The wait is over and the leaked renders turned out to be accurate. Apple has officially launched the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, bringing a revamped design, improved performance and camera system and a new thermal system, as teased in the Apple event invite.
The new Pro models come with a brushed aluminium unibody design, a vapor chamber cooling system, and the most powerful chip ever in an iPhone. Both devices are set to go on sale globally from September 19, with preorders already live.
Apple says it used aerospace-grade 7000-series aluminium alloy chassis and a newly designed plateau in the back to make room for a larger battery, while the Apple-designed vapor chamber with deionised water enhances heat dissipation. Those extended gaming sessions and camera shoots should be better handled now.
Charging has also been improved, with both models supporting 50% charge in 20 minutes using Apple's new 40W Dynamic Power Adapter. And it doesn't look like Apple would still be shipping those adapters inside the box.
The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max come in 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch sizes, complete with the Super Retina XDR display which supports ProMotion 120Hz, Always-On, and 3,000 nits peak brightness. The new Ceramic Shield 2 on the front claims to offer 3 times better scratch resistance and reduced glare.
What's inside that core is the powerful A19 Pro chip, delivering faster CPU and GPU performance with dedicated Neural Accelerators built into every GPU core. Be it AAA gaming, advanced AI workloads, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing, the new iPhone Pro models are capable enough. The 16-core Neural Engine and expanded cache further enhance on-device Apple Intelligence and graphical performance.
The phones also debut the N1 wireless chip, enabling Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, improving hotspot, AirDrop, and overall connectivity reliability.
As expected, Apple has upgraded its Pro camera system with three 48MP Fusion cameras. The standout is a new 48MP telephoto with tetraprism design, offering 4x zoom at 100mm and 8x zoom at 200mm—the longest optical zoom on iPhone. Machine learning enhancements in the Photonic Engine promise better color accuracy and reduced noise, with digital zoom up to 40x.
On the front, the new 18MP Center Stage camera uses a square sensor to capture more detail. It can rotate from portrait to landscape for selfies and even supports dual capture, recording with both front and rear cameras at the same time—a feature aimed at vloggers and content creators.
In consistency with previous-gen iPhones, iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are great for shooting videos. They bring industry-first video features, including ProRes RAW, Log 2, Dolby Vision HDR, and genlock support.
And finally, running the show will be the latest iOS 26, which features Liquid Glass UI, refreshed apps, better CarPlay, and Apple Games. The devices retain Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation, visual intelligence for screenshots, and new privacy-protected AI tools.
In India, the iPhone 17 Pro is priced at Rs 1,34,900, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at Rs 1,49,900. Both models will be available in three finishes—Silver, Cosmic Orange and Deep Blue—with preorders already live and shipments beginning September 19.
