The real story of the iPhone 18 Pro's camera

This week's iPhone 18 Pro discourse made aperture a priority, but today on Vergecast we zoom out to talk about the state of smart phone photography at large. Executive editor Jake Kastrenakes, guest host David Imel and senior reviewer Allison Johnson get into manual controls, "buckets of photons," and Apple and Google's strategies on how to prove a picture you took is real. Then, senior AI reporter Hayden Field returns to The Vergecast, just a few new revelations of misaligned behavior since her last appearance. She breaks down who's calling for a slowdown, who's full steam ahead, and the prisoner's dilemma facing the industry. And in the lightning round, we cover robotaxis calling the cops, the Boox Palma 3 e-reader, and the latest crop of intentionally low-quality digital cameras. Further reading: Version History: Oregon trail iPhone 18 Pro review: it's all about the manual controls The variable aperture isn’t the cool part of the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera Apple’s new iPhone camera mode promises to prove your photo isn’t AI Inside the suddenly explosive world of AI safety Your robotaxi might be a narc Waymo pulls over, calls cops on riders with a ghost gun The Boox Palma 3 gets stylus support and a sleek redesign Camp Snap’s 110D gives slim retro film cameras a digital upgrade Fujifilm’s Instax Pal 2 is a tiny digital camera that may not disappoint Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. 0:00 Welcome and lineup00:30 Version History returns02:08 Oregon Trail livestream plug02:36 Apple camera geekout02:59 Apple's new CEO Emmy moment05:23 iPhone 18 Pro upgrades08:33 Pro controls usability11:46 RAW vs ProRAW explained14:35 Signal to noise deep dive21:35 Photographic styles debate25:25 Reference Image authenticity32:40 What we want next41:40 AI safety drama begins42:36 AI Safety Freakout46:10 Liability And Regulation51:34 China Race Narrative54:43 Pace The Frontier Plan55:54 Auditors Inside Labs01:00:22 Prisoners Dilemma Problem01:04:38 Accountability Dead End01:08:45 Waymo Calls The Cops01:14:56 The E Reader Race01:19:56 Tiny Retro Cameras01:26:32 Wrap Up And Goodbye Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices