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iFixit’s latest device teardown shows us the inner workings of the new variable aperture lens inside Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, alongside some repair concerns to be mindful of. The adjustable mechanical iris opens and closes magnetically, controlling how much light should pass through to the sensor, featuring six leaf-like overlapping blades that are each about as thin as a human hair.
You can see that scale comparison yourself below in a side-by-side image that iFixit took using a Evident DSX2000 microscope. Cramming that mechanism into the same main camera footprint as the iPhone 17 Pro series models is impressive, with iFixit describing Apple’s variable aperture lens as “a feat of precision engineering.” That said, in our own iPhone 18 Pro review we found it made a “generally marginal” improvement on overall photography, so novice snappers may not even notice any difference.
Here you can see the lens blade up top, compared against the thickness of a human hair below it. Image: iFixit iFixit demonstrated how the blades open and close by passing a magnet over the unpowered iPhone 18 Pro rear camera module. GIF: iFixit
The downside is, that mechanism itself probably can’t be fixed if something breaks. Doing so would require specialist tools, techniques, and knowledge that few people possess, making this as close to “impossible” to repair as it gets, according to iFixit. That means users will likely have to replace the entire camera assembly, which is thankfully easy to access. Apple hasn’t released components for its latest iPhone models yet, but the iPhone 17 Pro camera assembly is $249, so we can probably expect the fancy variable aperture lens to increase the repair price for the 18 Pro and Pro Max versions.