It’s that time of year again; it’s time for the new iPhone. This year, Apple has four new noteworthy devices, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max joined by the new ultra-thin iPhone Air.
The regular iPhone 17 has several upgrades that bring a Pro-like experience that can compete with the Google Pixel 10 and the upcoming Galaxy S26. Meanwhile, the iPhone Air offers an impossibly thin body measuring 5.64mm, which is 1.36mm thinner than the Galaxy S25 Edge.
Then there’s the iPhone 17 Pro, and there are a few key reasons why I’m excited for this year’s Pro lineup. It’s a more modest upgrade than in some years, but the updates seem to be in all the right places. After using every Pro iPhone for years, here are five reasons why I’m buying the new iPhone 17 Pro.
Aluminum body and new vapor chamber
The vapor chamber on the iPhone 17 Pro AppleThe iPhone 17 Pro is both heavier and thicker than last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, as Apple has made large changes to the build, materials, and internals of the phone.
| Specification | Apple iPhone 17 Pro |
| Measurements | Dimensions: 150 x 71.9 x 8.8 mm Weight: 206 grams |
| Display | 6.3-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED 1-120Hz, HDR, Dolby Vision 3000 nits peak brightness 1206 x 2622 pixels (460 ppi) |
| Processor | Apple A19 Pro (3 nm) |
| RAM / Storage | 12GB RAM / 256GB 12GB RAM / 512GB 12GB RAM / 1TB |
| Camera | Wide: 48MP, f/1.6, 24mm, PDAF, sensor-shift OIS Ultrawide: 48MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120°, PDAF Telephoto: 48MP, f/2.8, 100mm, 4x optical zoom |
| Selfie Camera | 18MP Center Stage Selfie Multi-aspect, f/1.9, PDAF, OIS |
| Battery | 3,988 mAh (nano SIM) 4,252 mAh (eSIM) |
| Charging | 45W wired 0-50% in 20 mins (with 40W+ charger) 25W wireless MagSafe / Qi2 4.5W reverse wireless |
| Software | iOS 26 |
| Colors | Silver Cosmic Orange Deep Blue |
| Price | From $1,099 |
The experiment with a titanium frame — which started two generations ago to much aplomb — is over, as the iPhone 17 Pro switches back to aluminum. While titanium is a stronger material, aluminum has some key benefits, including being lighter, better heat dissipation, and enabling an explosion of color.
The shift to aluminum will help solve the heat problems from previous generations, so Apple has also added a new vapor chamber that’s designed to keep the phone much cooler. If this works as well as the company hopes, this shift will be worth it.
New colors, including Cosmic Orange
AppleThe iPhone 17 Pro is a bold step for Apple, demonstrating its expertise in color, and it represents a significant departure from the company’s typically neutral color palette in its Pro history.
The result is no black Pro iPhone, and just three colors to choose from: Silver, Deep Blue, and Cosmic Orange. Silver is fairly standard, and the deep blue renders look fantastic, but there’s only one color for me: the Cosmic Orange.
AppleThis phone is reminiscent of the Nokia N8 that was released 15 years ago, with its incredibly striking color guaranteed to stand out among the crowd. Apple will sell considerably more iPhone 17 units than Nokia sold of the N8, and although the Orange probably won’t be the most popular, it’ll lack the shock value that the N8 did during its time.
However, this could be exactly what the industry needs: color needs to make a strong comeback, and I hope the iPhone 17 Pro is a sign of things to come.
48MP telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom
AppleTwo of the iPhone 17 Pro cameras haven’t undergone any changes, but the major update is the new 48MP telephoto lens, which offers an interesting 4x optical zoom and an 8x ‘optical-quality’ zoom achieved through in-sensor cropping, resulting in a 24MP photo.
This change comes with one additional benefit: all three cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro now have the same 48MP resolution. As we’ve seen from devices like the Oppo Find X8 Pro, OnePlus 13, and Oppo Find X8 Ultra, having the same resolution across all lenses offers consistency in quality, especially when switching between lenses while recording a video.
AppleThere are several new video features as well, including new ProRes RAW video recording, which should enable the iPhone 17 Pro to continue capturing cinematic masterpieces. Apple is so confident in the recording capabilities that it recorded its entire Apple Event using the iPhone 17 Pro camera, albeit with some very expensive secondary equipment attached.
18MP multi-aspect center stage camera
AppleThe entire iPhone 17 series debuts the new 18MP center-stage camera, and it looks wonderful. We’ve all had to rotate a phone to capture a wider selfie in horizontal orientation, which can be especially hard when you have a large group or while recording video.
Apple’s answer? A new multi-aspect Center Stage Selfie camera that promises to make this a thing of the past.
We haven’t tried this yet, but the premise is simple: one camera that can capture high-resolution photos and videos in different aspect ratios, all without ever having to rotate your phone. This looks incredible and will solve many of the key problems with selfie cameras, and I hope it becomes the default for smartphone selfie cameras.
Bigger batteries, especially with the eSIM model
AppleApple’s shift towards an eSIM-only future took a big step forward with the iPhone 17 Pro lineup, with a clear benefit for eSIM-only models in the form of a larger battery.
Yet, whether you opt for an eSIM model or not, you’ll get a larger battery than last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, which should also lead to significantly improved battery life. The model with a physical SIM card features a 3,988 mAh battery, which is eleven percent higher than last year, while the eSIM model is a further seven percent larger at 4,252 mAh.
AppleWhat does this mean in actual terms? According to Apple, the eSIM model offers 2 hours of extra video playback battery life on the same charge, to a total of 39 hours. I can’t wait to see what this translates to in daily use!
These iPhone 17 Pro changes have convinced me that this year’s Pro iPhone is worth buying. The new telephoto camera has me particularly intrigued, as does the possibilities with the Center Stage Selfie camera and the dual recording using both rear and front camera lenses at the same time.
