The iPhone 17 Professional is Apple’s most daring redesign in years, and I believe it pays off

With the iPhone 17 Professional, it seems like Apple is lastly concentrating on a really “skilled” viewers, particularly now that the 120Hz refresh rate-equipped iPhone 17 is clearly the cellphone for everybody, and the super-thin iPhone Air is laying the groundwork for Apple’s future iPhone plans.

With that in thoughts, a lot of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max’s updates are focused at customers that care about images, together with a revamped telephoto digital camera that helps 8x zoom via sensor cropping and the front-facing shooter’s helpful new Middle Stage digital camera.

Then there’s the polarizing redesign, which contains a panel-shaped digital camera bump, a two-tone rear, and an aluminum construct. I initially disliked this look, but it surely has grown on me considerably over the previous a number of days, and I would even go as far as to say that it is my favourite iPhone design but, particularly the new vibrant orange color (this evaluation options silver). In relation to Apple’s merchandise, design typically issues greater than anything, and in an uncharacteristic transfer, the tech big actually took an opportunity with the iPhone 17 Professional’s look.

4.5/5

Model

Apple

SoC

A19 Professional

Show

6.3-inch 1206 x 2622 pixel decision Tremendous Retina XDR OLED, 120Hz, HDR10, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, 1000 nits / 1600 nits peak brightness

RAM

N/A

The iPhone 17 Professional is Apple’s next-generation flagship smartphone, with a brand new aluminum unibody design, a full-width digital camera plateau, the A19 Professional chipset, and a 6.3-inch show.

Execs & Cons

• Beautiful new design
• 8x sensor crop zoom is nice
• New selfie digital camera impresses

• Not that a lot of an improve over the iPhone 16
• New look won’t be for everybody
• Early stories point out aluminum physique scratches simply

The iPhone 17 Professional’s new look is undeniably polarizing

It is a jarring change at first, however I am an enormous fan of the design now

After I first caught a glimpse of the iPhone 17 Pro during Apple’s reveal keynote, I used to be confused. Why is the digital camera bump so huge? Is that even glass? Why the change to aluminum? Now that I’ve used the cellphone for over every week, and I’ve spent the previous week with the silver iPhone 17 Professional, I can confidently say that I actually like the brand new look.

The rounded edges are again, marking the primary time Apple has adopted a softer search for the iPhone because the iPhone 11. Whereas I just like the squared-off iPhone look from the previous few years, this softer form is a welcome shift, and in a means, it feels sort of nostalgic. With the iPhone 17 Professional, there’s an attention-grabbing distinction between the aluminum unibody and the ceramic-and-glass sq. panel on the rear. For instance, the silver shade contains a white again panel, whereas the cosmic orange colorway has a barely lighter shade of orange. This differentiation stands out and appears cool. It additionally works as a visible goal for MagSafe equipment.

Whereas the iPhone 17 Professional options an aluminum unibody, the again panel is constructed of Ceramic Defend, which Apple says is extra immune to cracks. Moreover, the tech big claims that the iPhone 17 Professional’s entrance glass is extra immune to cracks and scratches in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional. I have never examined these claims, however I am wanting ahead to seeing how the iPhone 17 Professional holds up over the following a number of months, although I at all times put my smartphones in instances with display screen protectors anyway.

Then there’s the digital camera bar, which Apple refers to as a “plateau.” Let’s get this out of the best way first — it is clear this design path is impressed by Google’s Pixel 9 Pro/Pixel 10 Pro to some extent. On the plus facet, the bar provides the iPhone 17 a cohesive search for the primary time in a number of years, and in addition makes the cellphone stand out from earlier iPhones. The digital camera bump does not really feel haphazardly dropped on the again; as an alternative, it melds into the rear of the iPhone 17 due to its clean edges. The general digital camera bump design takes a little bit of getting used to, however I desire the sprawling new look to the smaller, left-set digital camera array that is been round for the previous few years.

On a facet observe, the iPhone 17 Professional is barely heavier than the iPhone 16 Professional at 7.2oz (206g) versus 7.2oz (199g). This does not appear to be a considerable shift on paper, however I undoubtedly really feel it after I’m holding the cellphone for lengthy intervals. The minor weight enhance is probably going because of the change from titanium to aluminum. Given how arduous Apple pushed titanium over the previous few years and the truth that the iPhone Air nonetheless options the fabric, this seems like a bizarre transfer (extra on this later).

Minor {hardware} enhancements throughout the board

A brand new chip, brighter show, marginally higher battery life, and extra

When it got here right down to utilizing the iPhone 17 Professional, one of many first issues I observed was that its 6.3-inch display screen seems notably brighter below direct daylight, due to the bump from 2,000 nits to three,000 nits. I respect this improve after I’m utilizing the cellphone exterior, although I discover that I would like to show down the brightness considerably after I’m doomscrolling the depths of the web earlier than mattress.

Subsequent up there’s the A19 Professional. Apple’s cellphone chips have been overkill for years, and the A19 isn’t any exception. Whether or not I am enjoying video games, browsing the web, or snapping images, my expertise with the iPhone 17 Professional has been clean — however I’ve additionally mentioned that very same factor in regards to the iPhone line for a number of generations. What’s totally different this yr is that the iPhone 17 Professional stays cooler when working processor-intensive duties for prolonged intervals, like enhancing images in Lightroom CC, due to its aluminum physique and new vapor chamber (it does nonetheless get sizzling typically, although). Given how sizzling the iPhone 16 Professional turns into, I am glad Apple made this variation. In the event you care about benchmarks, the A19 Professional hits 3,210 for single-core efficiency and eight,438 for multi-core efficiency on Geekbench 6.

