The iPhone 18 Pro Max may end up breaking a record Apple would rather avoid: it is on track to become the heaviest iPhone the company has ever shipped. Fresh leaks suggest that Apple’s 2026 flagship will tip the scales at around 243 grams and gain a little thickness compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. 
On paper that may look like a small numerical jump, but anyone who has spent a full day holding a big Pro Max knows that a few extra grams can decide whether your wrist loves or hates your phone.
According to the leak, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will cross the 240-gram line, overtaking the already chunky iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro Max, both rated at 240 grams. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is rumored to sit at about 233 grams, so the new model could arrive roughly 10 grams heavier and slightly thicker than its 8.8 mm predecessor. In other words, Apple seems to be moving away from a “thin and light at all costs” philosophy for its most premium iPhone.
That choice is especially striking after the lukewarm reception of the iPhone Air, a device that tried to sell itself on being slimmer and lighter while quietly cutting corners on hardware. If the leaks are accurate, Apple has looked at the Air’s sales charts and decided that most buyers care far more about performance, battery life, and camera upgrades than about shaving a few grams off the spec sheet.
Why is the iPhone 18 Pro Max getting heavier?
Weight rarely increases without a reason. Several changes are reportedly planned for the iPhone 18 Pro series, and together they add up. Insiders point to upgraded camera modules, a redesigned battery with a steel housing, and a shift to under-display Face ID hardware. All of those components either need more space, more metal, or both.
The single biggest suspect, as usual, is the battery. If Apple wants to power a brighter display, more demanding cameras, and next-generation chipsets while keeping all-day endurance, capacity has to go up. A steel-cased battery could also improve durability and thermal behavior, but it almost certainly adds grams. Even if we do not yet have exact battery specs, a heavier and thicker body strongly hints that Apple is packing more inside.
The comfort problem: when grams start to matter
On a spec sheet, 243 grams might not look dramatic. As some fans jokingly point out, it’s 240 grams, not 240 kilograms. But real-world comfort is about more than jokes and numbers. Long sessions of one-handed use, gaming, or doomscrolling a timeline during your commute can make a heavy slab feel like a tiny dumbbell. Anyone who used the iPhone 14 Pro Max knows how quickly that weight can become annoying over the course of a day.
That backlash was one of the reasons Apple abandoned stainless steel in favor of lighter materials in later Pro models. For users with smaller hands, or those who don’t want to risk wrist strain, another jump in weight could be enough to push them toward the standard iPhone models or even to rival brands that are chasing thin-and-light designs.
Is Apple making the right bet?
If Apple is truly basing its direction on the iPhone Air’s underwhelming performance, it may be misreading the situation. The Air did not struggle because it was light; it struggled because it felt compromised and overpriced. People do not hate light phones. They hate paying premium money for something that obviously cuts corners on cameras, battery, or display.
As an owner of a smaller Pro model, I know first-hand how important a manageable weight is in everyday life. Sliding a heavy Pro Max into a pocket, holding it above your face in bed, or using it as your main camera on vacation can all go from pleasant to irritating once you cross a certain threshold. The iPhone 18 Pro Max might deliver incredible camera upgrades and marathon battery life, but if it becomes noticeably more tiring to hold, a portion of the audience will simply opt out.
Apple now faces a tricky balance. Enthusiasts will gladly accept a few extra grams for bigger sensors, longer battery life, and futuristic under-display Face ID. Others will look at that same spec sheet, remember how their wrists felt with past Pro Max models, and decide that “heaviest iPhone ever” is not the kind of record they want in their pocket.
One thing is already clear: if these leaks pan out, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will reign as the heavyweight champion of Apple’s lineup. Whether that title becomes a selling point or a meme depends on how convincingly Apple can justify every extra gram.