In 2007, the world fell head over heels for the iPhone, and with the latest iPhone 17 series, Apple proves that nothing can stop the tech juggernaut. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and the new iPhone Air all boast substantial upgrades in both design and function. Instead of a general overview, let’s dive into the models every photographer and videographer is currently eyeing: the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
More than just a camera phone
While we’re here for the camera, a few important “other” features are worth mentioning. Apple’s new panels offer a whopping 3000 nits of peak brightness, which is a professional-grade upgrade that ensures you can see your screen clearly, even in direct sunlight.
All the new iPhones now start with a generous 256GB of storage and feature the updated Center Stage camera, which we’ll cover in more detail below.
For those curious about the difference between the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the former has a 6.3-inch screen while the latter has a 6.9-inch screen and a larger battery.
We tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Cosmic Orange and noticed how close the colour is to that of oranges. Picture: The Telegraph
A bold new look
For the first time in years, the camera plateau’s design has completely changed — it’s now wider and raised. This extra space cleverly houses re-engineered internal components, including the silicon and antennas, freeing up valuable real estate for the battery. The overall look is rugged and ready for adventure.
The device also features a unibody design, meaning it’s a single, solid piece of aluminum. This is a departure from the titanium frame and helps significantly with the phone’s thermal management.
Another important, though invisible, upgrade is the addition of a vapour chamber for heat management. This is especially handy for shooting lots of videos in extreme settings or when you’re deep into a graphically-intense game. On top of all this, the A19 Pro chip powers the device. It has a six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores. There is a six-core GPU with Neural Accelerators and a 16-core Neural Engine. More of this, in a gaming review of the device next week.
We snagged this shot of the General Post Office with the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s telephoto camera at 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x magnification. Picture: The Telegraph
Selfies you’ve dreamed of
One of the biggest camera upgrades this year is the selfie camera, which can shoot 4K at 60fps. All the new models, from the base version to the top-tier Pro Max, share the same fantastic selfie camera. It uses a unique square sensor, an innovation no one else has implemented. The main advantage? You can snap vertical or horizontal photos and videos without having to hold the phone in landscape mode.
The front-facing camera is no slouch when it comes to video, offering a brilliant dynamic range, high sharpness, and almost zero noise. This means you’ll be shooting more photos and videos with the selfie lens than ever before. You can get a horizontal video while holding your phone vertically!
Apple’s Center Stage feature is a bit of digital magic. For example, during a FaceTime call, it tracks your face and uses its ultra-wide lens to automatically zoom out and welcome any new friends who join the frame.
The 18MP front snapper helps close the quality gap with the large cameras on the back, making your selfies more consistent with the rest of your photography. For those who care about their selfies — and let’s be honest, who doesn’t? — this is a much larger sensor that delivers impressive, noise-free shots. No matter what phone you’re upgrading from, this is a benefit you’ll appreciate from day one.
You’ll get the same resolution for photos and videos whether you crop them vertically or horizontally. Even when you crop in, the improvement is crystal clear.
A fresh look for the camera app
iOS 26 brings a complete redesign to the camera app, making it simpler and more streamlined. By default, you’ll only see “Photo” and “Video” at the bottom, with other options a simple swipe away.
Calcutta’s Durga Puja lights captured at 2x magnification without any colour correction. A Durga Puja moment captured in Raw format using the 8x lens and then cropped in
It’s a relief that Apple is keeping generative AI out of the camera app for now, so you know the photo you took is still the photo you took. That said, it would be a nice touch if they added verification technology like C2PA in the future, so you’d always know if a photo has been modified.
A photographer’s dream
Now, for the main event: The camera module itself. The new iPhone essentially gives you eight cameras in your pocket, all with optical quality: macro, 0.5x (13mm), 1x (24mm), 1.2x (28mm), 1.5x (35mm), 2x (48mm), 4x (100mm), and 8x (200mm).The ultra-wide is a 48MP Quad Bayer lens (13mm). On the iPhone 16 Pro, you got 48MP if you shot in Raw, but HEIF or JPEG files were a pixel-binned 12MP. Now, those two formats give you 24MP (while Raw remains 48MP).The main camera is again a 48MP Quad Bayer (f/1.78), and at 1x, you get a 24mm frame equivalent. It also offers 28mm and 35mm full-frame fields of view, plus a new 8x option. Apple’s new camera pipeline ensures photos taken in this mode are sharp and noticeably more detailed.
While you’ll probably prefer to shoot at 24MP, you still have the option for 48MP, which, of course, takes up more space. For serious photographers, you can enable ProRAW in your settings. The best setting is JPEG-XL Lossy, which means your DNG (or Raw) files are smaller thanks to a more efficient compression codec. You don’t lose any quality and still have all the flexibility of Raw files, so you can shoot them more often without worrying about storage.