Whereas I’ve observed a number of critiques cite the iPhone 17 Professional’s improved battery life over the iPhone 16 Professional, that hasn’t been my expertise (I’ve the always-on display screen turned on with out a background). I simply get via a full day of social media scrolling, watching the occasional video, listening to podcasts, and responding to messages, with about 20-30% battery remaining by the late night. This was additionally my expertise with the iPhone 16 Professional over the previous yr, so I have never observed a major enchancment in battery life this yr. It may be a bit higher, however the change is marginal.

Minor, however significant digital camera upgrades

8x sensor cropping zoom is a welcome addition

This yr’s most notable improve pertains to the iPhone 17 Professional’s cameras. First off, there’s a completely new f/1.9 18-megapixel front-facing shooter that contains a sq. sensor, which powers Middle Stage’s capacity to robotically change from portrait to panorama mode, relying on the variety of folks within the body. This characteristic works nice and is so helpful that I am shocked Apple is the primary firm to implement one thing prefer it. You can too change between portrait and panorama on the fly with the faucet of a button.

I do not take many selfies, so I do not see this being a characteristic I am going to use fairly often, but it surely’ll be undeniably helpful for many individuals. This yr, you may also seize content material from each the back and front cameras concurrently when recording. That is fairly cool and works fairly properly (I can see it being helpful for response movies), however just like Middle Stage, it is not a characteristic I see myself utilizing fairly often.

Flipping to the rear shooter, all three cameras now characteristic 48-megapixel sensors, with the telephoto digital camera getting the improve to f/2.2 48-megapixels. Apple boasts that this enables the lens to characteristic 8x optical zoom, however that is not totally correct. Due to the bigger sensor, Apple is ready to crop in to hit that focal size, which technically is not optical zoom. That is to not say that 8x zoom images look unhealthy — they’re very spectacular due to Apple’s computational images magic.

Consequently, the iPhone 17 Professional options 4x optical zoom in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional’s 5x, making it a 100mm equal lens as an alternative of 120mm. Some would possibly contemplate this a downgrade, however I did not have a lot use for 5x optical zoom (it’s kind of of a clumsy in-between focal size, anyway). The f/1.8 48-megapixel large and f/2.2 ultrawide lenses from final yr’s iPhone 16 Professional make a return, too.

Together with the lens upgrades, Apple has additionally launched Genlock help, which permits videographers to synchronize timecodes throughout a number of cameras, and ProRes RAW recording to an exterior arduous drive. Each of those options are exterior my images and video capturing capabilities, however given the iPhone 17 Professional’s skilled person audience, it is smart for them to come back with the iPhone 17 Professional.

The Photographic Types I used to be such an enormous fan of final yr are additionally again once more. Like final yr, that is the iPhone 17 Professional’s secret images. It lets you tweak images to look precisely the way you need and presents a stage of customization that you just will not discover on different smartphones (I want tweaking the settings was much less finicky, although).

Basically, the iPhone 17 Professional’s digital camera efficiency is top-tier, providing true-to-life colours, a stable vary between blacks and highlights, and wonderful low-light capturing. The iPhone 16 Professional was my go-to smartphone digital camera final yr, and that is not altering with the iPhone 17 Professional.

iOS 26’s Liquid Glass seems nice

The place’s the smarter Siri we had been promised?

iOS 26’s Liquid Glass is fairly jarring at first, but it surely’s grown on me over the previous few weeks. There is a retro Windows Vista vibe to it that is catching sufficient to be attention-grabbing however not too overwhelming. Icons additionally pop now in a means they did not earlier than. I additionally respect the brand new Lock Display screen customization choices, alongside different options like Name Screening, Stay Translation, and the helpful new Adaptive Energy mode that adjusts processor load to save lots of battery life.

However Apple Intelligence? I nonetheless haven’t got a lot use for Apple’s suite of AI options, like Visible Intelligence. The tech big’s smarter, extra succesful Siri can be nonetheless nowhere to be discovered. Will we see it at WWDC subsequent yr? Who is aware of. With that in thoughts, if a succesful AI assistant like Google’s AI Gemini is one thing you are after, the iPhone 17 Professional does not ship in that division. I’ve by no means actually taken to utilizing voice activated assistants constantly, so this does not trouble me very a lot.

Is the iPhone 17 Professional definitely worth the improve?

As at all times, that is determined by what iPhone you are rocking proper now

In the event you take away the visible redesign, this can be a very minor, camera-focused {hardware} improve yr for Apple’s iPhone, similar to it was with the iPhone 16 Professional — however I am a sucker for a cool-looking tech product, particularly one which takes as many aesthetic probabilities because the iPhone 17 Professional.

With that in thoughts, Apple’s newest flagship is a worthwhile improve for me, even from the iPhone 16 Professional. Alternatively, if you happen to do not care about design, and also you’re utilizing an iPhone 15 or iPhone 16, there is not a lot to get enthusiastic about with the iPhone 17 Professional. Nevertheless, these nonetheless rocking an iPhone 13 or iPhone 12 will discover Apple’s newest high-end iPhone to be a stable all-around bundle and a worthwhile improve.

4.5/5

Model

Apple

SoC

A19 Professional

Show

6.3-inch 1206 x 2622 pixel decision Tremendous Retina XDR OLED, 120Hz, HDR10, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, 1000 nits / 1600 nits peak brightness

RAM

N/A