Apple officially released its new generation flagship phone iPhone 17 Pro today, along with the standard iPhone 17 and the new iPhone Air. The new Pro model returns to an aluminum body and is equipped with the largest battery capacity of an iPhone to date. The back uses a new design that Apple calls a "full-width camera platform" for the first time.
The most significant change this year is the bold design innovation of the back camera module. The camera "stand" now spans the width of the fuselage, not just the lens part. It looks similar to the horizontal camera module bar of the Google Pixel series mobile phones. Interestingly, it is expected that the S26 series launched by Samsung next year will also adopt a similar design.
The new machine is equipped with 6.3-inch (Pro) and 6.9-inch (Pro Max) screens, which still support ProMotion technology and have a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. The body is available in three colors: silver, blue and the rare bright orange. The material adopts an all-aluminum integrated middle frame and is paired with double-sided Ceramic Shield glass. The front panel introduces a second-generation reinforced coating to improve scratch resistance and durability.
In terms of hardware configuration, the iPhone 17 Pro series is equipped with the new A19 Pro processor. The performance jump brought by this chip not only further improves the running speed, but also provides powerful computing power support for Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence functions. Apple has also added a heat pipe cooling system to a mobile phone for the first time, which effectively avoids chip overheating under high load and further enhances battery life and operational stability.
The biggest highlight is the battery. iPhone 17 Pro has the largest battery in iPhone history, and Pro Max can support up to 39 hours of continuous video playback, an increase of 6 hours compared to the previous generation. Only the eSIM version (in the United States) can achieve optimal battery life, and the version with a physical SIM card has a slightly shorter battery life of 2 hours.
Despite the design upgrade, the new camera station is still equipped with three rear cameras, but the specifications have made a major jump. The three cameras in the Pro series all use 48-megapixel sensors, and the telephoto lens has been upgraded from 12-megapixel last year to 48-megapixel for the first time. In addition, the front camera has also been improved, equipped with an 18-megapixel sensor, and the Center Stage function has been introduced to realize automatic framing of photos. The new 48-megapixel fused telephoto camera supports 4x zoom at a 100mm focal length and up to 8x zoom at a 200mm focal length.
Earlier this year, Apple also released iOS 26. The new system highlights the "liquid glass" interface, making many UI elements brighter and more transparent, and the visual effects are more avant-garde. Users may need time to adapt.
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The new products start at US$1,099 (Pro) and US$1,199 (Pro Max, both 256GB). Pro Max can be equipped with up to 2TB storage and is priced as high as US$1,999. The new product will be available for pre-sale this Friday and will be fully launched on September 19.
iPhone 17 prices start at $799, iPhone Air starts at $999, and iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099.
