Pro mode on Apple iPhone 18 Pro (Max) degrades image quality

What happened

However, an in-depth camera test now shows that manual exposure can negatively affect image quality, even when the settings match those selected by the auto mode. Hannes Brecher ( translated by Hannes Brecher), Published 10/12/2026 🇩🇪 Apple iPhone Arguably the biggest camera upgrade on the Apple iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max is the 48-megapixel main camera, which now offers a variable aperture that can be adjusted from f/1.5 to f/4.0. Apple is a software and consumer electronics company based in Cupertino.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro (Max) not only offers a variable aperture but also allows manual adjustment of the shutter speed. Pro mode on Apple iPhone 18 Pro (Max) degrades image quality The Apple iPhone 18 Pro (Max) not only offers a variable aperture but also allows manual adjustment of the shutter speed.

However, the flagship smartphones also ship with an enhanced camera app that gives users more manual control than before – in addition to the aperture, the shutter speed can also be adjusted manually. An in-depth camera test by DPReview , which contains numerous comparison images, now shows that one of these two settings has a negative impact on image quality.