I felt a way of déjà vu as I picked up the iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max—in Cosmic Orange, after all—on the “Awe Dropping” Apple Occasion and tried to pin down what about these new Apple smartphones felt so acquainted. Then it hit me as I left the Steve Jobs Theater in a drained daze final night time: the iPhone 17 Professionals remind me of the MacBook Professionals with M1 Professional and M1 Max chips.
Like these first “professional” MacBooks, the iPhone 17 Professionals are literally constructed for professionals. It’s not simply “professional” for advertising. The iPhone 17 Professionals are barely thicker and heavier, have the longest-lasting batteries of any iPhones ever, the perfect cameras, and are an entire lot extra highly effective than the iPhone 16 Professionals. You’re feeling all of the pro-ness as quickly because the brick slabs are in your palms. All the pieces, together with the big digital camera bump or plateau, screams “skilled,” similar to these 2021 MacBook Professionals. And they need to as a result of Apple lastly prioritized operate over kind, similar to these MacBook Professionals, which introduced again the SD card slot and MagSafe charging charging. Professional customers need an uncompromised gadget—or at the least the closest to it—and Apple delivers it this yr.
Not like the iPhone Air that I couldn’t assist however ogle with my jaw on the ground, the iPhone 17 Professionals elicited much less awe from me. In each method, they’re beefed-up variations of the iPhone Professionals that got here earlier than them. The aluminum unibody design has a Ceramic Defend cutout on the bottom for wi-fi charging, and the digital camera plateau stretches throughout the entire prime third. It’s not probably the most stunning iPhone design (that award nonetheless goes to the iPhone 4 or iPhone X, for my part), but it surely’s purposeful. I even observed that the antenna strains that lower into the facet of the frames now bleed across the digital camera plateau. It’s similar to the antenna strains that wrap across the show on the Apple Watch Ultras. Once more, purposeful design first—this supposedly improves mobile and wi-fi connectivity, in line with Apple.
I’ve touched the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Professional. Right here’s your first look #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/HUiB8dxC8l
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025
Even with a heftier design, the iPhone 17 Professionals don’t really feel cumbersome. In reality, the iPhone 17 Professional Max—the Professional Max mannequin has at all times been too large and heavy for me—felt lighter and thinner than it truly is. For the primary time ever, I felt I might use the iPhone 17 Professional Max day by day and my palms wouldn’t damage from gripping it like an outdated Sport Boy. The curved steel body positively helps to make the iPhone 17 Professionals really feel thinner than they are surely. Its measurement nonetheless isn’t nice for those who care about pocketability, although.
Similar to I mentioned in my iPhone Air hands-on, I’ll have to check the iPhone 17 Professionals to see how properly the efficiency and battery life are, and the way good the cameras are. That being mentioned, the thicker designs additionally meant Apple was in a position to enhance the thermals for sustained efficiency when the A19 Professional chip is pushed exhausting for 3D cellular gaming and GPU-intensive duties like capturing RAW images and movies (and modifying them). If that’s not prioritizing operate first over kind, I don’t know what’s. Who remembers the darkish days when the thermals on Intel-equipped MacBook Professionals have been so dangerous? Apple, post-Jony Ive, appears to offer a sh*t about this now, and I’m all for it.
The Middle Stage digital camera is definitely my new favourite digital camera function. The power to carry the iPhone 17 Professionals vertically and take horizontal selfies (works for video, too) is a game-changer for those who ask me. No extra contorting my hand right into a claw to carry my iPhone sideways to shoot a selfie or vlog. I additionally actually appreciated the “Twin Seize” function, which helps you to file video from each the rear and entrance cameras. The entrance digital camera seems as a picture-in-picture field which you could transfer to any nook of the display. It’s going to be nice for response movies.
I additionally did a desk wobble take a look at. Right here’s how that went:
iPhone 17 Professional desk wobble take a look at! Does it go? Let’s discover out! #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/jhUv1zxR3K
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025
iPhone 17 hands-on
The iPhone 17 was the least thrilling mannequin for me, and I spent the least period of time enjoying with it. It’s an easy replace with an A19 chip, a bigger 6.3-inch 120Hz show, a brand new dual-camera system with twin 48-megapixel fundamental and ultrawide lenses, and a few new colours. The Sage inexperienced colorway is my favourite of the brand new bunch, however additionally they lack the vibrancy of the colours from the iPhone 16 sequence.
There’s actually not a lot to say concerning the iPhone 17… it looks like an iPhone 16 Professional, with the identical measurement display, however with an aluminum body. It’s light-weight, however not the thinnest or thinnest within the iPhone lineup. It’s the everyperson’s iPhone, and I don’t foresee that altering.
The most effective half might be that the iPhone 17 nonetheless begins at $799, now with 256GB of storage.
Additionally touched the iPhone 17 on this Sage colour. Right here’s your first have a look at the Middle Stage digital camera function too #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/20n1KSYZNX
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025
