The splashy iPhone Air and improved iPhone 17 make the upgrades on the Pro and larger Pro Max seem particularly incremental, even as the Pro’s price inched up $100. Apple kept the display sizes the same (6.3 and 6.9 inches) but added the new A19 Pro chip, which is more capable of tackling Apple Intelligence features as they roll out, Apple says.
In a surprising move, the Pro and Pro Max returned to an aluminum frame after having premium titanium frames since the iPhone 15 Pro. The change takes away another distinguishing “Pro-only” factor, but the redesign allows for more efficient cooling and better battery life, Apple says. (We’ll verify battery life claims in our labs.)
The triple-rear camera system on the Pros has also been tweaked. As you’ll likely notice, the camera layout is rearranged—a camera “plateau,” instead of a bump, now spans the width of the back of the phone. This change didn’t present any issues during my trial run, but the redesign could possibly affect durability. (CR testers will put each new iPhone through rigorous scratch-resistance and drop testing.)
Functionally, though, the two Pros now sport a higher-resolution 48-megapixel telephoto with 4x optical zoom, replacing the 12-megapixel telephoto with 5x optical zoom on the previous generation. It may seem like you lose some optical zoom range, but the higher-resolution sensor actually allows you to achieve a sharper image while taking faraway shots through digital cropping, Apple says. As in years past, the Pros are the phones to buy if you want your iPhone to have the most capable and versatile camera possible.
To my untrained eye, my shots of a neighbor’s dahlia blooms—taken at both 1x and 4x—look crisp, and nearly as beautiful as the flowers do in person.
