When announcing the iPhone 17 Pro lineup, Apple highlighted the usual upgrades like design refinements, a faster chip, and, of course, the new Cosmic Orange color. But I bought a silver iPhone 17 Pro Max instead of orange, and after spending two months with it, the obvious things aren’t the ones I appreciate most. Instead, these are three upgrades that still surprise me months later.
Zoom zoom!
Apple surprised the world when it added a second lens to the iPhone 7 Plus for 2x optical zoom. It didn’t take long for smartphones with multiple lenses to become standard in the industry. However, as time went on, competitors ended up introducing phones with much greater zoom range than the iPhone.
The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max already had a telephoto lens capable of taking photos and filming videos with 5x optical zoom. I particularly love using this lens as it gives photos a more professional look, especially when it comes to portraits. I also like having the best zoom for plane spotting.
With the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, Apple switched up the telephoto camera. Instead of a 5x 12MP lens, the telephoto camera now has a 48MP sensor with 4x optical zoom. While the drop from 5x to 4x may sound like a downgrade at first, I ended up loving the change.
First, the new sensor is much larger, 56 percent larger, to be exact. A larger sensor captures much more light, resulting in more detail and less noise, especially in low light. Telephoto photos taken at night are noticeably better compared to those taken with the iPhone 16 Pro camera.
At the same time, I feel that the 4x versus 5x zoom makes it possible to use the telephoto lens on more occasions. With the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I had to move much further away from the subject to use the telephoto lens. The 4x camera is more suitable for portraits.
Also, because the sensor now has 48 megapixels, Apple has come up with a cool trick. Essentially, the Camera app can crop the image from the sensor to capture photos and videos with 8x zoom at 12 megapixels. The result isn’t perfect, but it’s decent enough to capture things that are far away.
This is probably the camera I use most on my iPhone, and the photos and videos I’ve taken so far are simply stunning. It didn’t seem like much at the time, but Apple made the right upgrades with the iPhone’s telephoto lens.
Super selfies
It had been a while since the iPhone’s front camera had received any major upgrades, but that changed with the iPhone 17. All new models in the lineup got a new square-shaped sensor that takes 18MP photos, versus 12MP on the old one.
The first thing I noticed is that selfies taken with the new camera have a bit more detail, especially when you zoom in. But the real difference comes when night falls. The new sensor performs significantly better in low-light scenarios. That alone makes the upgrade worthwhile for creators.
But there’s something else that made me love the new selfie camera on my iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Apple significantly upgraded the selfie cam on the iPhone 17 this year.
Foundry
As I reviewed here previously at Macworld, the new square-shaped selfie camera sensor also enables a new feature that lets users reframe the photo in portrait or landscape orientation without actually having to rotate the phone. Essentially, you can take a photo from four different perspectives from the same angle.
This is also great for vloggers, as the feature works for videos as well. This means you can hold your phone vertically, which is much more comfortable and natural, and still shoot videos horizontally. It’s especially useful on the iPhone 17 Pro Max due to its extra-large screen and body.
Cool under pressure
The iPhone 17 Pro is the first iPhone with a redesigned cooling system that includes a vapor chamber. You can’t see it, but you can definitely feel the difference, especially if you use your phone heavily and are coming from an older iPhone.
In short, a vapor chamber is essentially a thin sheet of metal with a liquid inside. When the phone heats up, the liquid instantly evaporates, helping to spread the heat throughout the chamber.
The first advantage, of course, is the fact that the phone no longer gets extremely hot in your hands. This was something that bothered me in previous generations of the iPhone, and I’m glad Apple has fixed it.
But I also get better sustained performance, as the phone doesn’t need to throttle the speed of the CPU and GPU to prevent overheating. This means I no longer experience any lag on your phone, even when playing 3D games or editing videos.
The iPhone 17 Pro’s new vapor chamber does a remarkable job keeping things cool.
Apple
Small upgrades that make a difference
After two months, these are the upgrades that continue to shape my experience with the iPhone 17 Pro Max in ways I didn’t fully expect. The new telephoto lens gives me more flexibility and better zoom, the selfie camera finally feels like a real step forward for creators, and the vapor chamber quietly transforms how fast, cool, and consistent the phone feels during long sessions.
None of these changes sound as exciting as a brand new design or hot new color, but they’re the kinds of upgrades that actually matter when you use your iPhone every day. And in a year when many people say smartphones are becoming “boring,” the iPhone 17 Pro lineup proves there’s still room for improvements that make the experience better in invisible ways.