September 10, Kathmandu – Apple unveiled its flagship iPhone 18 Pro at the annual Fall Event held on September 9, 2026, introducing significant changes to its camera features. For the first time, users will have physical aperture control, allowing them to manually adjust the amount of light entering the lens and the depth of field.
1. Manual Aperture Blade Technology
The highlight of the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera system is its 48-megapixel variable aperture camera. According to Kaiyan Drence, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, the system incorporates six laser-cut polymer composite blades, thinner than a human hair. These blades operate with a rotor mechanism and custom lens assembly. In low-light or dark conditions, the aperture will automatically open to allow up to 50% more light into the sensor.
2. Pro Controls and Manual Settings
Catering to professional photographers, Apple has added a ‘Pro Control’ feature within the camera app. This allows users to select from four different aperture options, adjust white balance, modify shutter speed, utilize histograms to monitor exposure, and manually tweak skin texture details for enhanced control.
3. New Software and Video Upgrades
Cinematic Effects: Users can now add half-speed cinematic mode effects at up to 60 FPS even with standard video recordings.
Time-Lapse: Time-lapse videos can be captured in Dolby Vision HDR at 4K resolution.
Audio Mix: The audio mix algorithm has been improved for higher quality voice recordings and now supports background music integration.
4. Smart Focus Tracking and Apple Reference Image
Smart Focus Tracking: Powered by on-device AI, this feature maintains focus on moving objects or people. It prevents loss of focus even if the subject moves out of the frame and returns or changes depth.
Apple Reference Image (Authenticity): This feature verifies whether photos are AI-generated or real. When a photo is captured, the camera sensor securely signs pixel-level data, which is then processed through a private cloud computing system to generate a reference image for authentication.
