iFixit iPhone 18 Pro Teardown Reveals Tiny Camera Iris and Fragile Display Frame

Image: iFixit

iFixit has published its teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the star of the show is the main camera’s new mechanical iris, a set of six tiny aperture blades that open and close to control incoming light.

Each blade is about as thin as a human hair, and iFixit says one flew across the teardown room while the lens stack was being pried apart. Fixing a stuck blade at the component level is essentially out of the question, so a damaged iris will likely mean replacing the entire main camera assembly.

For context, the iPhone 17 Pro camera assembly already sells for $249 USD through Apple’s self-service repair store, and the variable aperture hardware will only push that cost higher.

The teardown also turned up a repair concern. The plastic frame around the display cracked or pulled away on three of the four phones iFixit opened. That frame is integral to the display assembly, and a damaged one may not sit flush or seal properly after reassembly, which could compromise water resistance.

iFixit notes the same frame has been in use since the iPhone 15 Pro without this much trouble, and wonders whether the improved thermal system is pulling heat away from the seam before the adhesive softens.

It is not all bad news though. The screwed-in battery tray is back, so the battery and tray lift out together with no adhesive fight, and the cells use electrically releasable adhesive underneath. Also, the camera assemblies are modular and relatively easy to swap. Apple also fitted a larger vapour chamber with a more direct cooling path to the A20 Pro.

On the downside, NAND storage now sits buried inside the logic-board sandwich, which complicates board-level repairs, and the USB-C port remains on a circuitous repair path.

Both phones earn a provisional 7 out of 10 repairability score, with parts availability, pairing tests, and the screen-frame question still outstanding.

“We’re reluctant to call a repair ‘impossible,’ but this is about as close as it gets,” iFixit writes of the aperture mechanism.

For Canadians, the takeaway is mixed. Battery swaps look straightforward, but nearly every major repair still starts with the glued-down display, and this year’s frame issue adds risk to that first step. Again, you may want to opt for AppleCare+ after seeing how much it will cost to repair these new iPhone 18 Pro models outside of warranty.

Apple started selling the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in Canada on September 18 after pre-orders opened the week before, and has been showing off the new camera hardware ever since, including an iPhone 18 Pro strapped to a foul pole at Dodger Stadium.

A good case remains the cheapest repair insurance, and Nomad’s new iPhone 18 Pro leather cases just got the hands-on treatment. iFixit says it will update its score once parts are available and more testing is done.