iPhone 18 Pro teardowns: a cooler chip, hidden Face ID sensor and tougher board repairs

Open an iPhone 18 Pro and the first thing you see is a metal plate. The logic board, the chip and most of Apple's other changes sit underneath it. The first teardowns show a phone that should run cooler for longer. They also show a logic board that independent repair shops will find harder to work on.

Four independent teardowns were published within about a day of each other. REWA Technology took apart a physical-SIM iPhone 18 Pro. The Phone Repair Guru and How-FixIT channels opened iPhone 18 Pro Max units. TechInsights published a preliminary board analysis of the US Pro Max, model A3473.

The smaller Dynamic Island is the most visible change, and the teardowns show how Apple did it. Face ID's infrared camera now sits under the display in the top-left corner. REWA's video shows that the pixel layout above the sensor has been changed so infrared light can pass through. Apple has not used an under-display camera before. The Phone Repair Guru host noted that Apple's first one is for Face ID rather than the selfie camera.

There is a repair cost to this. REWA says the relocated sensor "presents a new challenge for aftermarket display manufacturers." Third-party screens have to reproduce that pixel pattern, or Face ID may not see through the glass. A follow-up parts-swap video from REWA found a second problem. On iOS 27, when the team moved the display's sensor flex cable to a different iPhone 18 Pro, Repair Assistant showed an "Unknown Part" warning for the display. Configuration failed. REWA calls this new pairing behavior between the display and the sensor flex.

The same video found that some pairing rules are looser. The rear camera no longer needs calibration after configuration. The back glass showed no configuration status at all, which suggests it is no longer part of the pairing system.

Apple says the vapor chamber is three times the size of the iPhone 17 Pro's. On earlier models, the A-series chip sat between the layers of a stacked logic board. REWA found the A20 Pro on the board's surface, with a new thermal pad pressed directly against the vapor chamber. How-FixIT says Apple moved the memory beside the processor die instead of stacking it on top. That removes the memory from the path heat takes into the cooling system. How-FixIT also reports that the chamber is stainless steel with 80% recycled content and holds a small amount of deionized water. According to How-FixIT, Apple claims up to 40% higher sustained performance.

Getting to that cooling plate takes work. The Phone Repair Guru host counted 14 screws holding the plate in place and complained about a new screw type. How-FixIT treats the design as partly good news. The battery is bonded to the plate, so a technician can lift both out together. That gives access to the parts underneath without disturbing the battery adhesive, a design carried over from the 17 Pro Max.

Moving the processor to the surface meant something else had to move. REWA found that the NAND storage and a power IC are now between the board's layers. The motherboard has to be separated before either chip can be reworked. REWA also found that the logic board's EEPROM chip has lost its metal shield, leaving it more exposed to physical damage. The Phone Repair Guru host said the change makes storage upgrades by specialist repairers much harder. Notebookcheck's summary of REWA's findings gives motherboard repair the channel's top difficulty rating of five stars. The rear camera gets four, and the screen and battery get two each.

TechInsights' preliminary report lists the A20 Pro with LPDDR5X memory, 256GB of NAND, Apple's N1 wireless module, a new Apple mmWave antenna module marked 339M00418 and a Broadcom BCM59367 wireless-charging receiver. It also found a Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 modem in the US Pro Max, next to Qualcomm's SDR875 transceiver. Apple says the iPhone 18 Pro and non-US iPhone 18 Pro Max models use its own C2 modem. TechInsights wrote that "the presence of Qualcomm hardware in this device could indicate regional differences or multiple modem configurations within the iPhone 18 lineup."

The battery findings add a number to Apple's battery claims. REWA's physical-SIM iPhone 18 Pro has a 4,056mAh cell, about 1.7% more than the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro. iFixit told Tom's Guide that the North American eSIM model has 4,288mAh, about 1% more than last year's. The Pro Max grew more: iFixit and the Phone Repair Guru both found 5,567mAh, up from 5,088mAh. REWA reports a larger battery connector, a multilayer flex cable and a new battery supplier. The connector may be sized for faster charging.

Battery replacement is still relatively easy. The battery uses electrically released adhesive: REWA freed it by applying 9V DC between the battery and the vapor chamber, and How-FixIT describes the same 9V method. Apple now charges $129 plus tax for an out-of-warranty battery replacement, $10 more than for the iPhone 17 Pro, according to Tom's Guide.

• The Phone Repair Guru held a magnet close to the main camera and the aperture blades moved. The host believes a small electromagnetic motor drives the six blades. The lens offers four settings from f/1.48 to f/4.
• On the Pro Max, the bottom microphone has its own connector, so it can be replaced without the whole charging-port assembly. The loudspeaker is not glued in.
• REWA found that the charging-port flex now uses one cable instead of two.

For owners, the new cooling design should help during long gaming sessions and video recording. For independent repairers, screen replacements depend on how display suppliers handle the new infrared window. Logic-board repairs involving the storage or power IC now require separating the board layers first.