iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max could be the camera phone to beat with these 4 upgrades
It’s only May, but the next thing you know it’ll be September — which has been typically the time when Apple hosts its iPhone event. I haven’t been too excited about new Apple releases the last few years, but all the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max camera rumors have me stoked.
Not only do the rumors hint at hardware upgrades that could help Apple reclaim the title of best camera phone over the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the iPhone 17 Pros are tipped to gain new functions that could deepen its arsenal and how they’re used. That’s because these rumored iPhone 17 Pro camera upgrades are arguably going to be the biggest in years.
And even though an iPhone 17 Air is expected to launch alongside them, I’m not convinced its single camera is enough to make me choose it — especially if its price ends up being much higher than the iPhone 17 Pro models.
iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max cameras: what’s here now
Before I dig into all the iPhone 17 Pro camera rumors, it’s worth detailing what new changes accompanied the most recent releases: the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. Here’s a recap on all of their camera changes:
- Camera Control: This recessed capacitive switch provides haptic feedback to emulate the feel of an actual button, but it’s also touch sensitive to quickly change modes and settings.
- New 48MP ultrawide: Apple upgraded the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max with a new 48MP ultrawide camera for better low light and macro performance, which is up over 12MP ultrawide in the iPhone 15 Pro.
- 5x optical zoom camera: With the iPhone 16 Pro specifically, it shared the same 12MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom as the more expensive 16 Pro Max.
- 4K 120fps recording: Both the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max could natively shoot at 4K 120fps, which could be slowed down later on.
- Audio Mix: With studio quality microphones all around the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, you could tune the audio in the videos recorded by the iPhones to reduce background noise, boost on-camera voices, and more.
Upgraded telephoto camera
Considering how the main and ultrawide cameras got big upgrades the last couple of years, there’s only one other camera left in desperate need of a makeover — the telephoto. Leaks indicate that Apple’s going to be arming the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max with a new 48MP sensor that’s a big upgrade over the current 12MP one in the iPhone 16 Pros.
While I’m stoked for this hardware upgrade, it could come at the expense of a ‘downgrade’ of sorts with the optical zoom. Instead of matching the current 5x optical zoom of the iPhone 16 Pro’s, we could possibly end up with a 3.5x optical zoom. Now, we’ve seen this sort of strategy before, like how the Galaxy S24 Ultra ended up with a 5x optical zoom instead of 10x.
I’m not too worried if this ends up happening because I’ve seen how well Apple effectively uses pixel binning tech and new image processing algorithms to enhance zoom photos in devices like the iPhone 16e. Either way, I’m confident that the zooming performance of the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max will exceed their predecessors to not only deliver sharper zoom photos, but also work better under low light.
24MP TrueDepth camera
Despite rocking the same 12MP TrueDepth for the last few generations, the selfie cameras of the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max could finally see a proper refresh. Interestingly, Apple relied on a 12MP f/2.2 TrueDepth camera going as far back as the iPhone 11 Pro — only to slightly improve it to a faster f/1.9 aperture starting with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Longtime analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that it’s being upgraded to a 24MP front-facing camera, which would consist of a six element lens to deliver even sharper results than ever before. Naturally, I suspect the biggest impact to this change is how it captures photos under harsher lighting conditions.
I’ve put the iPhone 16 Pro Max through countless 200 photo face-offs by now, like against the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 9 Pro XL, and know that its selfie camera continues to deliver outstanding results against all of its main rivals. Of course, this upgrade would only make things better.
Native dual-video capture
This is a long time coming, but I’m really hoping that this rumor ends up being true because I’ve been asking for this exact feature for years now. Well known Apple leaker Jon Prosser hints that Apple will finally bring native dual-video capture with the iPhone 17 Pro models. Meaning, you’d be able to record with both the front camera and rear camera simultaneously.
Now, if this sounds familiar, it should because Apple technically introduced Multi-Capture back with iOS 13, but only to third party apps like DoubleTake by Filmic Pro. This would effectively make it a native feature with the camera app, allowing users to shoot with one of the rear cameras and the front one.
There’s still a lot unknown about this potential iPhone 17 Pro camera feature, like whether the two clips would be merged into one or saved separately, but it definitely would give content creators a new way of capturing video. Additionally, it’ll be interesting to see if these simultaneous captures would be locked to certain frame rates and resolutions.
Variable aperture
One of the earliest iPhone 17 Pro camera rumors that cropped up was Apple could bring a variable aperture, but there’s been very little reports about this of late. The claim goes back to a report hinting about Apple’s plan to bring a variable aperture to at least one of the iPhone 17 models, which I’d suspect at this point would be the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Variable apertures aren’t new in the world of phones, as they’ve been featured before in other devices, but this would be the first for an iPhone. The average person might not really think much about a variable aperture, but it could give users more control of their shooting. For example, you would have more control over the depth of field — allowing for everything to be in focus in the shot, or choosing certain areas and blurring out the rest.
There’s a lot of creative ways a variable aperture could help out, but given how Apple has consistently locked down settings, like the shutter speed and ISO, I’m not as confident that it’ll become a reality. Although, it could ultimately come to the iPhone 18.
