Owners of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are posting photos of pale rings and patches around the rear camera lenses. The reports are concentrated on Burgundy and Black units, and several owners say the marks were already there when they opened the box.
The complaints are spread across r/iphone18pro and r/AppleiPhone18ProMax on Reddit. In the first thread, the original poster says the color near the camera looks lighter and did not change after cleaning with a microfiber cloth, water and soap, and 90% alcohol. A separate poster in the second thread asked about a pale area between the lenses a day after getting an iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a third poster on r/AppleiPhone18ProMax started an oily phone thread asking about discoloration spots around the camera, with lighter rings and a back that feels greasy.
Replies in those threads are split, and one comment says the area near the camera is the phone’s real color while the darker finish around it is oil from hands, since the tight spaces around the lenses are rarely touched. Many owners agree, and several say a microfiber cloth or a damp cloth evens the color out, at least until the phone is handled again.
Other owners say cleaning does not fix it, and Burgundy and Black owners in two of the threads write that theirs looked this way out of the box or that the marks came back after wiping. Two commenters say the Burgundy and Black phones on display at an Apple Store showed the same rings, and several owners say they exchanged for Silver or Glacier, whose owners describe clean camera areas.
Burgundy and Black Units Are the Ones Showing the Rings
The reports name only those two finishes, and they are the two darker options in the iPhone 18 Pro color lineup. The iPhone 18 Pro launched on September 18 at $1,199, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max starting at $1,299.
Nobody in the threads has a confirmed cause, and the two explanations on offer are skin oil on the rest of the camera plateau and a flaw in the finish itself. Owners who say the rings were there at unboxing or survived several cleaning methods point away from skin oil for their own phones.
Several commenters compare it to last year, when owners reported iPhone 17 Pro units in Cosmic Orange and Deep Blue shifting color around the camera area.
An Apple Community Thread Shows What Buyers Are Being Told About Returns
A thread was posted on Apple Community where the owner says the area around the camera on their new Burgundy iPhone 18 Pro Max is discolored.
A reply in that thread says purchases made directly from Apple can be returned within 14 calendar days, while carrier and reseller purchases follow the seller’s own policy. For anyone who picked up an iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max on launch day, that window ends around October 2. Owners who are deciding whether to keep the phone can also compare it against the iPhone 17 Pro it replaces before the window closes.
Apple has already shipped iOS 27.0.1 to fix Face ID reboots on these phones, but it seems the issues are not limited to just software.
Our Take
Skin oil explains a lot of these photos, and comments on Reddit make a fair case for it. That explanation does not cover the owners who say the marks were there at unboxing or survived soap, a microfiber cloth, and 90% alcohol. If you have a Burgundy or Black iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max, clean the whole back with a microfiber cloth first and see if the color evens out. If the ring returns within minutes or was there when you opened the box, take photos in daylight and contact Apple before the return window closes.
