The iPhone 17 Pro Bulks Up On Features and Is Better For It

There’s little ambiguity about the Apple iPhone 17 Pro this year. It gets a little bigger and heavier to make a show of putting function over form and separating itself from the iPhone Air. As such, there wasn’t one specific feature— beit a 48MP telephoto lens, or extreme battery life—that makes this phone a Pro.

Instead, I found the sum of its parts to be worth the overall stature and lack of thinness.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

8/10

SoC: A19 Pro chip
Display: 6.3-inches
Storage: 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Ports: USB-C

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro is the company’s most powerful smartphone to date, offering impressive cameras and the A19 Pro chip. It lets you do practically anything, including shooting quality videos.

Pros & Cons

Great battery life
Excellent camera system
Better thermals and performance over last year
Available colors look great

No black color
Aluminum can be slippery, less premium

Price and Availability

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 for 256GB of storage. Additional storage capacities for the 17 Pro include: 512GB and 1TB. The Pro Max is the model that goes up to 2TB and costs a whopping $1,999.

Both Pro models are available in three colors: silver, orange, and blue. The iPhone 17 Pro models are the only ones without a black option this year.

Specifications

8/10

SoC: A19 Pro chip
Display: 6.3-inches
Storage: 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Ports: USB-C
Operating System: iOS
Colors: Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue
Display type: Super Retina XDR display Footnote

These Specs Make the Pro Model Professional

Even though most people probably won’t be upgrading from last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, this year’s model does, in fact, add some nice updates from just a year ago. The iPhone 17 Pro is powered by an A19 Pro chip for better all-around performance. For protection, the front has a Ceramic Shield 2 with three times better scratch resistance. And for the first time, there’s also a Ceramic Shield on the back.

The cameras, front and back, have been upgraded with new sensors. There’s faster charging available. The battery life has increased. A vapor chamber and aluminum unibody design should help keep the phone cooler and more performant. All around, there are nips, tucks, and tweaks to push this specific phone out of the role of needing to cater to everyone and be as advanced as it can be. For the first time, that also means getting a bold orange color option.

By the way, when speaking about the iPhone 17 Pro, that mostly includes the Pro Max too. That device has a larger screen and battery capacity, which means it costs more. But beyond those stretched-out dimensions, the two Pro phones align on nearly every spec.

The Change to Aluminum Is a Double-Edged Sword

It’s not just the addition of the orange color that will be instantly noticeable. But anyone who’s touched an iPhone 15 Pro or 16 Pro should instantly feel the switch from titanium to aluminum. It’s smoother and slicker in the hand. Although the new phone feels fine to hold, it certainly doesn’t feel as premium as last year’s. For the first time in a few years, I found myself gravitating towards using a case. Last year, I didn’t.

The trade-off for using aluminum is hopefully a cooler phone, temperature-wise. The material should dissipate heat better. The iPhone 17 Pro also includes deionized water that’s sealed inside a vapor chamber and welded to the phone’s frame, which is designed to move heat away from the A19 Pro chip.

In practical terms, this year’s phone shouldn’t throttle speed or screen brightness as quickly. This will take more long-term testing to evaluate fully, but so far, the 17 Pro does seem to stay cooler for longer. In direct sunlight, I didn’t see it dim as quickly as last year’s iPhone Pro.

It’s hard to argue that people should upgrade for minor improvements like this, but for people upgrading regardless, it’s these details that will make day-to-day use much better.

Photography Is the iPhone 17 Pro’s Most Obvious Advantage

Apple iPhone 17 Pro with light shining on the camera lenses

If you’ve ever uttered the words, “My phone is my camera,” or “This is my camera that makes calls,” then you’re a 17 Pro person. There are three primary lenses on the back, all of which are 48MP now.

The main focus is the better 48MP telephoto camera. Last year, the 16 Pro featured 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 5x levels of designated focal lengths. This year, that changes to 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. The 2x is a crop of the main camera sensor, while the 8x is a crop of the 4x telephoto sensor. Still, despite some of the methods used to achieve these different zooms, each of the stops looks crisp and clear to my eyes.

Of course, you can go beyond 8x if you want, but I found even for the baseball fields and distant sports shots, that’s a sweet spot for zoom and clarity.

These unedited example photos go in order from the ultra-wide focal length to the most zoomed in.

Here are some unedited examples from the main camera at the 35mm equivalent.

