Review: A Week With the iPhone 17 Pro

[SSDGUY]

Shoot RAW

Or just give me accurate color without reverting to large RAW files that can't be easily shared.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

8x optical zoom!? Which phone is this they are reviewing as it won't be an iPhone. Why keep repeating the lie?

 

[Parvezx]

How do we shoot videos in 8k?

 

[Parvezx]

 

[interstella]

Does the 17PM screen stay at full brightness (like when outdoors in full sun) longer than previous versions?

I can answer this one now. The good news is that my 17PM, which had an expected delivery date of October 6th-13th, arrived n September 27th. Today was moderately warm, about 19°C, and the screen dimmed after about 15 minutes of use outside so very little better than the 15PM.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

For everyone who got a Pro, good for you. However, I find that since the introduction of the Pro models in 2019, the difference between the standard model and the Pro has never been smaller only second to the iPhone 12 line-up. In the iPhone 12 lineup the only difference, if I'm not mistaken, is the back camera. where you could zoom with the Pro. Same display, same battery life, same chip, the regular iPhone 12 was even lighter. In other years the Pro models always had a better display and some other stuff over the regular model. Which is why I expected that when the rumors were clear that the regular iPhone would finally get Pro Motion, the Pro model would get something else over the regular model like a much less reflective display.

The difference this compared to the iPhone 12 lineup is that the price gap between the regular model and the Pro is much larger (12 Pro was 250€ more expensive than the regular, 17 Pro is 360€ more expensive than the regular one). You do get better battery life, a better chip and better cameras, but the difference however is too small imo. I also find the regular iPhone to be much prettier.

Just curious on what you are basing your commentary "the difference between the standard model and the Pro has never been smaller" ? Have you extensively tested them?

I only briefly tested the base 17 in-store and immediately shifted to the 17 Pro. Three camera lenses instead of two is IMO a huge differentiation, and in-store testing the base 17 seemed weaker than the 17 Pro. Now after a year of 16 Pro and a week of 17 Pro the superior performance of the 17 Pro is very obvious in my daily usage.

Bottom line is that after a week of full 17 PM usage IMO the three lens 48 MP fusion camera system is huge value add for the 17 Pros over all other phones. Not a small difference.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Loving my 17P. Coming from a 15P the battery is a huge upgrade and the cell signal seems to be better (AT&T).

I am in an old lathe-and-plaster home and the iPhone 16 PM had ongoing AT&T connection issues at my normal spot. The iPhone 17 PM has had zero issues, same spot. WooHoo!

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I’ve heard that there might be a “fix” in photographic styles but I am yet to try it out, i.e. de-boosting the “tone” setting or using “natural” preset.

Given the amount of people who dislike all of this processing they could have easily added a special photographic style and called it “old-school”, “lofi” or smth where you would get more true-to-life image, I actually waited for them to at least give some upgrades to photographic styles this year, sad that they didn’t deliver it

RAW is an instant easy setting, a file type not a style. Set to RAW and hold the iPhone still so it does not try to fix poor photo technique and you will not see what many call "all of this processing."

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Or just give me accurate color without reverting to large RAW files that can't be easily shared.

?? iPhones have always been relatively good at capturing reasonably accurate color. Lighting is mostly what determines color; also poor settings and/or poor technique. What photogs have done for decades now is capture in RAW then easily share the captures as smaller JPEG files. [The last camera I captured JPEG was a Nikon D2x 20 years ago, because JPEG was necessary for speed on some captures. Since then only RAW when it is an available choice.]

Too many folks expect tiny cell phones cameras to fix poor image setup and poor photographic technique. Then when the computational photography algorithms trash the image as they try to correct for poor settings and/or poor technique folks wonder why.

 

[Biro]

I am in an old lathe-and-plaster home and the iPhone 16 PM had ongoing AT&T connection issues at my normal spot. The iPhone 17 PM has had zero issues, same spot. WooHoo!

I figure that’s the Qualcomm X80 modem at work.

 

[_Spook_]

I’m loving my 17PM (silver 512GB). The Orange is extremely unpopular in Australia (where I am). I upgraded from the 15PM (natural Titanium 256GB), I got a crazy $980 trade in from my telco! The 8x optical zoom is amazing! Never gets hot. Awesome battery life, end of day I have over 40% remaining.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

My iPhone 17 Pro was actually sitting pretty hot nearly 24/7 until I wiped it and chose to set it up as a new phone instead of using a backup. It's running well now, though.

 

[SSDGUY]

?? iPhones have always been relatively good at capturing reasonably accurate color. Lighting is mostly what determines color; also poor settings and/or poor technique. What photogs have done for decades now is capture in RAW then easily share the captures as smaller JPEG files. [The last camera I captured JPEG was a Nikon D2x 20 years ago, because JPEG was necessary for speed on some captures. Since then only RAW when it is an available choice.]

Too many folks expect tiny cell phones cameras to fix poor image setup and poor photographic technique. Then when the computational photography algorithms trash the image as they try to correct for poor settings and/or poor technique folks wonder why.

Nahh, I didn't have the hyped yellows and greens with my iphone 4-5 years ago. They changed something with automatic procesing. I've shot RAW many times w/ my iphone and professionaly with DSLR's. RAW is great but when you don't want the file sizes loading up for more casual shooting … well jeez Apple, make the color more natural like it used to be.

 

[Biro]

Nahh, I didn't have the hyped yellows and greens with my iphone 4-5 years ago. They changed something with automatic procesing. I've shot RAW many times w/ my iphone and professionaly with DSLR's. RAW is great but when you don't want the file sizes loading up for more casual shooting … well jeez Apple, make the color more natural like it used to be.

Agreed. The thing is, if one happened to like really punchy colors like most people do (and there is your explanation for why Apple made the adjustment), one could open a file in the Photos app and just lick on “Enhance.” Punchy, people-pleasing colors in an instant.

 

[ifonefrik]

I don't understand why people are crying about aluminum body, much better than the glass one. Good job apple!