The most complete guide to purchasing a new iPhone: Should you buy the Duo/Pro/Pro Max, or wait for the standard version?

At 1 a.m. Beijing Time on September 10, Apple's autumn launch event arrived as scheduled, and the long-awaited iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max and Apple's first foldable phone iPhone Duo were finally released. Unfortunately, the launch of the standard iPhone 18 may be delayed to the first quarter of next year.

According to Apple's plan, the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max will open for pre-order at 8 p.m. on September 12, and be officially released on September 18; the iPhone Duo will open for pre-order on October 16, and be officially released on October 23.

Every year when new iPhones are released, consumers face the same dilemma — which one should they buy. This year, consumers have another tricky question to consider: whether they should wait for the standard iPhone 18. Don't worry, let Lei Tech (ID: leitech) break it down for you.

iPhone Duo: Suitable for entertainment and office scenarios, with relatively weak imaging performance

Let's start with the iPhone Duo. As Apple's first foldable phone, the smooth natural blurred transition animation when the device is unfolded and folded caused a sensation across the entire internet. However, when buying a phone, we should still proceed from a practical perspective and view the advantages and disadvantages of the iPhone Duo rationally.

When folded, the iPhone Duo has a 5.4-inch outer screen. Thanks to the "wide" design, the screen area reaches 90% of that of the iPhone 18 Pro.

When unfolded, the 7.6-inch large screen of the iPhone Duo is presented before our eyes. Interestingly, the inner screen of this phone adopts an under-display camera design.

(Source: Apple)

Starting from the Galaxy Z Fold3 series, Samsung's large foldable inner screen has used the under-display camera design, but the latest generation of large foldable phone Galaxy Z Fold8 has abandoned this design. No one expected that the solution Samsung gave up would be adopted by Apple.

Nowadays, foldable phones of various forms including large fold, medium fold, small fold, triple fold and wide fold are widely available, and it is believed that everyone has a certain understanding of the applicable scenarios of foldable phones. In the view of Lei Tech, the most suitable scenarios for the iPhone Duo are entertainment and office work.

In entertainment scenarios, the 7.6-inch large screen of the iPhone Duo has fewer black borders when watching videos, and a larger display area when playing games. Especially when playing MOBA mobile games, it gives you a feeling of having infinite view distance as in LOL. Coupled with the Apple A20 Pro chip, specially made VC vapor chamber and dual-battery architecture, the overall performance release of the iPhone Duo is also guaranteed.

(Source: Apple)

In office scenarios, the 7.6-inch large screen of the iPhone Duo has a 50% larger display area than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is more suitable for processing documents and image content. Apple also stated that later this year, the iPhone Duo will be adapted to Apple Pencil (USB-C), supporting note-taking, sketch drawing and document annotation on both inner and outer screens. We can always trust Apple in terms of software and hardware adaptation.

After talking about the scenarios suitable for the iPhone Duo, let's talk about the imperfect parts of this phone.

First of all, there is no independent telephoto lens. If you attend events, go to concerts, or travel and want to shoot distant scenery, the shooting experience of the iPhone Duo may not be as good as that of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max.

Secondly, the price of the iPhone Duo: 15999 yuan for the 256GB version, 17999 yuan for the 512GB version, 21499 yuan for the 1TB version, and 26499 yuan for the 2TB version, which is a relatively expensive model in the large/medium/wide foldable phone category. iPad mini 7 + iPhone 18 Pro may be a better choice for game players.

(Source: Apple)

Third, the iPhone Duo adopts side fingerprint unlocking and does not support Face ID. Due to the relatively wide body, one-handed operation and unlocking may not be very convenient.

To sum up, there are three types of people suitable for buying the iPhone Duo:

1. Digital enthusiasts who want to experience Apple's products as soon as possible and are not sensitive to prices;

2. Business office users who often need to process documents, who can use the iPhone Duo as a portable small tablet.

3. Consumers who plan to cover the usage scenarios of mobile phones and small tablets with one device.

Strictly speaking, in the era when Android and Hongmeng foldable phones have been available for several years, the iPhone Duo has not brought us too many surprises. But Lei Tech can see that the iPhone Duo is a product with very mature design, software and hardware configurations. The excellent animation effect, the adaptation capability of iOS, and the almost unnoticeable crease all make this phone capable of competing with products that have been iterated many times by other manufacturers.

iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max: Regular upgrades in performance and imaging

In terms of form design, the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max continues the concept of the previous generation of products, still with an aluminum alloy body and a large horizontal camera module, equipped with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch screens respectively. The main upgrade points of these two phones are the A20 Pro processor and the variable aperture main camera.

At the launch event, the game Apple used to demonstrate the phone's performance is "Monster Hunter: Wanderer", which still cannot run at full frame on current Android phones. Using it to promote the performance of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max shows Apple's confidence.

(Source: Apple)

The A20 Pro is based on the 2nm process technology. The CPU part adopts a brand new architecture of 2 super large cores + 4 efficiency cores, equipped with a 7-core GPU, and the GPU performance has increased by 40%. To improve the experience of users playing games for a long time, the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max is also equipped with an upgraded VC vapor chamber to improve heat dissipation capability.

