SmallRig iPhone 18 Cinema Kit Introduced – HawkLock Cage, 67mm Screw-On Filters, $190 All-in-One Kit

by Alexandra ThompsonSeptember 13^th, 2026

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SmallRig brought a complete redesign of its iPhone rigging line to IBC 2026, built around the HawkLock quick-release system and a case that finally accepts standard 67mm screw-on filters instead of proprietary magnetic ones. We spoke to Manny Moreno at the booth about the all-in-one kit for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which is $190 with preorders open now.

The timing is unusually tight. Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max days before IBC opened, and SmallRig already had a full accessory line on the stand. SmallRig has been building phone cages since the iPhone 13 generation, so the speed is normal for the company at this point, but the product behind it is not a carryover: Manny described it as a redesign running from the case outward to every mounting solution around it, rather than a new shell wrapped around the previous year’s hardware.

His framing for why any of this matters went beyond social content. Phones are increasingly bolted onto cinema cameras on set, riding on top of bodies like the Sony BURANO and RED cameras to gather data and lighting information for virtual production work, and until now that has meant clamps, 1/4″-20 threads, and whatever improvised rigging the crew could assemble. The argument for a proper cage is that the attachment becomes a designed part rather than a workaround.

A cage built on the HawkLock system

The entire exterior of the new cage runs on HawkLock, the slide-and-click quick release SmallRig introduced across its range over the past few years. Press a button, slide the accessory on or off. The same phone can go from bare to cased to fully rigged and back without tools.

What changes on this generation is where the mounting points sit. SmallRig has added repositionable HawkLock H11 quick-release mounts around the cage, so compatible handles and accessories can slide into place and be repositioned along the mounting area without screws, whereas the quick-release points on the iPhone 16 and 17 cages were fixed. That matters for balancing a rig with a handle on one side and a monitor or light on the other, and for clearing accessories that would otherwise collide. The 1/4″-20 threads remain on the cage itself for anything that does not use the proprietary system.

Handles, rails, and a joystick

The accessory list around the cage is long. There is a joystick controller, a fixed handle, rounded wooden handles, and an ambidextrous wooden handle. Manny’s own pick was the NATO rail piece, which combines a HawkLock interface, a NATO rail, 1/4″-20 threads, and cold shoe receivers in a single part.

That combination is the more interesting engineering decision. It means the new system doesn’t orphan the NATO accessories a shooter already owns, and it gives a path back to older SmallRig handles people are used to holding. Locking a rig into a single proprietary interface is the standard failure mode of phone cages, and this is SmallRig deliberately not doing that.

The case is where the real change is

The case has been split into thirds, and each third does a job. The MagSafe area has been left clean and open so that third-party MagSafe accessories still attach.

The lens and filter section occupies another third and accepts clip-on filters as well as screw-on ones. The bottom third looks like a kickstand, but it’s more than that: pull it out and fold it over to create a grip, so you can hook your fingers rather than hold the phone in a closed fist. Anyone who has shot handheld video on a phone for more than a few minutes will understand why that is on the list.

The case also works entirely on its own. That is the point Manny kept returning to, and it addresses a practical limitation of previous generations: if you only want to add an ND or diffusion filter, you no longer need to build out the full cage first.

67mm filters, without the proprietary requirement

The redesigned case can now take standard 67mm screw-on filters, removing the need to use SmallRig’s own magnetic receiver and matching magnetic filters. That means you can use existing 67mm ND, polarizer, or diffusion filters directly, along with step-up or step-down rings. Users who prefer magnetic filters can still add their own 67mm magnetic adapter.

For iPhone shooters who only want to add an ND or diffusion filter without building out the full cage, that is a small but genuinely useful change.

Lens plates and what ships in the kit

Two mounting plates handle lenses. SmallRig’s own T-mount plate carries the company’s macro, anamorphic, and telephoto options, and a second backing plate provides the 17mm screw-on thread used by most third-party phone lenses. The cinema kit includes both, and either can be bought separately for use with just the case.

The all-in-one kit contains the cage, the 17mm backing plate, the T-mount backing plate, the filter kit, the top rail, and the side handles. Versions exist for both the iPhone 18 Pro and the Pro Max, and SmallRig has a cover for the foldable iPhone Duo as well. A wallet, SSDs, and further handles round out the wider launch.

On compatibility, Manny’s answer was worth pinning down. The new cases are backward compatible with the iPhone 17, so a 17 owner can buy into the new system instead of being locked out. The reverse does not hold: the previous iPhone 17 case will not fit the new cage. SmallRig has not yet clarified which iPhone 17 models it covers.

Price and availability

For context, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, which puts the full SmallRig kit at roughly 15% on top of the phone itself. Whether that kind of rig makes sense still comes down to how far you want to push a smartphone camera, something we’ve explored repeatedly in our iPhone lab tests.

The all-in-one kit is $190, with a range of smaller bundles also available, and SmallRig says pricing will be adjusted to the market over time. Preorders are open now, and the kits are expected to ship in time to arrive with the phones.

For more information, visit the SmallRig website.

Standard 67mm threads and a case that works without the cage are two genuinely useful changes. Are you rigging a phone on set yet? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!