iPhone 18 Pro Teardown Shows Under‑Display Face ID Camera and Bigger Vapor Chamber

Apple’s newest flagship, the iPhone 18 Pro, has finally been opened up for a close‑up look. The video from REWA Technology, posted on YouTube, walks us through the internals and, honestly, there are a few surprises that feel both clever and a little cheeky.

First off, the notorious infrared camera that powers Face ID is no longer perched on the front‑glass bezel. Instead, Apple slipped it under the display in the top‑right corner. The screen’s pixel layout has been tweaked just enough to let infrared light punch through, so you still get the same secure unlock experience – only now it’s virtually invisible.

Because the sensor had to move, the whole front‑camera module got reshuffled. It’s now farther away from the main selfie camera and is tethered to the board with three separate flex cables. This adds a bit of complexity, which I’m guessing will keep third‑party display repair shops on their toes for a while.

Battery wise, the iPhone 18 Pro ships with a 4,056 mAh cell – roughly 1.7 % larger than the one in the iPhone 17 Pro. If you snag a model with a physical SIM tray you’ll see this exact pack, but the eSIM‑only variants sold in the U.S., Canada, Japan and a handful of other markets appear to carry an even bigger battery, according to the teardown notes.

Alongside the size bump, REWA points out a new, beefier battery connector. The speculation is that it could pave the way for faster‑charging rates, though Apple hasn’t confirmed that yet. The flex cable that used to have two separate wires for charging has been consolidated down to a single line, which should simplify the internal routing a bit.

The biggest thermal upgrade lives under the A20 Pro processor. Apple has lifted the chip right onto the surface of the motherboard and pressed it against a freshly‑designed vapor chamber using a new thermal‑pad material. That chamber is about three times the surface area of the one in the iPhone 17 Pro, a change Apple claims will dramatically improve heat dissipation during heavy tasks.

All these changes aren’t without trade‑offs. The under‑display Face ID cutout makes aftermarket display replacements trickier, and the NAND storage and power‑IC chips are now sandwiched between motherboard layers. Getting at them means delicately separating those layers – a nightmare for anyone hoping for a quick DIY fix. Plus, a logic EEPROM that used to be shielded is now exposed, so it could be more vulnerable to physical stress.

On the camera front, the main Fusion sensor has grown slightly and now boasts variable‑aperture hardware, promising a bit more flexibility in low‑light scenarios. The back‑panel design, however, stays largely the same – an aluminum‑glass combo with the new, more closely colour‑matched finish Apple introduced earlier this year.

Pricing starts at $1,199, and the iPhone 18 Pro is available right now, alongside its larger sibling, the iPhone 18 Pro Max.