One of the first iPhone 18 Pro teardown videos is out, and it finally shows how Apple pulled off the smaller Dynamic Island this generation. We have been tracking rumors about this shrink since 2025, and the hardware now confirms how Apple did it.
In a video posted on YouTube, REWA Technology pulls the iPhone 18 Pro apart layer by layer to show what changed inside.
How Apple Shrunk the Dynamic Island
Apple achieved the smaller cutout by moving Face ID’s infrared camera underneath the display itself, positioned in the top-left corner. The pixels sitting directly above that camera use a special pattern that lets infrared light pass through, while looking completely normal to the eye at typical viewing angles.
This matches the direction rumors pointed for well over a year. We covered the idea as metalens technology being explored for the iPhone 17 line, then tracked it again once leaks specifically tied a smaller Dynamic Island to the iPhone 18 lineup. The teardown also confirms the larger 48-megapixel main camera with variable aperture that reviewers have been praising since launch day.
The Teardown Confirms a Smaller Battery for SIM Tray Models
The unit REWA Technology tore down has a physical SIM card tray, which means it carries a slightly smaller battery than the eSIM-only models sold in the US, Canada, Japan, and other select countries. That version measures in at 4,056 mAh, matching what MacRumors had previously reported based on regulatory filings.
A teardown of the US version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max is still pending, and that one is the more interesting model to watch. Apple’s own documentation confirms the smaller iPhone 18 Pro uses Apple’s C2 modem everywhere, and so does the iPhone 18 Pro Max outside the US, but the US iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to ship with a Qualcomm modem instead, either the Snapdragon X80 or Snapdragon X85.
The Motherboard Got Faster Cooling and Harder Repairs
The full teardown weighed the iPhone 18 Pro at 209.3 grams and turned up several changes past the camera and screen.
- The A20 Pro chip is now mounted directly on the surface of the motherboard, sitting on a new thermal pad material that makes direct contact with the larger vapor chamber
- The Logic EEPROM chip is no longer covered by a protective shield, leaving it more exposed to physical damage
- NAND storage and the power IC are now sandwiched between layers of the motherboard itself, so fixing either one means separating the board apart first
- The charging port flex now uses a single cable instead of two, and the display cable is no longer held down with adhesive, both small wins for anyone repairing the phone
Apple also appears to have switched battery suppliers this generation. The new battery is about 1.7 percent larger than the iPhone 17 Pro’s, and its connector is noticeably bigger, possibly to support the phone’s 50W wired charging.
Our Take
The under-display Face ID camera is the more significant engineering story here, even more than the camera upgrades getting most of the attention this launch. Hiding a working infrared sensor behind active pixels without visibly degrading the screen is a genuinely hard problem, and doing it well enough that reviewers barely mention it says Apple solved it cleanly. The exposed EEPROM and the layered motherboard are the tradeoff behind that bigger vapor chamber, and they point to a phone built for thermal performance first and independent repair second. The Qualcomm modem question is also worth watching. If Apple really is running two different modems across markets for the same iPhone 18 Pro Max, that split gets more interesting once real-world cellular performance comparisons start showing up.
