Apple iPhone 17 Pro

4.4

Overall Score

4.4/5

The Good Stuff

• Excellent performance overall
• Excellent quality photos & videos
• Impressive battery life & fast charging
• Impressive OLED display with Dolby Vision & HDR10
• Impressive durability

The Bad Stuff

• Expensive
• New charger not available outside US
• Telephoto lens not so impressive
• Thermal throtting still an issue
• iOS 26 needs updates

iPhone 17 Pro

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

“The iPhone 17 Pro is full of contradictions: you get something new, but it comes with a but. Things are improved, but maybe not as much as they should be.”

If you’re hanging on to your older iPhone 16 Pro, good for you. But after reading this review, you might thing twice. Yep. The new iPhone 17 Pro is here and it looks better than last year’s model. There are other impressive improvements too, but I’m not going to spoil it for you. Beside, it’s just better for you see them for yourself. So, without wasting any time, let’s check out the review of the Apple iPhone 17 Pro, and see if it’s worth ditching for the new or keeping the older model.

Overview

When last did you see the iPhone Pro look this good, this fresh, this unique? For me, it has been a while. Well, it looks like this year Apple is doing something different to the new iPhone 17 Pro. No more titanium frame. Now it’s the aluminum frame design.  It’s not just a facelift, this new model genuinely looks exciting and the upgrade may actually be worth it. Besides the cool new aluminum look, Apple’s added a bunch of other goodies to the iPhone 17 Pro. Firstly, they’ve thrown in a vapor cooling system to help get rid of heat generated from the processing chip. This should keep the brand-new Apple 19 Pro chipset running smoothly, especially when it’s powering the slick new Liquid Glass interface and animations in iOS 26. 

Next is the camera. The selfie camera is not an 18MP square sensor (kind of) with a wide lens that lets you snap landscape selfies even while holding the phone straight up. Then the telephoto camera has also been improved, too. It’s now 4x optical zoom with a much bigger 48MP sensor, which means better zoom quality. Thirdly, get ready for a better day-to-day experience because the battery capacity has seen a significant jump—the biggest increase for iPhone this year. This is even true for the models that still have a physical Nano SIM slot or the eSIM model, which is the only version that gets a bigger battery. Plus, there’s a new charging standard. 

But hey, it’s Apple, so some things are sticking around. You’ll still see that pill-shaped front camera cutout—no change there. And yeah, it looks like we’re still waiting for a fingerprint reader to make a comeback. Overall, though, the iPhone 17 Pro seems like a major step forward that brings a lot of genuinely useful improvements. What do you think about the aluminum body returning?

What’s to Like

1. Excellent Performance

Let’s look at the performance of the iPhone 17 Pro. Under the hood, the Pro is rocking the new Apple A19 Pro chip. Think of it as the better A19 chip version. It’s faster than the standard A19 in the regular iPhone 17 and even slightly more capable than the A19 Pro in the iPhone Air. This specific A19 Pro packs a punch with a 6-core CPU, which is super-fast performance and helps to save battery-power, and a 6-core GPU. Plus, a 16-core Neural Engine makes those “Apple Intelligence” features fly. Apple has finally addressed the heat issue. They’ve given the 17 Pro a new vapor chamber and a different aluminum frame body (ditching the older Titanium). This will improve the cooling of the phone significantly, that is said to delivers 40% better performance when you’re gaming or really pushing the phone for a long time.

And then there’s the improved memory of 12GB of RAM which will make your iPhone less likely to freeze. Then there’s the storage capacity starting from 256GB up to 1TB. And now there’s this new N1 networking chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and a blazing-fast USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port.

Long story short: it’s seriously fast. Compared to the previous 16 Pro, you’ll see about a 14% to 20% performance boost in performance. If you’re upgrading from an older iPhone 15 Pro, the difference is even more massive—like a massive 30-55% overall speed boost. It’s truly a beast, keeping pace with the top Android phones even in intense tests like ray-tracing graphics. Overall, excellent performance. 

