‘It just completely SHUT DOWN’: iPhone 18 Pro Max user complains during Apple Pay

A new iPhone 18 Pro Max owner has complained that the device completely shut down while being used to pay a restaurant bill with Apple Pay, raising fresh concerns about unexpected shutdowns on Apple's latest flagship.

"Was paying my restaurant bill with Apple Pay on my brand new iPhone 18 Pro Max and it just completely SHUT DOWN. It didn’t turn back on for 5 minutes straight. What is wrong with Apple this year man," a user named Sid wrote on X, along with a video.

The complaint comes days after Apple released iOS 27.0.1, a software update aimed at fixing a Face ID-related crash affecting the iPhone 18 Pro. Apple released the update on Sunday after publicly committing to a fix earlier in the week.

The Face ID issue involved a kernel-level failure that could cause affected devices to enter an uncontrolled reboot when biometric authentication failed inside apps.

The update is available for all iPhones compatible with iOS 27. However, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max users who have experienced unexpected restarts have been advised to treat the update as a priority.

Why is the iPhone 18 Pro facing Face ID restart issues?

The Face ID problem is linked to a major hardware change Apple made to the iPhone 18 Pro, which features a smaller Dynamic Island.

Since the iPhone X, Apple's Face ID system has housed three key components — a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser dot projector, a flood illuminator and an infrared camera — inside a single compact module.

The dot projector sends more than 30,000 infrared dots onto a user's face, while the flood illuminator and infrared camera work with the projected pattern to authenticate the user.

That integrated arrangement meant the three components operated with the same relative geometry, an assumption reflected in the iOS driver stack.

With the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple moved the infrared camera out of the Face ID module and placed it under the display in the upper-left corner. Modified pixel structures above the camera allow infrared light to pass through.

The dot projector and flood illuminator remain inside the Dynamic Island.

A teardown by repair channel REWA Technology found that the repositioned infrared camera is connected to the rest of the Face ID array through three separate cable assemblies, rather than the integrated module used in previous iPhone generations.

The hardware change, combined with the software architecture around Face ID, is at the centre of the restart problem that Apple addressed with iOS 27.0.1.