Apple unveils iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max with new design, bigger batteries and pro video tools

Apple has announced the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, introducing a redesigned aluminium unibody, a new cooling system and its latest A19 Pro chip. The changes aim to deliver higher sustained performance and a sizeable jump in battery life.

The chassis is a brushed, aerospace-grade aluminium unibody with antennas integrated around the edge. A vapor chamber is laser-welded into the frame to move heat away from the A19 Pro, helping the phones run faster for longer. The rear “plateau” makes room for a larger battery.

Both sizes — 6.3in and 6.9in — use Super Retina XDR displays with ProMotion up to 120Hz, Always-On and up to 3,000 nits peak outdoor brightness. Ceramic Shield 2 covers the front, and for the first time also protects the back, with claimed 3x better scratch resistance and improved anti-reflection.

A19 Pro brings Apple’s fastest 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU with hardware ray tracing. Neural Accelerators are built into each GPU core and the 16-core Neural Engine handles on-device AI and Apple Intelligence features. Apple’s new N1 wireless chip adds Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread.

There are three 48MP “Fusion” rear cameras — Main, Ultra Wide and a new Telephoto — giving the equivalent of eight focal lengths. The Telephoto uses a next-gen tetraprism and a larger sensor, offering 4x optical at 100mm and, on the long end, 8x optical at 200mm — the longest optical-quality zoom yet on an iPhone. Digital zoom now reaches up to 40x.

A new 18MP “Center Stage” front camera widens the field of view, supports stabilised 4K HDR video and can record simultaneously with the rear cameras.

For creators, the 17 Pro models add ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2 and genlock support to sync multi-camera shoots. Dolby Vision HDR up to 4K120 remains, with accessories and apps (including Blackmagic and Final Cut Camera) ready to tap the new formats.

Thanks to the reworked internals and A19 Pro efficiency, Apple says battery life is its best yet on Pro — with the Pro Max delivering the longest runtime of any iPhone. Both models can reach 50% in about 20 minutes with a high-wattage USB-C adapter. eSIM-only versions will be sold in selected markets; dropping the physical SIM frees space for a larger battery and up to 39 hours of video playback.

Colours are deep blue, cosmic orange and silver. iPhone 17 Pro comes in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB; 17 Pro Max adds a 2TB option. US pricing starts at $1,099 for 17 Pro and $1,199 for 17 Pro Max.

Pre-orders open Friday, 12 September, with availability from Friday, 19 September.