The Upcoming iPhone 17 Pro's Specs and Why I'm Interested Again

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Yes, it's iPhone leak season, but this year there's at least one major spec change that has me interested in upgrading from 'ye olde' iPhone 14 Pro Max, coming up to its third birthday!

I’ve been doing some digging and making some educated guesses, based on leaks. You could almost call it research! 

So... Here are the probable upgrades for the iPhone 17 Pro series, and most of this seems locked in now, all we need is someone to leave a prototype in a bar 😀
  • No titanium on the outside - this was just a coating anyway, and largely for marketing and bragging. This year it'll just be aluminium and that's... fine. Plus every single iPhone user, including me, will have the device in a case!
  • The screen will have an anti-reflective coating, a on Samsung's S25 Ultra. Samsung makes the displays in iPhones anyway, so inheriting the best Samsung has to offer is both welcome and logical.
  • There will be a facelifted back design with a Google Pixel-style 'ledge'. Copying Google? Well yes, though the symmetry puts an end to any wobble when put down on the desk, so I'm up for it anyway. Especially if there's even more room in the camera ledge for a bigger telephoto system:


The 16 Pro Max next to the (case dummy of the) iPhone 17 Pro Max (grabbed)
  • Triple 48MP cameras, i.e. a Quad Bayer high resolution sensor has been added to the telephoto. This may not need to be tetra-prism anymore, because of the space available. Some leaks suggest it could offer 3.5x optical zoom (85mm equivalent), with the higher resolution allowing for simulated 5x optical zoom to appease people complaining that this is a downgrade. And also answering my complaint about the previous two generations and 5x zoom being too ‘long’ for portrait and general human use. With smart cropping into the 48MP sensor, the iPhone 17 Pro Max should effectively offer 7x lossless zoom (at 12MP)
  • A 24MP front camera for first time (it's been 12MP for ages)
  • The usual chip upgrades to the A19 series, plus vapour chamber cooling for sustained gaming performance
  • Wired charging will now be up to 35W (compared to 25W previously)
  • 12GB RAM is now standard, which will help more with Apple Intelligence - or at least that'll be the official line. But more RAM is usually better.
For me, all this adds up to a compelling upgrade, especially from my (then) three year old Pro Max. Portrait shots and zoom photos won't have any 'zoom gaps', plus I'll get smoother performance across the board and far greater future proofing (I'd expect this to be supported through the end of 2033!)


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