We are just days away from Apple's 'Awe Dropping' event, and while we already have a seemingly clear picture of which hardware the company has up its sleeve, exactly what their capabilities are going to be remains more of a mystery.
While upgrades like a jump to Apple's on A19 and A19 Pro silicon is all-but-certain, across the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, there's talk of more outlandish enhancements being bandied about too. Word of vapor-chamber cooling, more RAM on the Air and Pro models, and even a new orange colorway.
What I'm most intrigued by, though, are the camera upgrades. After comparing the cameras from the best iPhone, Samsung and Pixel earlier this year, and using the iPhone 16 Pro as my main means of video capture since launch, I have some thoughts and hopes for the iPhone 17 Pro line's expected camera upgrades.
Based on some of the most recent rumors surrounding this next generation of iPhone imaging, here are the three improvements I have my fingers crossed most tightly for.
1. Superior selfie snappers
- The rumor: Entire iPhone 17 line expected to receive front-camera upgrade to 24MP
Although I've given up hope of further development of the Dynamic Island, one arguably more meaningful upgrade that I'd welcome is an enhanced selfie snapper.
As reported back in August, a note to investors seen by 9to5Mac suggests that all four new iPhone 17 models will benefit from a resolution bump to their front-facing cameras; doubling from 12MP to 24MP.
When comparing the 16 Pro's front-facer, I discovered that it had a tendency to under-expose and applied an overtly aggressive contrast curve to scenes (suggesting limited dynamic range), when compared to the selfie cameras on the Pixel 9 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
There are a number of benefits that more megapixels could offer here, including addressing some of the above shortcomings.
More megapixels also means there's potential for higher resolution video capture, better electronic image stabilization, improved low light performance, capture at more focal lengths (allowing for a wider lens and cropping in without a loss in optical quality) and more.
2. 48MP across all rear sensors
- The rumor: The iPhone 17 Pro could get a 48MP telephoto camera, which is way more exciting than it sounds
Last year, the iPhone line took a step towards sensor parity, by bumping its 16 Pro phones' 12MP ultrawide up to 48MP, and now it looks like the turn of that all-important telephoto camera.
The current 12MP 5x telephoto already impresses, especially with Apple's innovative tetraprism folded optical stack – which it introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That said, when the more modest phones from its biggest rivals now boast comparable zoom (not to mention 100x maximum zoom on their top-tier devices), Apple's equivalent imaging tech starts to look a little long in the tooth.
In testing, the current 16 Pro rear camera setup already offers impressive consistency – in terms of color balance and exposure management – between its rear sensors, but similarly to current selfies, underexposure was again one persistent criticism I has with resultant shots.
Sensor-cropping on a 48MP 5x telephoto camera could, in theory, grant the iPhone 17 Pro line lossless optical zoom at up to 10x, and a greater maximum zoom range than current line's relatively limited 25x limit. That said, there has been talk of Apple playing things a little safer than its competitors in this department, by outfitting at least the iPhone 17 Pro Max with a new peak 8x optical zoom.
More pixels to play with would also help allow for more light capture and greater image stability too.
3. New Pro-grade video experience
- The rumor: iPhone 17 Pro tipped to get 8K video recording
I already love shooting video on iPhone. The current iPhone 16 Pro line serves up one of the most consistent/reliable video capture experiences on a smartphone, not to mention it's one of the few that truly embodies the phone's "Pro" branding.
You've got Log capture support, ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) compatibility, DolbyVision capture at 4K/120fps, 4K ProRes capture at up 120fps (with an external recording device attached), and more.
So where will Apple go from here? Signs point to some novel new video upgrades.
Firstly, a new dual video capture mode may be on the cards, letting you capture front and rear camera feeds at the same time. This is something we've already seen from select third-party apps, but a high-quality native option could open up some new avenues for creators, especially with the internet's love of 'react' content on platforms like YouTube.
There's also talk of a bump to peak video capture resolution. 8K recording on the iPhone 17 Pro would bring it up in line with the S25 Ultra and the new Pixel 10 Pro devices (which rely on their off-device Video Boost processing to support 8K), however, I feel like Apple would need to pair this with perhaps a max storage option boost of 1.5TB to 2TB. Why? That just feels like the decidedly Apple thing to do with such a feature.
Final thoughts
There are other camera rumors floating around, like talk of a variable aperture and multi-cam, multi-device control from a single iPhone, but we'll only know the truth once Tim Cook and pals show the new line of devices off at Apple Park on September 9.
In the meantime, whilst there are clear areas where the iPhone 16 Pro's camera experience can be improved upon, signs point to meaningful upgrades that should level the playing field with many of the best camera phones out there, not to mention justifying the iPhone 17 Pro line's distinct new camera bar design.
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