2. Impressive OLED Display

Next, let’s dive into the iPhone 17 Pro’s screen. Did I mention that it’s seriously impressive. When you open the box, you’re looking at a sharp, vibrant 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display. It still features ProMotion, which is Apple’s way of saying it has a super-smooth variable refresh rate (up to 120Hz) that drops all the way down to 1Hz when you’re just looking at a static screen or using the Always-On mode. This keeps everything feeling fluid while saving battery.

The biggest physical upgrade is the new Ceramic Shield Glass 2. It’s not just tougher; it has a new anti-reflective coating that really helps with legibility outdoors. Speaking of outdoors, Apple claims this screen can hit an insane 3,000 nits peak brightness in bright sunlight. Now, the screen is smart. The phone manages that extreme brightness automatically, meaning it’s harder to manually force it to max brightness than on older models. But don’t worry—when the conditions call for it (like standing under the noon sun), it pumps up the nits beautifully, giving you excellent sunlight visibility.

To top it off, you get premium features like HDR10 and Dolby Vision support, and Apple’s famous Taptic Engine ensures the physical feedback (haptics) feels responsive and satisfying. This is a gorgeous screen that focuses on being perfectly readable no matter where you are.

3. Excellent battery life with Fast Charging

Let’s talk about the one thing everyone actually cares about: the battery life. The good news is, all the phones in the entire iPhone 17 series all got bigger batteries, but the iPhone 17 Pro is the most impressive. The battery size is noticeably bigger—about 12% larger than the iPhone 16 Pro. It does stop there. If you’re getting the eSIM-only model, that battery is even 20% bigger than the old model.

That’s a huge, welcome change. The bigger battery delivered a significant boost, especially when you’re doing things like watching videos and gaming. While web browsing and call time stayed about the same, the overall usage is way up.

Fast charging is insane. If you can get yourself a 35W charger, you can charge your iPhone 17 Pro up to 70% in half an hour, and to full charge will take you  just over an hour. The bottom line? The iPhone 17 Pro lasts an insane crushes it with an average  Active Use Score of 15 hours and 23 minutes! That puts it way ahead of rivals like the Pixel 10 Pro and the Galaxy S25. You can finally relax a bit more about finding an outlet!

4. High-quality Photos & Videos

The iPhone 17 Pro got a pretty significant camera upgrade overall this year, with major improvements to hardware on both the rear and the front cameras. Let’s start with the telephoto camera. First, it’s been upgraded to a 48 MP camera, with a lower 4x optical zoom, which is actually better for taking portrait-style shots and mid-range photos.

Secondly, all three rear cameras shoot in high quality instead of only the main camera, with the main and ultra-wide camera still having the same 48 MP camera, and all the cameras uses image stabilization to keep your shots steady.        

Next is the selfie camera. It’s been boosted to 18 MP from 12 MP. It can also take photos in both portrait and landscape without losing any of the scene on the side. You don’t even have to rotate your phone to get a wider group shot. 

Next is the video quality. No changes here. It still captures impressive quality videos with awesome contrast, bright colors, and great detail.  With videos you can capture up to 4K video quality using the rear cameras at 120 frames per second (fps) and with the front camera, video quality is similar at up to 4K video but at 60 fps. Once again video stabilization is available making walking shots look smooth.  

The only downside is that, at night, if there are bright lights, you still get those noticeable internal reflections (little light dots/streaks) from the lenses, especially when you zoom in. Overall, it’s a huge step up for both the zoom lens and the selfie camera, making the iPhone 17 Pro a video and photo powerhouse—just be ready to learn a few new tricks in the camera app.

5. Excellent Durability

So, Apple ditched the fancy-sounding titanium this year and went back to aluminum as the main frame for the new iPhone Pros. While aluminum might not sound as “posh,” it’s probably better overall, even if it might scratch a little easier than the older Pro models.

