The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max have been on sale for less than four weeks. In that time owners have reported seven problems with them. Three are fixed by a software update. The most serious one, a fault that cuts some phones off their mobile network, has no software fix.
So the question for anyone who owns one, or is about to buy one, is which problems are behind it and which aren’t. Here’s where each one stands on 14th October 2026.
| Problem | Phones | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Phone freezes and restarts after a failed Face ID scan | 18 Pro and Pro Max | Fixed in iOS 27.0.1 |
| Colour artefact in some 2x photos | A small number of 18 Pro and Pro Max units | Fixed in iOS 27.0.1 |
| Touchscreen stops responding with Notification Centre and Control Centre open | Any iPhone on iOS 27 | Fixed in iOS 27.0.1 |
| Phone loses all mobile service on AT&T | US 18 Pro Max | Updates meant to prevent it; phones already hit need replacing |
| Earpiece crackles, pops or clicks | 18 Pro and Pro Max | Not fixed, no word from Apple |
| Pale rings around the rear cameras | Burgundy and black 18 Pro and Pro Max | No word from Apple |
| Green or pink lines on the screen | A few owners, unconfirmed | No word from Apple |
Pro Max phones on AT&T that lose all service
Some iPhone 18 Pro Max owners in the US are losing mobile service completely. It happens on AT&T, a US mobile network, and Apple says it has only seen it on the Pro Max there. Calls, texts and mobile data stop, the signal bars usually turn into “SOS”, and AT&T says that can include 911 calls. Owners started reporting it on 19th September, the day after the phones went on sale.
Apple confirmed the fault on 2nd October. It says iOS 27.0.1 and an AT&T carrier settings update are “meant to help prevent this issue from occurring”. Carrier settings are the network settings your iPhone gets from your mobile operator, and they update separately from iOS. A phone that has already lost service can’t be brought back with software, though. It has to be swapped for a new one. Apple still hasn’t said what fails inside the phone, and it hasn’t added a repair programme to its list.
That’s a major problem for Apple. Its newest flagship can stop making calls, and more than three weeks after the first reports, Apple still hasn’t told owners why. We covered the fault in full earlier this week, including how to check your model number.
The three Apple fixed in iOS 27.0.1
The first fix is for a Face ID bug. Face ID is the face scan that unlocks the phone and apps you’ve locked. When a scan failed while opening a locked app, such as Passwords, the phone froze, stopped responding to touch and restarted to the lock screen a few seconds later. Covering your face and tapping “Try Face ID Again” was enough to set it off. One owner said Apple Support recommended swapping the phone, but it turned out to be software. Apple confirmed on 23rd September that a software fix was coming, and five days later it shipped.
That update, iOS 27.0.1, arrived on 28th September. Its release notes list two more fixes besides the Face ID one.
The second is a camera problem. A colour artefact, a patch of wrong colour, “may appear on photos captured at 2x under certain lighting conditions at f/1.48 on a small number of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max devices”. The f-number is the size of the opening that lets light into the camera, and the 18 Pro is the first iPhone that can change it. As we explained last month, six blades in the main camera open and close between four settings, and f/1.48 is the widest. So the artefact only showed up in 2x photos taken in certain light with the opening at its widest, and only on some phones.
The third is a touchscreen freeze. On 20th September an owner posted a video of their iPhone 18 Pro ignoring every swipe, and one reply blamed pulling down Notification Centre and Control Centre at the same time. Apple’s fix covers that case: opening both together could leave the screen unresponsive. Its note doesn’t limit this one to the 18 Pro, so older iPhones on iOS 27 could hit it too.
So if your phone is on iOS 27.0.1 or later, those three are behind you. Check in Settings, General, About, next to iOS Version.
The three Apple hasn’t said anything about
The speaker problem has outlasted the update. Since 20th September, owners have described a crackle, a faint tick or a pop from the earpiece, the speaker at the top of the screen you hold to your ear. Some hear it when notifications arrive or the keyboard comes up, others during calls, and on some phones turning Airplane Mode on and off sets it off. iOS 27.0.1 didn’t fix it, and some owners who swapped their phone got a replacement with the same noise. A second phone with the same crackle points to software, though Apple hasn’t said what causes it.
The second is cosmetic. Owners of burgundy and black models have posted photos of pale or lighter rings around the rear camera lenses. Some say the marks were there out of the box, others that they appeared later, and cleaning doesn’t always remove them. One widely shared post relayed an owner saying even display units in an Apple Store had the marks, and that Apple offered them a replacement. Nobody has shown what causes it. If you try to clean the marks off, Apple’s cleaning guidance says not to use anything with bleach or hydrogen peroxide on an iPhone.
The third is the weakest. A handful of posts claim green or pink lines running down the screen. The clearest evidence is two videos of one burgundy 18 Pro, and one widely shared photo shows a green line passing behind the Wi-Fi icon, which a faulty panel normally wouldn’t do. Nobody has ruled out drops or pressure on the phones in the videos. We’d treat this as unconfirmed until more owners show it.
If you’re in Kenya
The three software fixes reach every iPhone 18 Pro through Settings, General, Software Update, wherever you bought it. The AT&T fault has only been seen on a US network, though a US Pro Max can end up here as an import.
Anything the updates don’t fix means a trip to a repairer, and Apple lists three authorised service providers in Nairobi that handle iPhones. If your phone came from abroad, read Apple’s warranty first. It says Apple “may restrict warranty service for iPhone” to the country where it was originally sold. So a phone bought in Dubai may not get free repairs here. Earlier this month KRA stopped one passenger at JKIA with 40 iPhone 18 Pros from Dubai.
Three fixes in under a month is quick work, and the Face ID one came ten days after the phones went on sale. The two that matter most are still open, though: phones that can’t get their service back, and a crackle Apple hasn’t acknowledged. If you’re buying an 18 Pro now, make a call in the shop and listen to the earpiece, then check the camera surround before you leave.
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