What has a new camera setup, a new colour variant, and a completely revamped design? These guys! You might not be able to see, but Apple’s latest premium flagship, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, are pointing at themselves.
As the brothers prepare themselves to enter the smartphone market soon, how about we take a look at the groundbreaking stuff Apple has pulled off by putting 1 and 7 together, resulting in the iPhone 17 Pro.
Big, Bigger, or the Same: In terms of size, Apple has increased the size to a point where anything bigger will become an iPad mini mini. To be more precise, it is now available in 5.91 x 2.83 x 0.34 (inches) as compared to the 5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 (inches) of the previous flagship. And in terms of the weight, the new model weighs 204 grams, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro weighed 199 grams.
Running It Back?: The iPhone 17 Pro has made some major changes design-wise with a unibody and a different camera bump on its back, which Apple calls an ‘extended plateau’. It’s a big rectangle, spreading almost side-to-side, kind of like the Pixel 9. But in terms of building material, they have decided to go one step back and replace the Grade 5 titanium with aluminum that’s sandwiched between ceramic shields on the front and back. Well, is it safe to say that it is okay to go back to our ex? Maybe, maybe not, who knows, not us!
Orange Is the New Black: According to me, the biggest shock that came from the entire event was Apple’s decision to replace the Black Tintanium with a catchy orange colour (another McLaren fan in the Apple team, I guess). I mean, only one question. Why? What was the need? How difficult was it to keep both the colours if they really wanted to introduce that one thing I only love during the winters, as it helps me with my vitamin C deficiency? I guess we will never know.
Performance Anxiety, What’s That: Like every year, Apple has topped itself when it comes to updating processors of these bad boys. With the addition of the next-gen A19 Pro chip, Apple has decided to incorporate a built-in vapour chamber cooling system, which thermally manages the chip by drawing heat away quickly. Thanks to this new feature, the A19 Pro chip becomes 40% faster than the A18 Pro used in the iPhone 16 Pro. Also, the RAM of the flagship has increased to 12GB from the iPhone 16 Pro’s 8GB.
In(nit) Bright Out Here: The brothers of (budget) destruction continue to use a 6.3-inch display for the iPhone 17 Pro and a 6.9-inch display for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. It boasts a peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits and twice the outdoor contrast. WOW! This is such a dream update for a person who has a vitamin D deficiency.
Lights. Camera. Focus: In terms of one of its biggest flexes, its camera, Apple has now branded the camera setup as the Pro Fusion Camera System. The ‘extended plateau’, now being home to the three 48-megapixel Fusion cameras, the upgraded Telephoto camera provides an 8x optical zoom, which is up from the 5x limit on the iPhone 16 Pro models.
And for the front camera, Apple has equipped us with an 18-megapixel front camera that features Center Stage support, which gets everyone in a group shot automatically, and supports Dual Capture, where we get to record ourselves and the world around us simultaneously with both cameras.
Along with the 4K video recording at 120fps with Dolby Vision HDR, the iPhone 17 Pro is the first smartphone to introduce support for ProRes RAW, Log 2, and Genlock. The latter enables synchronization across multiple cameras and inputs, ensuring they record footage at the same frame rate.
Attack on the Pockets: In India, the iPhone 17 Pro starts at ₹1,34,900 for the 256GB model, with additional options available in 512GB and 1TB. The iPhone 17 Pro Max begins at ₹1,49,900 for 256GB and is also offered in 512GB, 1TB, and a top-tier 2TB variant. Pre-orders open on Friday, 12 September, with deliveries and in-store availability starting from Friday, 19 September. After seeing the prices, I can say that because Apple did not include black in the variants, I won’t be buying the iPhone 17 Pro.
While it might be too early for a definitive verdict, certain trends are already becoming clear. The iPhone 17 Pro’s refreshed design could be a key factor for many buyers. The addition of A19 Pro chip, increased RAM, a more efficient and durable display, an upgraded telephoto lens, a new front camera, and a larger battery are enticing too. All of this looks impressive, but proper testing will determine whether these improvements translate into real-world benefits. Apart from that, one bone I still have to pick with Apple is that they did not include the black variant.