They call it an aluminum unibody, but since they needed to allow for wireless charging, there’s a glass panel in the back. Honestly, the way they cut the glass into the metal looks a little jarring and not as perfectly “seamless” as you usually expect from Apple—it almost feels like an afterthought!

Because aluminum is softer, your iPhone 17 Pro might pick up nicks and scratches more easily. While the tough finish will handle light stuff, that sharp edge around the camera seems especially prone to chipping. Basically, be careful which pocket you place your iPhone if you keep it with your keys and coins.

The display is protected by the latest Ceramic Shield 2, and now it even has an anti-reflective coating. This is a small, subtle change, but it makes the screen easier to read when you’re outside in bright sunlight.

The iPhone 17 Pro is the “smaller” of the two Pro models and it feels really good in your hand. Even though it’s kind of heavy for its size, the smooth, rounded aluminum edges make it comfortable to hold. It might have lost a little of that super-premium titanium feel, but it’s still a nice piece of hardware that’s tough too. With the familiar water resistance rating (IP68), it can survive being submerged in water for a good amount of time.

In the end, the iPhone 17 Pro has gone back to having the softer aluminum frame, however, it includes a tougher front glass display with anti-reflective coating. It’s still water resistant and feels good to hold on your hand.   

What’s Not to Like

1. Expensive

The new iPhone 17 Pro is the compact version of the Pro Max, which means it has all the Pro Max features but smaller. With that being said, it’s no surprise that it’s so expensive. But, if you don’t like the big brother, or can’t afford the Pro Max, then the Pro version will have to suffice as the better alternative. There are other alternatives, which we will explore them later.

2. Telephoto camera not that impressive

As much as the telephoto camera has been upgraded, it’s not really as impressive as the other two lenses. For starters, the pictures look good overall thanks to the detail and excellent color shots, but lacks the sharpness compared to other lenses.    

3. Heat issues from gaming

If you’re worried about this iPhone getting too hot or slowing down when you’re playing demanding games for a long time, here’s the good news: it handles the heat pretty well! The best part is how cool it stays on the outside. Even when pushing it hard for a long time, the hottest spot on the phone barely got above 45 degrees.

In simple terms? It won’t be scalding hot in your hand after a marathon gaming session. So, while the internal speed is similar to the last generation, the cooling seems to be doing a good job of keeping the phone comfortable.

iPhone 17 Pro Alternatives

1. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge

2. Apple iPhone 16 Pro

3. Apple iPhone Air

4. Xiaomi 15T Pro

Verdict

So what can I say about the iPhone 17 Pro? It’s definitely a mixture of big improvements, and things that are basically the same as last year’s model. With the design, it finally got a fresh new look—which was honestly overdue. The new design, with its aluminum frame, is noticeable and has some practical benefits, even if it’s not everyone’s favorite style.

The internal cooling seems to help manage the heat, which is good. That said, it’s not a miracle worker, and the performance still slows down a bit under heavy use. But hey, at least it’s faster overall. And battery charging speeds are quicker now, which is a welcome change.

The upgraded telephoto camera is all well and good, but not groundbreaking. And while the new selfie camera is also better, because you can take wider shots without having to rotate the iPhone, yet it’s solving a very minor problem. The upgraded zoom camera is also fine, but not a dramatic improvement. The new software looks fancier, but it’s really not any easier or more intuitive to use. It’s all flash and less substance on the user-friendly front.

The iPhone 17 Pro is full of contradictions: you get something new, but it comes with a but. Things are improved, but maybe not as much as they should be. It’s a gorgeous, premium phone that’s going to sell like crazy, but personally, it just doesn’t feel like a must-have upgrade this year.

So what do you think of the iPhone 17 Pro? Is it the iPhone you was expecting? What features do you think would be better for this iPhone 17 Pro? What do you think of these alternatives, are you more likely to get one of them? Let me know at the comments below. And if you feel the iPhone 17 Pro caters to all your needs, then it’s either you hit the red “BUY NOW” button on the top, or Click Here to find out more.  That’s all from me. Until next time, stay safe 😀