Today Apple introduced iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, its latest flagship models. While each Pro model is largely identical, there are two exclusive new advantages—one for each model.
Apple began transitioning its products to in-house cellular modems in early 2025 with the iPhone 16e. First it offered a C1 modem, then the C1X followed in the iPhone Air last fall.
Now Apple has introduced the next-generation C2 modem. It’s available in iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro, but curiously is absent from the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Per Apple’s technical specs page, C2 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s Qualcomm modem offer comparable specs. They both support mmWave in the US, for example.
But Apple-designed modems do have the benefit of unlocking some exclusive benefits, which Pro Max users will miss out on.
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are both improving in the battery department this year. But as leaks previously indicated, Apple reserved much larger gains for the Pro Max model.
Here’s an overview of quoted battery life for this year’s models vs last year’s:
As you can see, iPhone 18 Pro Max gains six hours of video playback while iPhone 18 Pro only adds three.
While Apple’s Pro Max models have always been battery champions, with iPhone 18 Pro Max that advantage is even greater than usual.
For more Apple event coverage, here’s our dedicated news hub.
Will either of these differences impact whether you choose iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max? Let us know in the comments.
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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.
