Apple has announced a free replacement program for certain iPhone 18 Pro Max units. The reason is persistent connectivity issues causing affected smartphones to completely lose their cellular connection. Based on current information, the issue occurs specifically on the network of US carrier AT&T.
Replacement instead of software update
The fact that Apple is replacing affected devices outright rather than resolving the bug via a software update points to a hardware defect in the manufactured units. However, neither Apple nor AT&T has publicly disclosed the exact technical cause of the connection drop, as Borncity reports.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max was only released on September 18, 2026. The product line had already made headlines recently, for instance when a Face ID bug in iOS 27 caused system crashes or when it became known that Apple uses slower QLC storage in expensive models. However, the complete loss of cellular reception is a particularly severe blow to mobile reachability.
Limited group of users
According to Apple, only a small number of users are affected by the issue. Furthermore, based on current findings, the problem is narrowly confined:
- Only the top-tier iPhone 18 Pro Max model is affected.
- The regular iPhone 18 Pro does not exhibit the issue.
- The drop in connectivity has so far only occurred on AT&T’s network; customers of other US carriers such as T-Mobile or Verizon have reported no such outages.
What does this mean for users in Germany?
Based on current information, consumers in Germany and Europe do not need to take any action. So far, the issue is strictly limited to devices on the AT&T network in the US. Anyone who has imported an affected US device and experiences connectivity issues should contact Apple Support directly to arrange a free device replacement.
Sources: Borncity.com
