EU regulations have revealed how big this year's iPhone 18 Pro battery upgrade was — and US buyers get one spec tweak on the Pro Max model

• Both the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max get battery bumps
• The increases are now confirmed in EU labeling
• In the US, the iPhone 18 Pro Max sticks with a Qualcomm modem

Apple doesn't always publish full spec sheets for its devices, but if you were wondering just what the battery capacity of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max were, we now know — thanks to European Union regulations demanding that these details are made public.

Energy labels applied to the phones in the EU (via Android Headlines) show that the iPhone 18 Pro is fitted with a 4,056 mAh battery, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 5,391 mAh battery inside. Those represent 1.45% and 11.8% increases, respectively, on the models from the previous year.

Apple describes the battery bump on the iPhone 18 Pro Max as "the largest increase in battery life ever" on an iPhone, and says you can get 45 hours of video playback between recharges. For the iPhone 18 Pro, it's 36 hours.

One small wrinkle: these capacities refer to iPhones sold in the EU, so these models will be ones with a physical SIM card slot. The handsets sold in the US and some other regions are eSIM-only, so may have even better batteries inside.

Something different

There's more specs digging over at MacRumors, where a tip shared on social media suggests that every iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max handset has Apple's own C2 modem inside — except for the iPhone 18 Pro Max models sold in the US, which uses a Qualcomm chip.

The difference has apparently been revealed in code for iOS 27 — though for the moment it's not confirmed (pre-orders aren't shipping until Friday, September 18) — and it's most likely the Qualcomm Snapdragon X85 modem.

There shouldn't be any noticeable variation in performance between the Apple C2 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X85, though Apple says the C2 offers faster speeds than its previous C1X. It's not clear why the Qualcomm chip is hanging around in this one model, but it may be to do with contractual obligations.

We'll be bringing you our thoughts on these phones in the coming days and weeks, including the foldable Apple iPhone Duo. And if you're wondering where the standard iPhone 18 is, it's expected in March with the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.