CNET’s lab battery story, dated October 12, is not a camera essay. It is a 3-hour video stream over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness. When they stopped, the iPhone 18 Pro had the highest remaining charge in the group. The iPhone 18 Pro Max landed second. The 18 Pro starts at $1,199. The 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299.
We already ran 18 Pro against Galaxy S26 Ultra on color science and Pro Max against the same Ultra. Pixel 11 Pro versus 18 Pro is a different store aisle. This week’s increment is Apple versus Apple, with a charging brick in the middle.
The 3-hour test is the one that flipped the script
CNET streamed video for three hours, Wi-Fi, full brightness. 18 Pro finished first on remaining charge. 18 Pro Max finished second. The iPhone 17 Pro lost 8 percent more than the 18 Pro in the same test, which is the year-over-year line CNET wants you to notice. The $929 iPhone 17, $270 cheaper than the 18 Pro, placed fourth. CNET’s gloss: you do not need a $1,300 phone to get through a movie test.
Read that ranking as a ranking, not as “the Max is worse at being a phone.” A Max has a larger cell. It also has a larger panel. Full-brightness video is a panel tax. The smaller Pro won the specific test CNET published this week. If your day is 90 percent maps and camera, this ranking is a clue, not a sentence.
iOS 27 and the A20 Pro are the efficiency story CNET attaches to both new Pros. They also note Apple is raising prices. The lab is how they justify the sticker. The 3-hour test is the one where the cheaper new Pro looks like the adult.
60 watts is why the 18 Pro charged to 82 percent
CNET’s 30-minute wired test starts at 0 percent with the included cable. The 18 Pro added 82 percent and hit 53 percent at the 15-minute mark. The 17 Pro added 74 percent. That 8-point jump is the same size as the video-test gap, and CNET pins it on wattage: 18 Pro supports 60W, 17 Pro supported 40W. You still need a wall plug that can actually deliver it. The cable in the box is not a charger.
The 18 Pro Max added 77 percent in 30 minutes and 48 percent at 15 minutes. Last year’s 17 Pro Max added 69 percent. Another 8 points, same caveat about the brick.
The iPhone 17, in that wired test, went from empty to 69 percent, matching the 17 Pro Max. CNET keeps using the vanilla 17 as a spoiler. If your upgrade path is “I just want charging that does not crawl,” last year’s base model is still in the chart.
Wireless is the hangover. Both new Pros do 25W Qi2.2 via MagSafe, like the 17 Pro pair. In CNET’s 30-minute wireless test, the 17 Pro beat the new 18 Pro by 1 percent. The 18 Pro Max placed just after the iPhone Air. CNET reminds you the 18 Pro Max has the largest battery of any iPhone they tested, which is why a 30-minute wireless session looks slower as a percentage. Percentage is a mean way to score a big tank. Watt-hours would be kinder. They published percentages.
The 45-minute stress test still likes last year’s Plus
CNET’s 45-minute stress pass mixes games, video, social scrolling, and a video call at half brightness. 2024’s iPhone 16 Plus still holds the best result. The 18 Pro Max and 17 Pro Max tied for second, one point behind the 16 Plus. iPhone 17 took third. The 18 Pro placed last in that particular test. CNET’s cushion: the 18 Pro still beat Android phones they mention, including Pixel 11 Pro and Galaxy S26.
That is the chart you hand someone who games. The 3-hour video chart is the one you hand someone who watches. They do not pick the same winner.
CNET also says 17 Pro Max and 18 Pro Max endurance are nearly identical, with the new phone a point higher in one test. If a carrier is sitting on discounted 17 Pro Max units, that sentence is the whole review.
The Max is a 6.9-inch phone with a different modem
Max Buondonno’s Shortcut review, dated October 7, is the Max as a physical object. $1,299. 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR. A20 Pro. Variable aperture on the camera. Smaller Dynamic Island. He scored it 5/5. Cons he actually listed: more expensive than last year, ultra-wide is not great for nighttime video, thick and heavy.
The modem split is the detail the battery charts do not show. Shortcut says the base 18 Pro moved to Apple’s C2 modem. The 18 Pro Max still uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X80 5G. Buondonno on T-Mobile did not notice a wireless gap versus a colleague’s 18 Pro. He also says you will not really know the modem story until Apple puts C2 in the whole lineup.
If you buy a Max because you assume it has every new radio, you would be wrong this year. You are buying the panel and the cell. The smaller Pro is the one with the in-house modem.
