A group of iPhone 18 Pro Max owners in the United States say they cannot make calls on AT&T. Texts and mobile data are failing as well. Some owners also report that the eSIM will not provision on the phone at all.
MacRumors reported the problem after complaints collected on its own forums, on Reddit and in the Apple Support Community. Its report names the affected model as the iPhone 18 Pro Max. AppleInsider, reporting separately, says the smaller iPhone 18 Pro is caught up in this too. The two outlets do not agree on how wide the problem runs.
What iPhone 18 Pro Max owners are seeing
The described symptoms differ slightly between the two reports. AppleInsider describes calls that cannot be placed or received while Wi-Fi calling keeps working normally. Signal on affected handsets either fluctuates or drops to SOS only. AppleInsider’s report says the trouble began at activation.
- Per MacRumors: no connection to AT&T for calls, texts or data, plus eSIM provisioning failures for some owners.
- Per AppleInsider: cellular calls fail while Wi-Fi calling works, signal reads SOS only or swings around, and eSIM handling is the suspected root cause.
- Devices named: iPhone 18 Pro Max by MacRumors, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max by AppleInsider.
Modem differences do not settle it
MacRumors points out one hardware quirk worth knowing about. The US iPhone 18 Pro Max is the only new iPhone this generation that ships with a Qualcomm cellular modem. The smaller iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone Duo and non-US Pro Max units all use Apple’s own C2 modem instead. MacRumors says it is unclear whether that split has anything to do with these failures. If AppleInsider is right that the iPhone 18 Pro is affected too, the modem cannot be the whole story.
What Apple and AT&T have said
Very little. Neither outlet reports any statement from Apple about this specific issue. AppleInsider cites one podcast listener who says AT&T acknowledged the trouble and suggested switching back to a previous iPhone. That is a secondhand account from a podcast listener, not a statement from the carrier itself. As of 26 September, no official word from either company has surfaced.
What iPhone 18 Pro Max buyers can do right now
There is no reliable fix. AppleInsider notes that workarounds shared in a Reddit thread are not working consistently, so treat them as guesses rather than solutions. Wi-Fi calling is the only stopgap either report describes as dependable. Apple is reportedly testing iOS 27.0.1 for release next week according to MacRumors, and it may carry carrier-related changes. Nothing ties that build to this problem, so do not buy on the assumption it lands as a fix.
Paying flagship money for a phone that parks itself on SOS-only service is a bad deal. If you are on AT&T and shopping for an iPhone 18 Pro Max, waiting a couple of weeks costs you nothing.
This is a separate problem from the random-reboot issue tied to Face ID that androidpure covered earlier this week. That one has a fix on the way. This one has no timeline at all.
Sources: MacRumors, AppleInsider
