iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max Battery Life, A20 Pro Performance, and Gaming

iPhone 18 Pro Battery Life Is Strong, but Not a Major Upgrade

For the past few years, Apple’s Pro models have delivered very good battery life, and the iPhone 18 Pro lineup continues that trend. The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the more notable of the two models because it has a higher-density battery.

With average usage—about five hours of screen-on time—the iPhone 18 Pro Max was at around 50 percent by the end of the day. It could easily last through a second day on a single charge. Testing time with the smaller iPhone 18 Pro has been shorter, but it had about 40 percent remaining by bedtime and comfortably lasted the day.

Most people should be very happy with the battery life of the iPhone 18 Pro models, although this update is not dramatic.

A20 Pro Chip Delivers Smooth Performance

The iPhone 18 Pro models are powered by Apple’s A20 Pro chip. Apple’s flagship silicon has had very few issues, and that remains true here. Apps run smoothly, and the A20 Pro outperformed the A19 Pro in the 17-series by a surprisingly large margin in benchmark tests.

iPhone 18 Pro Gaming Performance

Control, the 2019 AAA game ported to iOS earlier this year, performed well on the iPhone 18 Pro Max. However, aggressive upscaling can produce rough graphics, and character movement may feel a little slow. This testing was performed with the graphics settings set to maximum.

The experience is not perfect, but it is still remarkable to play such a demanding title on an iPhone.

Improved Thermal Management Keeps Gaming Smooth

Apple has also made a notable improvement to thermal management in the iPhone 18 Pro models by tripling the surface area of the vapor chamber. This cooling technology helps spread heat throughout the phone and dissipate it to the surroundings.

After nearly an hour of gaming, the entire phone felt hot, but there were no uncomfortable localized hot spots. The larger vapor chamber also allows for longer gaming sessions before thermal throttling slows performance.

iOS 27 Brings a More Capable Siri AI

The iPhone 18 Pro models ship with iOS 27 and an all-new Siri AI. Siri AI is significantly more powerful than any version of Siri Apple has previously offered. It still lacks the features and versatility of other AI assistants, but it may be good enough for many users because questions are more likely to receive a satisfying answer.

Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features are not limited to the latest iPhone models. However, they require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.