Apple iPhone 17 Professional assessment: completely different appears to be like however nonetheless all in regards to the zoom

[ad_1] T he 17 Professional is Apple’s greatest redesign of the iPhone in years, chucking out the previous titanium sides and all-glass backs for a brand new aluminium unibody design, an enormous full-width digicam lump on the again and a few bolder colors.

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That alone will make the iPhone 17 Professional widespread for these seeking to improve and be seen with the most recent mannequin. However with the change comes a rise in worth to £1,099 (€1,299/$1,099/A$1,999), crossing the £1,000 barrier for the primary time for Apple’s smallest Professional telephone, which now comes with double the beginning storage.

From the entrance it appears to be like like several current Professional iPhone with the Dynamic Island containing the selfie digicam on the high of the tremendous vibrant and clean display. It is among the greatest screens on a telephone however equivalent to the common iPhone 17, which has been upgraded this yr.

Increased peak brightness and a brand new anti-glare coating on the display assist reduce down on reflections in vibrant gentle, making it simpler to make use of exterior. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The aluminium sides have been softened with a slight rounding to the perimeters, giving the telephone a pleasant and cozy really feel in your hand with out being too slippery. The telephone has gained 5g in weight, which has pushed it over the 200g mark, making it on the heavier aspect for a smaller handset.

A glass panel barely bigger than a bank card is inlaid into the aluminium physique and is the place MagSafe or Qi2.2 chargers and equipment connect. The big metallic “plateau” on the high homes the cameras, which is even larger than the digicam bar on a Pixel. The aluminium is not going to crack like glass when dropped however it's extra scratch-prone, significantly across the edges of the plateau, so a case remains to be prudent.

The house and lock screens of iOS 26 now have a glassy, extra rounded look to textual content and icons. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The handset runs the identical iOS 26 as the remainder of the iPhone lineup, which launched Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” interface design. Usually it really works effectively, however it has precipitated a little bit of division over the transparency results used for buttons and different components, which mix into the background slightly an excessive amount of typically.

Specs Display screen: 6.3in Tremendous Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)

Processor: Apple A19 Professional

RAM: 12GB

Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB

Working system: iOS 26

Digital camera: 48MP essential, 48MP UW and 48MP 4x zoom, 18MP front-facing

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

Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 minutes)

Dimensions: 150 x 71.9 x 8.75mm

Weight: 204g

Quicker and cooler A19 Professional chip The iPhone totally expenses in 76 minutes by way of USB-C, hitting 70% in half an hour utilizing a 40W adaptor (not included) or 96 minutes utilizing a Qi2 25W charger such because the Belkin UltraCharge 2-in-1. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The 17 Professional has a brand new Apple A19 Professional chip at its coronary heart, which is coupled for the primary time in an iPhone with a vapour chamber cooling system. It's a frequent approach utilized in many high-performing Android telephones and extracts warmth from the chip, dispersing it into the remainder of the telephone’s physique to chill it down and hold it operating at peak efficiency for longer.

It really works effectively, with the again staying cooler than earlier iPhones when enjoying video games for prolonged classes whereas producing higher body charges and being much less sweaty to carry.

The battery life is stable for a telephone of this dimension, lasting about 42 hours between expenses with about six hours of energetic display use on a mixture of 5G and wifi, which is about two hours longer than final yr’s mannequin. On heavy-use days out and about or enjoying a lot of video games, the 17 Professional nonetheless managed to finish the day with an excellent 25% left within the tank. Most individuals might want to cost the telephone each different day for normal use.

Sustainability The digicam plateau stops the iPhone 17 Professional rocking round on a desk as a lot as earlier fashions. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian The battery will final in extra of 1,000 full-charge cycles with not less than 80% of its unique capability and may be changed for £109. Out-of-warranty display repairs value £349. The specialists iFixit awarded the telephone a seven out of 10 for repairability.

It accommodates greater than 30% recycled materials, together with aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, rare-earth components, metal, tin and tungsten. The corporate breaks down the telephone’s environmental affect in its report. Apple presents trade-in and free recycling schemes, together with for non-Apple merchandise.

Digital camera The simplified digicam app automates extra of the photo-taking and hides many options behind sliding buttons. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian There are three 48-megapixel cameras on the again and a brand new 18MP selfie digicam with just a few new tips on the entrance.

The principle and ultra-wide cameras are similar to final yr, shoot some nice images throughout a variety of lighting situations and are significantly good for avenue pictures with stable element. The principle digicam presents a 2x crop zoom, which is nice, showing comparable intimately and color to 1x photographs in good gentle, though slightly extra grainy in dimmer lighting.

New for this yr is an upgraded telephoto digicam that's now 4x at 48MP, up from 5x at 12MP, which produces superb, well-balanced images which might be filled with element. It will possibly handle an 8x crop zoom just like the principle digicam, which is equally good in vibrant gentle with solely a slight degradation of element. Each zoom ranges do fairly effectively in dimmer indoor gentle, too.

Zooming past 15-20x to a max of 40x magnification, the images have apparent indicators of being blown up by digital zoom. {Photograph}: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian All three cameras shoot a number of the greatest video on a telephone and have many different options, together with a superb macrophotography mode and the flexibility to shoot video from the entrance and rear cameras concurrently, putting the operator into slightly window. Apple’s automated portrait mode is stable and works with objects, not solely folks and pets.

Lastly, the selfie digicam has had its first improve on an iPhone in a few years, beefed as much as an 18MP sensor with Apple’s Centre Stage tech from its iPads and Macs. It has the flexibility to mechanically pan and zoom to maintain you in body for video calls however it could additionally develop the body to shoot panorama selfies when holding the telephone in portrait orientation. It’s a novel resolution to the issue of making an attempt to suit everybody in for group selfies with out having to show the telephone.

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

For comparability, the iPhone 16e prices £599, iPhone 17 prices £799, iPhone Air prices £999, iPhone 17 Professional Max prices £1,199, the Google Pixel 10 Professional prices £999, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely prices £1,099 and the Fairphone 6 prices £499.

Verdict The 17 Professional is the primary different-looking iPhone in years, which immediately makes it stand out regardless of not being functionally all that completely different from current fashions.

The brand new aluminium unibody design feels good, though it's going to scratch extra simply than glass. The display and efficiency are top-notch, whereas the battery life is stable for a reasonably compact handset. It's a very nice iPhone and one of many best possible telephones that isn’t ginormous.

However this yr it competes with the super-thin iPhone Air, which steals a number of the limelight, and an upgraded customary iPhone 17, which is cheaper however matches the Professional on display high quality for the primary time, though it lacks a zoom digicam.

That leaves the digicam as the large differentiator. The 17 Professional has top-notch cameras together with a brand new and improved telephoto digicam, which is among the greatest within the enterprise.

So for an iPhone purchaser who desires a telephoto digicam to zoom in in your topics, the 17 Professional is the mannequin to get. You simply need to pay a reasonably penny for it.

Professionals: appears to be like completely different to different fashions, comparatively compact, nice cameras together with 4x/8x telephoto, upgraded selfie digicam, nice display, USB-C, good battery life, high efficiency, lengthy software program help, Face ID.

Cons: costly, heavier than earlier fashions, lack of cutting-edge AI options in contrast with rivals, identical display and dimension may be discovered on cheaper mannequin.