The iPhone 18 Pro went on sale on September 18, and the first full durability test is already out. The results look a lot like last year. The screen glass holds up, the body refuses to bend, and the anodized aluminum still needs some care around keys and coins. JerryRigEverything’s Zack Nelson posted the test on YouTube. He worked with a burgundy iPhone 18 Pro and a glacier iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Ceramic Shield 2 survives the scratch, flame, and bend tests unchanged from last year
The iPhone 18 Pro uses Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, the same glass Apple introduced with the iPhone 17 Pro. Apple says it is three times more scratch resistant than the previous generation. Nelson’s results match what he saw a year ago.
- Scratch test: Light scratches appear at level 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, with deeper grooves at level 8.
- Flame test: The display lasts about 25 seconds under a lighter without permanent damage.
- Bend test: The iPhone 18 Pro stays solid and rigid with no flex.
The bend result is worth a second look because Apple redesigned the cooling hardware. The iPhone 18 Pro has a next-generation vapor chamber with three times the surface area of the one in the iPhone 17 Pro. Nelson says the extra layer of cooling did not make the body any softer.
The screen itself is a carryover, nelson lists the same 6.3-inch panel, 3,000 nits of peak brightness, and 120Hz refresh rate as the iPhone 17 Pro. The only visible change on the front is a smaller Dynamic Island. As per Zack:
“The only thing that will ever hurt this iPhone 18 Pro is a drop.”
Drops are the real risk, and glass is still glass. Our roundup of the best iPhone 18 Pro screen protectors covers the options for the front.
The anodized aluminum frame and camera plateau carry over from the iPhone 17 Pro
Nelson points out that the camera plateau has the same sharp angles as the iPhone 17 Pro. In his words, the anodizing is just as likely to chip this year as last year. That matches the complaints from early iPhone 17 Pro owners, which we covered when iPhone 17 Pro demo units already showed scratches.
Here is what the hands-on inspection turned up:
- The frame is aluminum, and the buttons are fixed and not removable.
- The top edge has a plastic 5G antenna section.
- The border around the camera plateau is plastic, which helps cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals pass through.
- Keys and coins transfer material onto the glass back and the anodized plateau when they share a pocket with the phone.
- Nearly all of the marks brushed off the surface. The exception was the fossilized dinosaur poop Nelson brought along.
Nelson recommends keeping the iPhone 18 Pro away from keys and coins. A case handles the rest. Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro cases fit the iPhone 18 Pro anyway, and there are plenty of new options like the Spigen iPhone 18 Pro cases.
Nelson’s microscope shows six aperture blades and a Face ID camera behind the pixels
The main camera is the only rear camera that changed. Under the microscope, Nelson shows six fins opening and closing together inside the lens. Apple describes the same hardware as six laser-cut blades on a rotor mechanism, with four aperture settings from f/1.48 to f/4 and manual control through the new Pro controls in the Camera app. We break down the feature in our iPhone 18 Pro variable aperture guide.
The microscope also picks up the infrared camera for Face ID sitting behind the screen pixels. Nelson passes along a rumor that privacy tinted or anti-glare screen protectors can throw off the under-display camera. He recommends an optically clear protector, such as the dbrand Prism protector he mentions in the video. Our post on matte screen protector issues with Face ID on iPhone 18 Pro has more details.
Nelson also notes what did not change this year:
- All three rear cameras are 48-megapixel sensors, the same as the iPhone 17 Pro.
- Wired charging is rated at 60W, Apple says the iPhone 18 Pro reaches 50 percent in around 15 minutes with a 60W-capable adapter and cable.
- The lenses do not pop off, and the camera plateau is unchanged in size and shape.
He says a teardown of the variable aperture mechanism is coming. Until then, our iPhone 18 Pro teardown coverage shows how Apple shrunk the Dynamic Island.
Our Take
I think this is the durability story Apple wanted. Ceramic Shield 2 and the rigid body need no help from a case, and that is a good result for anyone upgrading from an iPhone 17 Pro. The anodized aluminum is where I would spend money on protection.
