The latest version of Apple's flagship smartphone, the iPhone 17 Pro, is now here with a plethora of changes that make it an entirely different smartphone compared to the previous series.
iPhone 17 Pro's Top 5 New Features vs. iPhone 16 Pro
Each year, Apple introduces new iPhone models, bringing bolder designs, features, and technology to its smartphones.
After the recent Apple event, the world was introduced to the latest developments from the company, including its latest, most powerful smartphone ever: the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. These devices appear to be entirely new, especially when compared to the iPhone 16 Pro series.
Here are its top five new features.
The All-New Camera Plateau, Colors
Apple unveiled the iPhone 17 Pro series with a significant design change this year, especially for the rear as the company took the small bump and transformed it to what it refers to as the "Camera Plateau." This is what previous leaks referred to as the "island."
With this change, the Apple logo is now repositioned to a lower center location, looking like an entirely new smartphone compared to the iPhone 16 Pro.
There is also a color shake up this year as analysts said that there will be an Orange option, which seemed initially unlikely due to Apple's preference for minimalist options for the Pro version.
However, the company ended up not only debuting the Cosmic Orange colorway, but they also reduced the options to only three, with the other two being Silver and Deep Blue.
This means that there is no black colorway this time around.
The A19 Pro Chipset
The new A19 Pro chipset will power the future iPhone 17 Pro series. Apple placed the same specs on it as the iPhone 16 Pro's A18 Pro on paper, but it actually has various improvements.
These include the 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine, with the A19 Pro getting new Neural accelerators that were not present in the previous iteration. It also comes with a vapor chamber that dissipates heat better to handle higher performance.
Apple also upgraded the RAM to 12 GB, with four more gigabytes of memory in this new release.
Triple 48MP Camera Lenses
The three rear cameras of the iPhone 17 Pro all feature a 48-megapixel Fusion lens for its Main, Telephoto, and Ultra-Wide options. All the camera lenses now feature Fusion technology, and the Telephoto is now a 48 MP lens from last year's 12 MP.
The Telephoto lens can now enlarge images up to 40x digital zoom, with 4x and 8x optical zoom option that replaces the 5x.
On the other hand, the iPhone 17 Pro's front or selfie camera now features an 18 MP Center Stage camera, which is an improvement from last year's 12 MP.
Unibody Enclosure, Ceramic Shield, Brighter Display
Apple boasts of the Unibody Enclosure on the iPhone 17 Pro. This means the entire frame also encloses the rear with its latest aluminum body, making it a more sturdy, durable, and solid device. There are cutouts for the camera lenses, the plateau, MagSafe charging, and more, but it is still a solid chassis, which is a significant change from the previous iPhone.
Additionally, the company added a new Ceramic Shield for the device's rear which makes it more resistant to scratches, a feature that the iPhone 16 Pro did not have. The iPhone 17 Pro's screen even gets Ceramic Shield 2 protection.
Both the iPhone 17 Pro variants also get a brighter screen with a peak 3,000 nits of brightness, which is upgraded from last year's 2,000 nits.
Storage Options and Pricing
All the iPhone 17 Pro variants start with 256GB storage from iPhone 16 Pro's 128GB, and only the Pro Max version features the same base option. However, the company also introduced a 2TB variant for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
There is now a $100 increase on the iPhone 17 Pro's starting price at $1,099, but according to 9to5Mac, it is only because it starts at 256GB and not like last year's 128GB. That being said, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is priced at $1,199, the same as last year's pricing.
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