Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro is a rethink, albeit not a complete refresh.
The company is leaving the titanium era behind and returning to a meticulously crafted brushed aluminum shell with a custom vapor chamber design welded directly into that chassis. The result is a phone designed from the inside out to hold peak performance longer, run cooler to the touch, and make room for a bigger battery… all while delivering Apple’s most ambitious Pro camera system yet.
A new design with a purpose (and a new metal)
The new unibody design on iPhone 17 Pro is milled from aerospace-grade 7000-series aluminum, chosen for its strength, lightness, and exceptional thermal conductivity.
Antennas now trace the perimeter of the device for what Apple is calling its highest-performing radio system. The new device’s most distinctive design feature is the new sculpted rear plateau. This houses the iPhone 17 Pro’s advanced camera system while creating extra internal volume for other components—most importantly, the battery, which we will address shortly.
This is also Apple’s first iPhone to use Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and the back: the display glass gains 3× better scratch resistance, and the new back protection provides 4× better crack resistance than previous glass backs.
The displays are 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR with ProMotion 120 Hz, on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, respectively. Both displays pack 3000 nits of peak outdoor brightness, and 2× better outdoor contrast—meaning it stays readable when the sun is merciless.
Vapor chamber, but make it structural
Vapor chambers are all the rage in phone design these days, promising to boost performance and allow phone batteries to run more efficiently. But it’s no surprise Apple is adding its own unique twist. Apple’s custom vapor chamber is laser-welded into the aluminum chassis—not just bolted on—so it becomes part of the phone’s heat-spreading path.
Here’s how the vapor chamber works. Deionized water inside the chamber vaporizes at hot spots, then condenses and recirculates, carrying heat into the forged unibody. The payoff is higher sustained performance and a cooler surface during hard workloads like AAA gaming, multi-camera 4K capture, or running on-device AI models.
Apple says the new thermal system, paired with A19 Pro, delivers up to 40% better sustained performance than the prior generation. And because the unibody and internal layout free up space, the Pro Max has the largest battery ever in an iPhone and also achieves the best battery life ever in an iPhone. And thanks to fast charging, both Pro models can hit 50% in about 20 minutes with a high-wattage USB-C adapter.
A19 Pro: Power where it counts
Under the glass, iPhone 17 Pro is powered by the new A19 Pro chip. This chip is built for big, sustained bursts: a fastest-in-class 6-core CPU, a 6-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in each GPU core, larger caches and more memory than A18 Pro, plus a new 16-core Neural Engine.
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing and higher frame rates bring fully fledged AAA game titles to a phone that can actually maintain them. The new N1 wireless chip adds Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, and improves reliability for things like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.
Three 48MP cameras = Eight classic lenses
But the new iPhone Pro models aren’t just about horsepower. iPhone 17 Pro also features the most advanced camera system on iPhone ever.
The 17 Pro lineup steps up to three 48MP Fusion sensors—Main, Ultra Wide, and an all-new Telephoto—giving creators the equivalent of eight lenses in their pocket.
The Telephoto uses a next-gen tetraprism with a sensor that is 56% larger than before. This enables both 4× optical zoom at 100 mm for portraits and even 8× optical at 200 mm—the longest optical-quality zoom ever on iPhone. A revamped Photonic Engine leans harder on machine learning to preserve fine, natural detail and color in tough light, and digital zoom now reaches 40×.
Up front, a brand-new Center Stage camera debuts the first square front sensor on iPhone with up to 18MP stills. And because this is a square sensor, you’ll be able to capture vertical and landscape shots while keeping the phone vertical. The new camera even featurs an auto-expanding field of view for group selfies, ultra-stabilized 4K HDR video, and Dual Capture from front and rear simultaneously.
Pro video goes… pro-er
iPhone already owned mobile video; this one widens the gap. Alongside Dolby Vision, 4K120, and ProRes Log, iPhone 17 Pro becomes the first smartphone to support ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2, and genlock. That last bit matters on set: genlock allows precise frame-level sync across multiple cameras and inputs (supported with Blackmagic Design’s new Camera ProDock), so complex edits don’t require frame-by-frame massaging later. It’s a phone that plays nice on scrappy shoots and on soundstage-heavy productions.
Everyday gains you’ll notice
The unibody’s added interior volume and A19 Pro’s efficiency translate to meaningful battery gains in both sizes. In eSIM-only regions, Apple even uses the freed SIM-tray space for an even larger battery that adds up to two more hours of video playback (to 39 hours) on certain models. And while you’re out there, Ceramic Shield 2 front and back plus the thermally athletic frame make the phone tougher day-to-day, not just on spec sheets.
Colors, pricing, and accessories
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come in deep blue, cosmic orange, and silver. Storage starts at 256GB (with 2TB now an option on Pro Max). Prices start at $1,099 (U.S.) for Pro and $1,199 (U.S.) for Pro Max, with pre-orders Friday, September 12 and availability Friday, September 19 in the first wave of countries. New accessories include a richly textured TechWoven Case, Clear Case with MagSafe, Silicone Case, and a Crossbody Strap in ten colors; Apple’s 40W Dynamic Power Adapter and Qi2 25W-certified MagSafe Charger round out the kit.
Bottom line: swapping titanium for a thermally gifted aluminum unibody and welding the vapor chamber to it weren’t aesthetic choices—they were performance choices. That foundation unlocks the A19 Pro at full stride, keeps frame rates honest, stretches battery life, and gives Apple room to build a camera system that genuinely reaches farther. iPhone 17 Pro isn’t just faster; it’s built to stay fast.
