According to industry sources on the 29th, Apple distributed "iOS 27.0.1," the latest OS version addressing the errors, to iPhone 18 Pro series users that day. Apple released "iOS 27," which ships on the devices, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro series on the 14th local time. iOS 27 drew user anticipation as the first version to support "Apple Intelligence," the company's suite of artificial intelligence features including the AI agent "Siri AI."
But the update process brought errors large and small. The most prominent was the "panic full" bug, in which the iPhone unintentionally freezes, shuts down and restarts when facial recognition authentication via "Face ID" fails. The name comes from the "panic full" error record left in the device's analytics logs.
Other reported problems included color distortion in photos taken at 2x zoom with the f/1.48 aperture under certain lighting conditions, and an unresponsive touchscreen when the notification center and control center are opened simultaneously. After roughly two weeks of reports from users around the world, the iOS version fixing the errors arrived on the 29th.
The iPhone 18 Pro series had already drawn criticism for its high price and relatively lagging AI performance immediately after its unveiling, and the latest glitches have added to some users' frustration. In South Korea, the "iPhone 18 Pro Max" starts at 2.19 million won for the entry-level 256GB model and runs to 3.99 million won for the top-end 2TB model.
Last year's "iPhone 17 Pro Max" 2TB model topped 3 million won at 3.19 million won; a 800,000-won increase in just one year now puts the price effectively close to 4 million won. Compared with the top-end 1TB model of Samsung Electronics' "Galaxy S26 Ultra" (2,545,400 won), Apple's 1TB model costs 544,600 won more and the 2TB model 1,444,600 won more.
The smaller-screen "iPhone 18 Pro" also ranges from 1.99 million to 3.79 million won, likewise approaching 4 million won. At comparable specifications, it is 200,000 to 500,000 won more expensive than the previous "iPhone 17 Pro." U.S. prices also rose by as much as $500 from the previous generation, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max at $1,299 to $2,499 and the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 to $2,399.
The AI features headlined by Siri AI and Apple Intelligence are still seen as trailing rivals. Unlike Samsung Electronics, which has adopted outside technology through partnerships with Google and Perplexity, Apple has bet on developing AI in-house, as it does with its A-series application processors. But its performance has been judged inferior to that of other big tech firms, earning Apple a reputation as an AI latecomer.
Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, but development delays kept it from shipping on time with that year's iPhone 16 series, even leading to lawsuits from consumers. Apple Intelligence formally launched only with this iPhone 18 Pro, but rivals have rolled out more advanced features in the meantime, leaving the assessment that Apple remains behind in the AI race. Samsung Electronics, by contrast, is advancing "Galaxy AI," which integrates Google's "Gemini" and Perplexity's AI alongside its own AI agent "Bixby."
The Wall Street Journal reported on the 15th local time that "Apple has finally built a smarter Siri, but it is still behind in the AI race," adding that "Siri now has chatbot capabilities, but AI agents such as 'Instinct' and 'Muse' are stealing the attention."
