With the iPhone 17 series, Apple has made major improvements, including a completely new design, new cameras and more. But there is still room for improvement.
That’s why we’ve listed five things below that we really want in the iPhone 18 series. Some of these requests apply to specific models, others to the entire range.
Rumors about the iPhone 18 are still in their early stages, so we can’t say for sure whether we will know most of it or not. But we can guess, and these are all things that could significantly improve Apple’s iPhone lineup.
1. A telephoto lens for the iPhone 18
iPhone 17
Even basic iPhone models are expensive phones, with the iPhone 17 for example starting at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, but you still don’t get a telephoto lens for that much money.
It’s even worse when you consider that the similarly priced Samsung Galaxy S25 has a telephoto lens and is likely the iPhone 17’s main competitor. The Google Pixel 10 also has a telephoto lens, so it seems very stingy that Apple hasn’t included one.
That’s something we want in the iPhone 18: a telephoto lens to match the large and ultra-wide lenses.
However, we are not optimistic that this will happen. After all, Apple just upped the base model’s refresh rate to 120Hz, which seems like an even more important feature for a high-end phone.
2. Improved AI
iPhone 17
Apple is known for offering excellent hardware and software in its phones, but artificial intelligence is one area where it is notably lacking. Compared to Google’s Gemini and other AI offerings like ChatGPT, Apple’s efforts simply can’t keep up, so some improvements in this area are urgently needed.
Since AI is largely software, improvements can still be made on existing iPhones, but thanks to the higher specs of the iPhone 18, an AI overhaul could really come into its own.
Fortunately, it looks like we’re in for some big improvements, though this might not be Apple’s fault. Instead, Apple would use a modified version of Google’s Gemini to power the long-awaited Siri AI update.
This update could reportedly arrive in March or April, ahead of the iPhone 18 series, which launches in September. But again, it’s likely to run faster, smoother, and generally better on the iPhone 18 lineup, and we may see some iPhone 18-specific AI features that will require next-gen hardware to work.
3. Zoom in at longer distances on Pro and Pro Max
iPhone 17 Pro Max
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max have decent telephoto lenses with 48 MP sensors that offer 4x optical zoom. It’s not far behind the competition, although models like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google Pixel 10 Pro zoom a good five times, but we’d like to see the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max get an edge.
Specifically, we’d like to see a zoom in the 10x range, although ideally it would also be possible to zoom to shorter distances, perhaps by adding an extra lens like Samsung does on its Ultra phones, or by equipping these phones with a variable zoom lens that can switch between optical distances.
This would allow Apple to also equip the base model of the iPhone 18 with a zoom camera (as previously requested) and at the same time prove that the iPhone 18 Pro is better if, for example, the base model only has 5x or 3x zoom.
4. Better battery technology
iPhone 17 Pro
When it comes to Apple’s phone batteries and charging specifications, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
The main thing we would see is higher capacity batteries, especially now that Chinese phones like the 7300mAh OnePlus 15 are leading the way.
Currently, the largest iPhone battery is just over 5000mAh, so we would like to see a significant increase in capacity for the iPhone 18 series, and ideally this would be achieved through the use of silicon-carbon batteries. OnePlus and a few others have used this technology to develop high-capacity batteries, as it allows more capacity in the same space, eliminating the need for thicker phones.
We’d also like to see an increase in charging speed, because while Apple is a little vague about charging specs, the company says the iPhone 17 Pro Max can charge up to 50% in 20 minutes with a 40W or higher adapter, or it can reach the same charge level in around 30 minutes with a 30W or higher MagSafe charger.
In comparison, the OnePlus 15 supports 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging, which in both cases means significantly more charging power than any iPhone before it.
If Apple were to increase the battery capacity, more charging power would be especially nice, but we’d really like that.
5. More RAM
iPhone 17 Pro Max
Finally, we wish the iPhone 18 series had more RAM than the iPhone 17 series. Current models get you 8GB on the iPhone 17 and 12GB on the Pro phones, which isn’t bad, but less than what many Android flagships offer.
Previously, this did not matter much, but in the era of artificial intelligence, RAM is becoming increasingly important, and especially if Apple wants to improve its capabilities in artificial intelligence, it would be good if this is accompanied by an increase in RAM.
Ideally, we’d like at least 12GB on the base iPhone 18 and 16GB on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and we wouldn’t say no to more.