Shortcut’s $100-over-last-year complaint matches CNET’s $1,299 starting price. Neither piece gives a trade-in table. Do that on your carrier site. The lab does not care what they offered you for a 15 Pro.
The Ultra numbers are context, not this matchup
GSMArena’s 18 Pro Max versus Galaxy S26 Ultra, October 6, is the comparison we already covered on camera. Useful here only as a ceiling. GSMArena puts the Max at 5,391mAh and the Ultra at 5,000mAh. Active Use Score 19 hours 20 minutes versus 16 hours 22 minutes, with the iPhone ahead on web, video, and gaming. Wired charging: Max up to 54W, Ultra up to 60W, both 25W wireless, Ultra still does reverse wireless.
AnTuTu 11: 3,463,072 on the Max, 3,892,165 on the Ultra. Geekbench 6: 12,794 versus 11,566. GSMArena gave CPU/GPU and sustained performance to Apple anyway. None of that decides 18 Pro versus 18 Pro Max. It tells you the Max is already winning the Android battery argument. You do not need to buy a Max to beat a Pixel in CNET’s 45-minute footnote. The 18 Pro did that while finishing last among iPhones in that one test.
CNET did not print an mAh number for the 18 Pro in the extract we have. I am not going to invent one. Shop the tests they ran, not a spec sheet I do not have.
Charging hardware is part of the price
CNET is explicit: 60W on the 18 Pro and the matching jump on the Max only happen if the wall plug can do those speeds. Apple still sells phones with a cable and without a brick. If you keep a 20W cube from 2022, you did not buy 60W. You bought a percentage chart you cannot reproduce at home.
Budget a charger. A 60W GaN brick is cheaper than the $100 gap between Pro and Max, and it is the only way the 18 Pro’s 82 percent in 30 minutes is real in your kitchen. The 15-minute marks (53 percent on Pro, 48 percent on Max) are the ones that matter at an airport. If you never drain to 0 percent, you will never see CNET’s exact numbers. You will still feel 60W versus 40W on a short cable session.
MagSafe 25W is the same number on 17 Pro and 18 Pro. Do not pay $1,199 to get last year’s wireless. Pay it for the wired jump and the 3-hour video result.
Heat is the missing column. CNET’s 45-minute mix at half brightness is closer to a pocket day than the full-brightness movie. The 18 Pro finishing last among iPhones in that mix is the caution if you game. The Max tying last year’s Max is the caution if you expected a generation leap in endurance. CNET said the two Maxes are nearly identical. Believe them.
GSMArena’s 54W on the Max versus CNET’s 60W on the 18 Pro is a reminder that “up to” numbers differ by lab. Use one lab per decision. This page uses CNET for the family fight and GSMArena only as the Android ceiling.
Who should spend the extra $100
Spend $1,199 on the 18 Pro if:
- You watched CNET’s 3-hour video ranking and felt seen
- You want 60W and you already own a GaN brick that can do it
- You want the C2 modem on day one
- You do not want a 6.9-inch slab in a jacket pocket
Spend $1,299 on the 18 Pro Max if:
- The 6.9-inch panel is the feature
- Your day looks like CNET’s 45-minute stress mix
- You are coming from a Plus/Max and hate smaller batteries even when a lab says the smaller Pro won a video test
- You do not care that Qualcomm is still in the radio
Skip both if a $929 iPhone 17 is enough, which CNET keeps implying in two different tests. That is not a cop-out. It is their fourth-place video result and their 69 percent wired result sitting in the same article as the $1,300 phones.
Winner here is the 18 Pro, on the evidence CNET published this week: first in the 3-hour test, faster 30-minute wired percentage, $100 less, newer modem. The Max is the screen. Buy the screen on purpose or do not buy it.
If you are coming from an 18 Pro Max rumor video, Shortcut’s thickness complaint is the one to test in a store. A 6.9-inch panel in a jacket is a different object than a 3-hour Wi-Fi movie on a lab jig. Pick up both. If the Max does not fit the pocket you actually use, CNET’s second-place finish will not make it smaller. If the Pro feels like last year’s phone in the hand, that is not a lab failure. That is why Apple still sells two SKUs.
Black is the finish Shortcut recommends this year. That is a taste note, not a battery note. It does not change the 3-hour ranking. It might change whether you notice fingerprints on a 6.9-inch slab.