The Most Un-Jony Ive iPhones Apple Has Ever Made

I felt a way of déjà vu as I picked up the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max—in Cosmic Orange, in fact—on the “Awe Dropping” Apple Event 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 Execs remind me of the MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.

Like these first “professional” MacBooks, the iPhone 17 Execs are literally constructed for execs. It’s not simply “professional” for advertising and marketing. The iPhone 17 Execs are barely thicker and heavier, have the longest-lasting batteries of any iPhones ever, one of the best cameras, and are a complete lot extra highly effective than the iPhone 16 Execs. You’re feeling all of the pro-ness as quickly because the brick slabs are in your palms. All the pieces, together with the massive digital camera bump or plateau, screams “skilled,” similar to these 2021 MacBook Execs. And they need to as a result of Apple lastly prioritized perform over kind, similar to these MacBook Execs, which introduced again the SD card slot and MagSafe charging charging. Professional customers need an uncompromised gadget—or a minimum of 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 Execs elicited much less awe from me. In each manner, they’re beefed-up variations of the iPhone Execs 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 essentially the most lovely iPhone design (that award nonetheless goes to the iPhone 4 or iPhone X, for my part), nevertheless it’s useful. I even seen that the antenna traces that minimize into the aspect of the frames now bleed across the digital camera plateau. It’s similar to the antenna traces that wrap across the show on the Apple Watch Ultras. Once more, useful 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 Execs don’t really feel cumbersome. The truth is, the iPhone 17 Professional Max—the Professional Max mannequin has at all times been too massive and heavy for me—felt lighter and thinner than it truly is. For the primary time ever, I felt I may use the iPhone 17 Professional Max day by day and my palms wouldn’t harm from gripping it like an previous Sport Boy. The curved steel body positively helps to make the iPhone 17 Execs really feel thinner than they are surely. Its dimension nonetheless isn’t nice when you care about pocketability, although.

Similar to I mentioned in my iPhone Air hands-on, I’ll have to check the iPhone 17 Execs to see how effectively the efficiency and battery life are, and the way good the cameras are. That being mentioned, the thicker designs additionally meant Apple was capable of enhance the thermals for sustained efficiency when the A19 Professional chip is pushed laborious for 3D cell gaming and GPU-intensive duties like capturing RAW photographs and movies (and modifying them). If that’s not prioritizing perform first over kind, I don’t know what’s. Who remembers the darkish days when the thermals on Intel-equipped MacBook Execs had been so unhealthy? Apple, post-Jony Ive, appears to provide a sh*t about this now, and I’m all for it.

The Heart Stage digital camera is well my new favourite digital camera characteristic. The flexibility to carry the iPhone 17 Execs vertically and take horizontal selfies (works for video, too) is a game-changer when you 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 favored the “Twin Seize” characteristic, which helps you to report video from each the rear and entrance cameras. The entrance digital camera seems as a picture-in-picture field that you would be able to 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 taking part in with it. It’s a simple replace with an A19 chip, a bigger 6.3-inch 120Hz show, a brand new dual-camera system with twin 48-megapixel predominant and ultrawide lenses, and a few new colours. The Sage inexperienced colorway is my favourite of the brand new bunch, however in addition 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 dimension 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.

One of the best 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 Heart Stage digital camera characteristic too #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/20n1KSYZNX

— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025