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

With the iPhone 17 Professional, it looks like Apple is lastly concentrating on a very “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, many 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 by sensor cropping and the front-facing shooter’s helpful new Middle Stage digital camera.

Then there’s the polarizing redesign, which encompasses a panel-shaped digital camera bump, a two-tone rear, and an aluminum construct. I initially disliked this look, nevertheless it has grown on me considerably over the previous a number of days, and I might 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). Relating 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

• Gorgeous 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 studies 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 a giant fan of the design now

Once 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 swap to aluminum? Now that I’ve used the cellphone for over per 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 type of nostalgic. With the iPhone 17 Professional, there’s an fascinating distinction between the aluminum unibody and the ceramic-and-glass sq. panel on the rear. For instance, the silver coloration encompasses 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 not 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 protectors anyway.

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

On a aspect be aware, 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 positively really feel it after I’m holding the cellphone for lengthy durations. The minor weight enhance is probably going as a result of swap 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 looks 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 all the way down to utilizing the iPhone 17 Professional, one of many first issues I observed was that its 6.3-inch display seems notably brighter below direct daylight, because of the bump from 2,000 nits to three,000 nits. I admire 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 is not any exception. Whether or not I am enjoying video games, browsing the web, or snapping photographs, my expertise with the iPhone 17 Professional has been easy — however I’ve additionally stated that very same factor concerning the iPhone line for a number of generations. What’s totally different this 12 months is that the iPhone 17 Professional stays cooler when working processor-intensive duties for prolonged durations, like enhancing photographs in Lightroom CC, because of 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 alteration. If you happen to 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 evaluations 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 turned on and not using a background). I simply get by 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 12 months, so I have not observed a major enchancment in battery life this 12 months. 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 12 months’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 encompasses a sq. sensor, which powers Middle Stage’s potential to routinely swap from portrait to panorama mode, relying on the variety of individuals within the body. This characteristic works nice and is so helpful that I am stunned Apple is the primary firm to implement one thing prefer it. You can even swap 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, nevertheless it’ll be undeniably helpful for many individuals. This 12 months, you may also seize content material from each the back and front cameras concurrently when recording. That is fairly cool and works fairly effectively (I can see it being helpful for response movies), however much like Middle Stage, it isn’t 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 photographs look unhealthy — they’re very spectacular because of Apple’s computational images magic.

In consequence, the iPhone 17 Professional options 4x optical zoom in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional’s 5x, making it a 100mm equal lens as a substitute of 120mm. Some may take into account 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 extensive and f/2.2 ultrawide lenses from final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional make a return, too.

Together with the lens upgrades, Apple has additionally launched Genlock help, which allows 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 consumer target market, it is smart for them to return with the iPhone 17 Professional.

The Photographic Kinds I used to be such a giant fan of final 12 months are additionally again once more. Like final 12 months, that is the iPhone 17 Professional’s secret images. It lets you tweak photographs to look precisely the way you need and affords a degree of customization that you just will not discover on different smartphones (I want tweaking the settings was much less finicky, although).

On the whole, the iPhone 17 Professional’s digital camera efficiency is top-tier, providing true-to-life colours, a strong vary between blacks and highlights, and glorious low-light capturing. The iPhone 16 Professional was my go-to smartphone digital camera final 12 months, and that is not altering with the iPhone 17 Professional.

iOS 26’s Liquid Glass seems nice

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

iOS 26’s Liquid Glass is fairly jarring at first, nevertheless it’s grown on me over the previous couple of 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 admire the brand new Lock Display customization choices, alongside different options like Name Screening, Stay Translation, and the helpful new Adaptive Energy mode that adjusts processor load to avoid wasting 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 also be nonetheless nowhere to be discovered. Will we see it at WWDC subsequent 12 months? 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 persistently, so this does not hassle me very a lot.

Is the iPhone 17 Professional definitely worth the improve?

As at all times, that will depend on what iPhone you are rocking proper now

If you happen to take away the visible redesign, this can be a very minor, camera-focused {hardware} improve 12 months for Apple’s iPhone, identical 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 possibilities 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, for those who 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 strong all-around package deal 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