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 lineup 00:30 Version History returns 02:08 Oregon Trail livestream plug 02:36 Apple camera geekout 02:59 Apple's new CEO Emmy moment 05:23 iPhone 18 Pro upgrades 08:33 Pro controls usability 11:46 RAW vs ProRAW explained 14:35 Signal to noise deep dive 21:35 Photographic styles debate 25:25 Reference Image authenticity 32:40 What we want next 41:40 AI safety drama begins 42:36 AI Safety Freakout 46:10 Liability And Regulation 51:34 China Race Narrative 54:43 Pace The Frontier Plan 55:54 Auditors Inside Labs 01:00:22 Prisoners Dilemma Problem 01:04:38 Accountability Dead End 01:08:45 Waymo Calls The Cops 01:14:56 The E Reader Race 01:19:56 Tiny Retro Cameras 01:26:32 Wrap Up And Goodbye Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices