Apple’s tech specs page lists the iPhone 18 Pro Ultra Wide as a 48MP Fusion camera at 13 mm and f/2.2 with a 120-degree field of view. That f/2.2 has been the Pro Ultra Wide figure every year since the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, and the brightest Ultra Wide Apple has ever published for a Pro iPhone was the f/1.8 on the iPhone 13 Pro.
This year’s camera news is the variable aperture on the main camera, which moves between f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4.0. The 13 mm lens takes no part in it. Its single fixed aperture now stands for a fifth consecutive Pro generation.
Key facts on the Pro Ultra Wide
| Item | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro Ultra Wide | 48MP Fusion, 13 mm, f/2.2, 120-degree field of view |
| Brightest Pro Ultra Wide on record | iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, f/1.8 |
| First Pro at f/2.2 | iPhone 14 Pro, 2022 |
| Generations at f/2.2 | iPhone 14 Pro through iPhone 18 Pro |
| Resolution jump to 48MP | iPhone 16 Pro, 2024 |
| Lenses with variable aperture | The 24 mm main camera only |
| Reason f/1.8 was not repeated | Not published |
Every Pro Ultra Wide since iPhone 13 Pro
These rows come from Apple’s tech specs pages for each model. Apple does not print a focal length in millimeters for the iPhone 13 Pro cameras, so that cell is left as published.
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| Model | Resolution | Focal length | Aperture |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max | 12MP | Not published | f/1.8 |
| iPhone 14 Pro | 12MP | 13 mm | f/2.2 |
| iPhone 15 Pro | 12MP | 13 mm | f/2.2 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | 48MP | 13 mm | f/2.2 |
| iPhone 17 Pro | 48MP Fusion | 13 mm | f/2.2 |
| iPhone 18 Pro | 48MP Fusion | 13 mm | f/2.2 |
Two changes happened in the wrong order for anyone who shoots wide in poor light. The aperture narrowed first, in 2022, while the sensor stayed at 12MP. The resolution quadrupled two years later, and the aperture figure did not move with it.
How far apart f/1.8 and f/2.2 are
Apple has given us a useful yardstick this year. The four stops it publishes for the iPhone 18 Pro main camera are f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4.0, so the Ultra Wide’s f/2.2 sits between Apple’s second and third settings on its own scale.
The smaller the number, the wider the opening relative to focal length, which is why the iPhone 13 Pro figure is the brightest of the six. Apple has never published a light-gathering comparison between Ultra Wide generations, and it has published no Night mode claim broken out by focal length, so the spec sheet is all there is to go on.
The variable aperture stops at one lens
Apple’s spec sheet is explicit about which camera has the moving blades. The 48MP Fusion Main at 24 mm has the variable aperture and optical image stabilization, the 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide at 13 mm is fixed at f/2.2, and the 48MP Fusion Telephoto at 100 mm is fixed at f/2.8 with 3D sensor-shift stabilization.
So the three rear lenses now share a resolution and nothing else about their optics. Our iPhone 18 Pro against iPhone 17 Pro comparison covers which of those lines actually changed from last year, and the answer for the 13 mm camera is none of them.
What has not changed for three generations
The iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro publish the same Ultra Wide line: 48MP, 13 mm, f/2.2, 120-degree field of view. Apple lists 0.5x among the optical zoom steps on all three.
Apple’s new foldable uses the same figures, as our iPhone Duo camera explainer sets out, which makes f/2.2 at 13 mm the most stable camera specification in the current lineup.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not published a sensor size for any Ultra Wide, a low-light or Night mode claim specific to the 13 mm lens, an explanation for the move from f/1.8 to f/2.2 in 2022, or any indication that variable aperture will reach a second lens. It has also never described the 13 Pro aperture as a peak, because Apple does not talk about specs it has moved on from.
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max pre-orders open today, Saturday September 12, at 5 a.m. PT, which is 12:00 UTC, with availability on Friday September 18. iOS 27 ships free on Monday September 14 and brings the Camera and Photos changes Apple announced alongside the new hardware.
