Apple's flagship iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max seem to be proving popular in early sales, but how do they stack up in terms of new features? Here's everything new iPhone 17 Pro offers compared to last year's 16 Pro.
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come in the same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch sizes as their predecessors.
One advantage of this year's models is they can get even brighter outdoors, and have 2x better outdoor contrast.
Durability is a big area of improvement with iPhone 17 Pro, thanks to the new Ceramic Shield 2 with 3x better scratch resistance. There's also now a Ceramic Shield on the back of the iPhone, which 16 Pro didn't have.
iPhone 17 Pro comes with the new A19 Pro chip, which is supercharged by an "Apple-designed vapor chamber to enhance heat dissipation and performance."
Apple says the A19 Pro delivers "up to 40 percent better sustained performance than the previous generation -- ideal for gaming, video editing, and running large local language models."
On paper, both the iPhone 17 Pro and 16 Pro include:
The A19 Pro's GPU comes with Neural Accelerators -- which the A18 Pro didn't offer.
iPhone 17 Pro also has 50% more RAM, with 12GB versus the 8GB of the 16 Pro.
Cameras are a big area of focus for this year's iPhone 17 Pro line.
To start, 17 Pro's front camera uses a new Center Stage 18MP lens, up from the 12MP selfie camera on 16 Pro.
The Center Stage camera has a square sensor, enabling you to capture photos in portrait or landscape while still holding the iPhone vertically. Additionally, AI enables the camera to automatically expand its field of view when it detects more people entering the frame.
On the back of the iPhone 17 Pro is an array of three 48MP Fusion cameras: Main, Ultra Wide, and Telephoto.
Previously, only the Main camera carried the 'Fusion' billing.
The biggest changes are to the 48MP Telephoto lens, which is upgraded from 12MP in the 16 Pro and has a tetraprism design with a much larger sensor than before.
Telephoto now offers 4x and 8x optical zoom options, replacing the 5x zoom on 16 Pro. You can also digitially zoom up to 40x.
Video features new to iPhone 17 Pro include:
Videographers will be able to "precisely synchronize video across multiple cameras and inputs."
Finally, Dual Capture enables you to record video simultaneously on the front and back iPhone 17 Pro cameras.
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max include a new aluminum design, replacing titanium from the 16 Pro. And the rear camera bump has made way for a camera 'plateau' that's full-width.
Here's how Apple describes the 17 Pro design:
The new brushed aluminum unibody design is crafted with a lightweight aerospace-grade 7000-series aluminum alloy to deliver the best-ever thermal performance in an iPhone. On the back, the plateau creates additional space for internal components -- making room for a larger battery. The antennas are integrated around the perimeter for the highest-performing antenna system ever in an iPhone.
Colors might prove the most controversial change of Apple's Pro line.
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come in just three colors:
Pro users have long wanted more "fun" color options, and Apple definitely delivered on that front this year.
However, where things get controversial is in what's missing: there's no Black or Space Gray finish this year. No Gold or 'Desert' option is available either.
If you're the type of iPhone Pro user who always buys a black model, Apple's best option for you this year might be the iPhone Air.
Apple has made significant gains in battery life this year. It's given the smaller iPhone 17 Pro even better battery than last year's Pro Max model, while the 17 Pro Max hits even higher heights.
Here's how Apple says battery compares on the smaller Pro:
And here's the Pro Max:
Apple has big storage changes coming to this year's iPhone 17 lineup.
All iPhone 17 models, including the Pro and Pro Max, now start at 256GB of storage. With iPhone 16 Pro, the smaller model started at 128GB while only the Pro Max started at 256GB.
Also new this year: iPhone 17 Pro Max offers the first-ever 2TB storage option.
On the pricing front, despite persistent rumors of price hikes, Apple's new Pro models have good news.
If you want to upgrade storage, the 17 Pro Max will cost you $1,399 for 512GB, $1,599 for 1TB, and a whopping $1,999 for 2TB. iPhone 17 Pro has similar $200 bumps for 512GB and 1TB, but there's no 2TB option.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max offer a lot of changes and improvements over the 16 Pro.
Big upgrades to cameras and battery life provide users some of the most requested feature upgrades, and the performance boosts seem like they might be significant.
Then again, the iPhone 17 Pro's new aluminum unibody design might prove controversial, and the lack of Black or Space Gray finish might be too.
Did you upgrade from iPhone 16 Pro to 17 Pro? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.