When you shoot in Raw, all the processing is skipped, giving you all the information you need in a photograph that you can edit later using software.
Perfect camera companion
For those who love to trek, the iPhone is often the go-to device for its sheer convenience. You can simply pull it out and capture a great photo, unlike with a DSLR, which requires you to stop and dig through your backpack. When you’re hiking, sometimes it’s not even possible to stop because the terrain is difficult or you’re roped up with someone who is moving.
Taken with iPhone 17 Pro Max using 4x telephoto setting
The phone is a lifesaver in these situations. The new 4x 48MP telephoto lens on the iPhone 17 Pro gives you a roughly 100mm full-frame field of view, which is perfect for classic portrait shots. The big hardware upgrade is the new sensor size and resolution. This 48MP Quad Bayer lens (f/2.8) ensures much better low-light performance. It’s a massive step up for portrait photography.
The difference between the portrait lens on the iPhone 16 Pro and 17 Pro is substantial. Even when you zoom to 5x, pictures come out sharper than before. While the iPhone 16 Pro gave you 5x, those photos were 12MP. Now you can shoot portraits at 48MP, and the results are like night and day. The improvements go beyond resolution, with better skin-tone mapping that makes freckles look beautifully detailed rather than waxy. Depth mapping is also improved, creating a natural look with a soft background.
For those who worry about lens flare in sunny conditions, the improvements from the iPhone 16 Pro are even better now, with none of the ghosting that can plague smartphone photos.
For video buffs
The iPhone 17 Pro still offers the ability to shoot videos in ProRes Raw, which is footage that can be colour graded later. Just a heads-up: It takes up a lot of space.
What’s new and incredibly useful for videographers is the open gate recording feature, which is unlocked with ProRes Raw. This gives you a 4:3 aspect ratio, so you can easily pull 16:9 or even vertical frames out of it. It’s the most useful format if you want to shoot once and deliver your footage to multiple platforms with different aspect ratios. It requires full-sensor recording to stabilise the video.
Picture in picture: Reaction cam
One of the most useful new features this year is the ability to record with the front and rear cameras at the same time, which is great for reaction videos. You can even move the selfie camera footage anywhere on the screen. The feature doesn’t save two separate video files, so make sure you place that box where it won’t block the subject you’re trying to record.
Unexpectedly awesome audio
Here’s a feature that isn’t directly tied to the iPhone but to iOS 26 and the AirPods Pro 3: Audio recording. When you’re filming, try capturing audio with the iPhone’s built-in microphones from a distance. The pickup is good, but you’ll need the Audio Mix feature to really upgrade the sound quality.
The selfie camera comes with a new square sensor. That means you don’t have to juggle your phone and try to turn it sideways for a landscape photo; you can just hold it in portrait mode
Now, wear your AirPods Pro 3 and try recording with their microphones. They connect to the camera app via Bluetooth, and the sound is simply fantastic. There’s no other way to describe it — this level of clarity hasn’t been possible before. If you’ve ever needed a wireless microphone in a pinch, you’ve got one now.
Make the call
Far ahead in the camera game, Apple didn’t need to make such substantial upgrades this year, yet they did. Why? Because Apple often works on features years in advance, so they’re likely already tinkering with the iPhone 20. This controlled roadmap for features is vastly different from those of other companies.
Being able to control both the hardware and software gives Apple a unique advantage in introducing new features, something its rivals often struggle with. As a result, we’ll probably see meaningful implementations of these camera features from rival companies a year or two from now.
We haven’t even talked about the Genlock dock-like features supported on the iPhone 17 Pro. It’s a niche feature that syncs footage from multiple cameras and is usually very expensive with other standalone devices that handle this aspect.
No wonder the queues outside Apple stores are getting longer. The sales for the new iPhone have been some of the best in years. The iPhone 17 Pro Max offers unmatched design and innovation, and its sales figures will prove it. It’s the most exquisite iPhone we’ve seen in a long time, and it introduces a level of competition that the industry desperately needs, ensuring there’s plenty of diversity in the smartphone world.
At a glance
Device: iPhone 17 Pro Max
Price: ₹1,49,900 (and upwards)
High notes
Excellent battery life
High screen brightness for outdoor use
Unique Center Stage camera for selfies
Superb cooling system
The camera system has received a big upgrade
Video tools for professional use
Excellent choice of colours
A wide range of accessories is available
Muffled note
I wish the Dual Capture offered separate video files for editing