The addition of the variable aperture allows the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max to adjust the amount of incoming light and depth of field. When shooting close objects, reducing the aperture can expand the clear range and reduce the out-of-focus situation of the front and rear parts of the subject; increasing the aperture can obtain more incoming light and retain a more obvious optical blur effect, which is suitable for shooting night scenes.

It is worth noting that although the screen size of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max has not changed, the Dynamic Island has been slightly reduced, and the capability to display three live activities at the same time has been added, so the displayable task information has increased.

(Source: Apple)

In terms of price, the lowest 256GB version of the iPhone 18 Pro is priced at 9999 yuan, the 512GB version is priced at 11999 yuan, the 1TB version is priced at 15499 yuan, and the 2TB version is priced at 20499 yuan.

The 256GB version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max is priced at 10999 yuan, the 512GB version is priced at 12999 yuan, the 1TB version is priced at 16499 yuan, and the 2TB version is priced at 21499 yuan.

Overall, the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max is very suitable for consumers who pursue the Apple ecosystem, ultimate gaming performance, and shooting videos or images. Moreover, in the general environment where mobile phones are generally rising in price, the price increase of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max is not too high in the entire industry.

As for how to choose between these two phones, when the starting prices are 9999 yuan / 10999 yuan respectively, and the price difference of the same storage version is only 1000 yuan, Lei Tech believes that it only depends on whether you are a small-screen flagship enthusiast or prefer a large screen.

The standard iPhone 18 is absolutely worth waiting for

Perhaps because the price of memory and flash memory is too high, or due to Apple's strategy adjustment, the standard iPhone 18 did not appear at Apple's autumn launch event.

According to the exposure of analyst Jeff Pu, the memory of the standard iPhone 18 will be upgraded to 12GB, the memory of the iPhone 18e will be 9GB, and the Dynamic Island will be reduced. Judging from the reduced Dynamic Island of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max, the possibility that the Dynamic Island of the standard iPhone 18 will be reduced is very high, and it is expected to be equipped with the same variable aperture main camera as the Pro version. According to Apple's usual practice, the battery capacity of the standard iPhone 18 will also increase, and the processor is expected to be the standard A20.

12GB memory and variable aperture are extremely important upgrades for the iPhone 18 series. Larger memory can reduce the background app refresh kill situation, and the variable aperture can improve the shooting performance of the phone in different environments.

The starting price of the iPhone 17 was 5999 yuan, and the current price on Apple's official website has risen to 6799 yuan. Lei Tech predicts that the starting price of the standard iPhone 18 will not be much different from the current price of the iPhone 17 series. Its price advantage over the Pro/Pro Max versions determines that the sales of this phone will not be low.

In addition, the X platform blogger @earlyappleleaks recently broke the news that Apple is considering replacing the standard iPhone 18 with the iPhone Air 2, which is upgraded to a dual rear camera, with a starting price of 999 US dollars (about 6700 yuan). Lei Tech believes that using Air 2 to replace the standard iPhone 18 is a good solution to highlight the uniqueness of this version and reduce SKUs, but it is a big mistake in business.

(Source: X platform screenshot)

On May 1 this year, @Digital Chat Station once said that Air products are well received but not selling well. After multiple rounds of price cuts, the activation volume of iPhone Air barely exceeded 700,000, and the activation volume of a domestic Air model was only 50,000. Lu Weibing, President of Xiaomi, frankly said that extreme thinness will sacrifice battery life, heat dissipation, camera, performance and other aspects. It is a bold attempt, but it is very niche from the perspective of sales.

Therefore, Lei Tech believes that it is unlikely that Apple will replace the standard iPhone 18 with the iPhone Air 2. Especially when the starting price of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max reaches the 10,000-yuan level, Apple needs an affordable and easy-to-use product to stabilize the market.

Even if the iPhone 18 only has regular upgrades, it has a considerable improvement compared with the previous generation in terms of imaging, performance, battery life and other aspects. For consumers with limited budget, it is a product absolutely worth waiting for.

This year, the iPhone Pro series has generally increased in price, and hardware upgrades are more concentrated in imaging, extreme performance and foldable form. Whether to buy it or not and how to buy it, the core still depends on budget and demand.

The iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max has strong extreme performance, but it is of little significance to users who do not play games. The iPhone Duo has a novel form among Apple phones, but iPad may be more useful in some game and office scenarios.

Unless you have clear rigid needs for large screens, photography, heavy games or foldable phones, there is no need to pay a premium.

Consumers with a budget of more than 15,000 yuan who pursue form innovation and multi-task office can directly start with the iPhone Duo; if your budget is around 10,000 yuan and you want an all-round straight-screen flagship, then the iPhone 18 Pro is more suitable for you; if you have a lower budget, you can wait for the standard iPhone 18 to be released in the first quarter of next year, or consider the iPhone 17 series, Android and Hongmeng phones.

This article is from "Lei Tech", and is authorized for release by 36Kr.