Buyers of Apple’s new £1,199 iPhone 18 Pro say the phones are discoloring around the cameras days after unboxing, and Apple has not publicly answered the claims.
Less than a month after Apple launched the iPhone 18 Pro, customers are posting that their brand-new handsets already look worn. The complaints center on black and burgundy models, with marks and lighter patches showing up around the rear camera housing.
The Daily Mail reported that some owners sent units back for refunds or swaps after spotting the change just days out of the box. For a phone priced at £1,199, among Apple’s most expensive non-folding smartphones yet, that is a rough start.
The gripes spread on Reddit and other social media. Users described a lighter or pinkish area around the camera lenses compared with the rest of the housing. Several said they cleaned the surface carefully and still saw no oil, dirt, scratches, or dents that would explain it.
One buyer wrote:
"Hey everyone, I noticed that the area around my camera lenses looks slightly lighter/pinkish compared with the surrounding camera housing. There is no oil, residue, or dirt on the phone, and I've cleaned the area carefully. I'm also not seeing any scratches, dents, or physical damage."
Others piled on with matching accounts. One planned an Apple store visit the next day to swap a black unit for glacier. Another said a black iPhone 18 Pro Max arrived the same way. A burgundy Pro Max owner rejected the “just wipe it off” advice outright.
That user stated:
"I have the same thing on Burgundy Pro Max. Everyone that's saying you just need to wipe it off is wrong, it does not wipe off. It's a discoloration on the unit."
A separate post claimed the mark faded with wiping, then slowly returned within minutes, which that owner took as a sign it was not simple surface residue. At least one person said a unit was already on its way back to Apple.
Apple sells the iPhone 18 Pro in burgundy, glacier, white, or black. The finish uses dyed anodised aluminium, with pigment set into the metal’s honeycomb structure. That process can look sharp on day one. It also leaves room for wear, residue, or uneven coloring to show fast if anything goes wrong in manufacturing or daily use.
This is not the first time Apple’s colored aluminium has drawn heat. Last year, some iPhone 17 Pro buyers said the bright “Cosmic Orange” finish turned pink. Reporting at the time pointed to oxidation when the frame met cleaning chemicals or residue from hands, and noted that colored aluminium scratched more easily and could reveal metal underneath.
Now a new flagship cycle is under a month old, and black and burgundy 18 Pro owners are already describing lighter rings around the cameras. Apple’s marketing, meanwhile, has stayed on the usual high note.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, pitched the device as a major leap. He said the company advanced the areas users care about most, camera, performance, battery, and intelligence, and “took huge leaps forward to create the best Pro iPhone we've ever made.” He also highlighted variable aperture, Photographic Styles, and stronger video tools.
Those lines sell creativity and control. They do not address a finish that some paying customers say looks off before the first software update cycle is even old.
The Daily Mail said it contacted Apple for comment on the discoloration claims. No reply on that issue was quoted. There is no public count of affected devices, no official finding on whether the marks are manufacturing variation, coating wear, residue, or something else, and no clear word on whether replacements fixed the problem or repeated it.
What is on the record is the hardware pitch: a 6.3-inch display, A20 Pro chipset, rear 48MP Pro Fusion, Ultra Wide, and Telephoto cameras, an 18MP Center Stage front camera, and battery claims of up to 34 hours of video playback or 23 hours of typical use. Prices in the product range run from £1,199 to £2,399. The standard and higher Pro tiers were called Apple’s most expensive non-folding smartphones yet, at £1,199 and £1,299.
Customers who spend that kind of money are not asking for a science lecture. They want a phone that still looks new after a week on a desk or in a pocket. When multiple buyers say the camera surround lightens or pinks out within days, and some already ship units back, the company owes a straight answer, not another marketing reel about “huge leaps.”
Big Tech loves the launch-day glow. It is less eager when the finish fades before the credit-card statement clears. Paying top dollar should buy durability, not a return label and a Reddit thread.