important commercially: early pre-order demand provides the first real indication of whether Apple's conventional Pro models can maintain enthusiasm while the more experimental iPhone Duo dominates headlines. For mobile gaming, sustained performance may matter more than peak benchmarks because smartphone processors often throttle under long workloads. Apple's larger vapour-chamber design is therefore a meaningful part of the gaming story.

The Pro models also arrive with iOS 27 and a new generation of Apple Intelligence features, reinforcing the increasingly tight relationship between hardware, operating system and AI.