iPhone 18 Pro
Spoot: Spotted Early keeps iPhone 18 Pro in one place: 3 stories so far. The section currently leads with “Halide's new update gives the iPhone 18 Pro's aperture the fine-tuning it deserved”, “Apple's own code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends”, and “The iPhone 18 Pro's aperture is a four-trick pony: until you side-load”. Halide's new update doesn't just add aperture control to the iPhone 18 Pro's main camera; it gives the thing the fine-tuning it always deserved. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every iPhone 18 Pro story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
Halide's new update gives the iPhone 18 Pro's aperture the fine-tuning it deserved
Halide's new update doesn't just add aperture control to the iPhone 18 Pro's main camera; it gives the thing the fine-tuning it always deserved. While the native iOS app doles out a stingy four presets, Halide Mark III pushes past BlackMagic and Moment Pro Camera II's ten-step increments to offer something closer to a photographer's actual muscle memory. That's the kind of obsessive, spec-sheet-burrowing detail Spoot lives for, the footnote that makes the marketing copy feel like a shrug. It's still a phone camera, sure, but now it bends to your thumb instead of the other way around. If you're already circling the weird edges of mobile photography, our related piece on Apple's code whispering about three new gadgets might be your next tab. Stay spooty.
Apple's own code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends
Apple's code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends, and honestly, that's the kind of gossip we live for. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris dug up images and details pointing to a refreshed HomePod mini, an iPad mini 8, and an Apple TV 4K, all expected after this month's iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone Duo debut. The HomePod mini 2 reportedly keeps the original's shape from late 2020, which is fine, but I'm side-eyeing the color situation. The current model pops in orange, yellow, and blue; if the leak's images suggest a muted palette, that's a quiet downgrade for a speaker that made brightness its personality. We'll see what ships.
The iPhone 18 Pro's aperture is a four-trick pony: until you side-load
Four clicks. That's the whole aperture dial on the iPhone 18 Pro's main camera in the native app: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. It feels stingy for a variable iris that should be a playground. But here's the razor clam: Apple's SDK lets third-party apps grab granular control, and BlackMagic's free Camera app is already poking at it. So the hardware isn't the limit; the software just plays it shy. I love that. It turns a spec-sheet footnote into a dare for developers. Who is this for? Anyone who wants their phone to stop pretending a four-step ladder is a staircase. If you're hunting for other hardware that hides its best tricks, Honor's new flagship, with that Arri-assisted camera, is worth a peek.