The improved telephoto sensor is a noticeable improvement, but the new 18MP Center Stage front camera is the bigger deal. The sensor is now square, so it can produce landscape and portrait shots without rotating the phone.

The Center Stage part of the camera refers to its ability to keep you centered, even if you begin to drift from one side to another. If you’re the only person in the frame, then it can zoom in on you. But if you’re joined by other faces, then it can automatically zoom out to include more people as well.

The new functionality works well, but it’s a little disorienting to see it in practice. It’s taken me several days to try and build new muscle memory for how this works, and that I don’t have to turn my phone and hold it awkwardly for landscape selfies.

I’m hoping that within a few weeks, it won’t be as jarring and will feel more natural. The camera is great and its features are well implemented, but it’s going to take time to get used to them.

Here are some unedited examples of the front camera. All of these were shot with the photo held vertically. The first two are generic portrait and landscape cropped orientations, and the last two are the same but using Apple’s blurred Portrait mode.

Apple Intelligence and iOS 26 Might Be Frustrating

The iPhone 17 Pro comes with iOS 26 installed. Whether you’re ready to get Apple’s latest software or not, it’s what you’ll be using. Of course, the new operating system isn’t unique to this device and is available for phones as old as the iPhone 12.

Liquid Glass is the interface design language that adds a glossy transparent look. Ever since it was announced, it’s been divisive among people. However, after several weeks using it in beta form and another week in public form, I don’t mind the operating system.

In the context of the iPhone 17 Pro, I have experienced a few visual glitches. I’ve seen the lock screen act jumpy and glitchy. Just be aware that you’ll probably see some bugs for a month or two.

Apple Intelligence is still very present on the iPhone 17 Pro, but the phone doesn’t have any exclusive AI features. If this will be your first phone with Apple’s AI integrations, you should try holding down the camera control button to activate Apple Visual Intelligence to gain insights into what you point the camera at.

Battery Life, Charging, and Power Management Are Top-Notch

Focus on the front camera of the Apple iPhone 17 Pro.

If the camera system is one of the main reasons you want to upgrade your phone this year, then battery life should be the other reason. Even from one year to the next, I’m finding the additional battery is noticeable. With fairly constant use, I was able to go from 7:50 AM to 8:00 PM without charging and still have 29% battery life remaining.

In the Battery Usage section of Settings, it reported those figures were with 7 hours and 50 minutes of the screen being active. On another day, with 3 hours and 10 minutes of active screen time, I made it from 7:00 AM until 8:30 PM with 50% battery remaining.

The difference in stated battery life from last year’s phone to this one is six hours of additional battery life for playing videos—33 hours up from 27. That won’t translate to a direct six hours longer usage for all tasks, but it should be a noticeable bump for all kinds of general tasks.

On eSIM iPhone models, Apple has specifically said it reclaimed the area previously used for a SIM slot for more battery. So, there are hardware additions contributing to better performance. On top of that, iOS 26’s adaptive battery management could help you get a little more usage time, too.

I also saw faster charging speeds than last year’s model. Wirelessly, this phone supports Qi2 25W, which can take a battery from 0 to 50% in about 20 minutes. You will need upgraded accessories for this, but it shouldn’t be too long before more chargers released are Qi2 25W capable.

Should You Buy the Apple iPhone 17 Pro?

A hand holding the Apple iPhone 17 Pro in orange

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro is the best phone the company can offer right now. If you want the most advanced and pocketable device, then this (or the Pro Max, for larger pockets) is it. I like that Apple is continuing to make the Pro models a little bigger and heavier in the name of battery life, thermal performance, and camera features. So, in that regard, the company nailed the objective and put out a really good high-end product.

It doesn’t hurt that if you like orange as a color, then this should be a compelling device for you. Orange isn’t a particular favorite color of mine, but I still find this hue intriguing. It’s bold but not outlandish. It’s just authentically colorful.

And while I don’t recommend buying any device strictly based on its color, I don’t think it’s a terrible excuse if you need one final reason to help you justify the purchase.

If you were hoping that this year’s Pro phone would get smaller, lighter, or cheaper, then you’re probably disappointed. The good news is that Apple made a phone for you in the iPhone Air. It’s just not quite as Pro, though.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

8/10

SoC: A19 Pro chip
Display: 6.3-inches
Storage: 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Ports: USB-C

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro is the company’s most powerful smartphone to date, offering impressive cameras and the A19 Pro chip. It lets you do practically anything, including shooting quality videos.