iPhone 18 Pro Controls: variable aperture, shutter speed, white balance, histogram

• Widen to ƒ/1.48 for low light
• Portraits optimized around ƒ/1.8
• Narrow to ƒ/4 for more depth of field in group shots

Pros can manually pick any of the four aperture settings in Camera. Apple also says a developer API exposes the aperture range to third-party apps. Exact intermediate stop names beyond the three Apple captions above are not fully enumerated in the Newsroom body.

Pro controls in Camera

Pro controls is a new customizable Camera experience on iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Per Apple, users can adjust:

• Lens aperture
• Shutter speed
• White balance
• Live histogram for exposure across a scene

Apple’s caption frames the set as broader creative range with manual control over shutter speed, white balance, and aperture, plus histogram. MacRumors adds that Pro Controls works in photo and video, and describes Smart Focus Tracking that locks onto a subject with on-device AI — that tracking name is MacRumors’ reporting, not a quoted Newsroom headline in Apple’s Pro controls paragraph.

Availability context

iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199; Pro Max at $1,299. Pre-orders open Saturday, September 12; availability Friday, September 18. See also how to pre-order.

Sources: Apple Newsroom — iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max, MacRumors.