Apple iPhone 17 Pro review: different looks but still all about the zoom

The 17 Pro is Apple’s biggest redesign of the iPhone in years, chucking out the old titanium sides and all-glass backs for a new aluminium unibody design, a huge full-width camera lump on the back and some bolder colours.

That alone will make the iPhone 17 Pro popular for those looking to upgrade and be seen with the newest model. But with the change comes an increase in price to £1,099 (€1,299/$1,099/A$1,999), crossing the £1,000 barrier for the first time for Apple’s smallest Pro phone, which now comes with double the starting storage.

From the front it looks like any recent Pro iPhone with the Dynamic Island containing the selfie camera at the top of the super bright and smooth screen. It is one of the best screens on a phone but identical to the regular iPhone 17, which has been upgraded this year.

The aluminium sides have been softened with a slight rounding to the edges, giving the phone a nice and comfortable feel in your hand without being too slippery. The phone has gained 5g in weight, which has pushed it over the 200g mark, making it on the heavier side for a smaller handset.

A glass panel slightly larger than a credit card is inlaid into the aluminium body and is where MagSafe or Qi2.2 chargers and accessories attach. The large metal “plateau” at the top houses the cameras, which is even bigger than the camera bar on a Pixel. The aluminium will not crack like glass when dropped but it is more scratch-prone, particularly around the edges of the plateau, so a case is still prudent.

The handset runs the same iOS 26 as the rest of the iPhone lineup, which introduced Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” interface design. Generally it works well, but it has caused a bit of division over the transparency effects used for buttons and other elements, which blend into the background a little too much sometimes.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.3in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)

• Processor: Apple A19 Pro

• RAM: 12GB

• Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB

• Operating system: iOS 26

• Camera: 48MP main, 48MP UW and 48MP 4x zoom, 18MP front-facing

• Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS

• Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)

• Dimensions: 150 x 71.9 x 8.75mm

• Weight: 204g

Faster and cooler A19 Pro chip

The 17 Pro has a new Apple A19 Pro chip at its heart, which is coupled for the first time in an iPhone with a vapour chamber cooling system. It is a common technique used in many high-performing Android phones and extracts heat from the chip, dispersing it into the rest of the phone’s body to cool it down and keep it running at peak performance for longer.

It works well, with the back staying cooler than previous iPhones when playing games for extended sessions while producing better frame rates and being less sweaty to hold.

The battery life is solid for a phone of this size, lasting about 42 hours between charges with about six hours of active screen use on a mix of 5G and wifi, which is about two hours longer than last year’s model. On heavy-use days out and about or playing lots of games, the 17 Pro still managed to end the day with a good 25% left in the tank. Most people will need to charge the phone every other day for regular use.

Sustainability

The battery will last in excess of 1,000 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity and can be replaced for £109. Out-of-warranty screen repairs cost £349. The specialists iFixit awarded the phone a seven out of 10 for repairability.

It contains more than 30% recycled material, including aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, rare-earth elements, steel, tin and tungsten. The company breaks down the phone’s environmental impact in its report. Apple offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

Camera

There are three 48-megapixel cameras on the back and a new 18MP selfie camera with a few new tricks on the front.

The main and ultra-wide cameras are very similar to last year, shoot some great photos across a range of lighting conditions and are particularly good for street photography with solid detail. The main camera offers a 2x crop zoom, which is great, appearing similar in detail and colour to 1x shots in good light, although a little more grainy in dimmer lighting.

New for this year is an upgraded telephoto camera that is now 4x at 48MP, up from 5x at 12MP, which produces very good, well-balanced photos that are full of detail. It can manage an 8x crop zoom similar to the main camera, which is equally good in bright light with only a slight degradation of detail. Both zoom levels do pretty well in dimmer indoor light, too.

All three cameras shoot some of the best video on a phone and have many other features, including an excellent macrophotography mode and the ability to shoot video from the front and rear cameras simultaneously, placing the operator into a little window. Apple’s automatic portrait mode is solid and works with objects, not only people and pets.

Finally, the selfie camera has had its first upgrade on an iPhone in many years, beefed up to an 18MP sensor with Apple’s Centre Stage tech from its iPads and Macs. It has the ability to automatically pan and zoom to keep you in frame for video calls but it can also expand the frame to shoot landscape selfies when holding the phone in portrait orientation. It’s a novel solution to the problem of trying to fit everyone in for group selfies without having to turn the phone.

Price

The iPhone 17 Pro costs from £1,099 (€1,299/$1,099/A$1,999) with 256GB of storage.

For comparison, the iPhone 16e costs £599, iPhone 17 costs £799, iPhone Air costs £999, iPhone 17 Pro Max costs £1,199, the Google Pixel 10 Pro costs £999, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra costs £1,099 and the Fairphone 6 costs £499.

Verdict

The 17 Pro is the first different-looking iPhone in years, which instantly makes it stand out despite not being functionally all that different from recent models.

The new aluminium unibody design feels nice, although it will scratch more easily than glass. The screen and performance are top-notch, while the battery life is solid for a fairly compact handset. It is a really nice iPhone and one of the very best phones that isn’t ginormous.

But this year it competes with the super-thin iPhone Air, which steals some of the limelight, and an upgraded standard iPhone 17, which is cheaper but matches the Pro on screen quality for the first time, although it lacks a zoom camera.

That leaves the camera as the big differentiator. The 17 Pro has top-notch cameras including a new and improved telephoto camera, which is one of the best in the business.

So for an iPhone buyer who wants a telephoto camera to zoom in on your subjects, the 17 Pro is the model to get. You just have to pay a pretty penny for it.

Pros: looks different to other models, relatively compact, great cameras including 4x/8x telephoto, upgraded selfie camera, great screen, USB-C, good battery life, top performance, long software support, Face ID.

Cons: expensive, heavier than previous models, lack of cutting-edge AI features compared with rivals, same screen and size can be found on cheaper model.