The iPhone 17 Pro camera system

Get up to speed with Apple's most powerful camera setup yet!

- GEORGE CAIRNS

THE 2025 RELEASE of the iPhone 17 and Air sees significant improvements to the camera system. And all models in Apple’s latest line-up benefit, from the entry-level 17, super-thin Air, and powerful 17 Pro, to the flagship 17 Pro Max. We're referencing the iPhone 17 Pro here, but the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max both offer the most advanced set of hardware and software improvements.

Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro’s single Fusion Main camera, the iPhone 17 Pro has three — Fusion Main, Fusion Ultra Wide, and Fusion Telephoto. The Fusion camera system uses the 17 Pro’s Photonic Engine to combine a 48MP frame with a 12MP frame optimized for light capture. This results in a 24MP photo with incredible detail, amazing low-light performance, and an optimal file size for storage and sharing. This technology allows photographers to capture high-resolution 48MP (megapixel) photos or default 24MP images from all three of the cameras.

The older iPhone 16 Pro’s 12MP Telephoto 5x camera captures images measuring 3024x4032 pixels. This is fine for social media or viewing your image on a digital display, such as an iPad or widescreen TV. However, when shooting at 4x optical zoom, the iPhone 17 Pro’s superior 48MP Telephoto captures shots measuring 6048x8064 pixels, enabling you to produce bigger physical prints to exhibit in a gallery or sell to a client, for example.

ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS

As well as producing larger images at 4x zoom, the 17 Pro’s Telephoto camera boasts an 8x optical zoom that gives you a closer encounter with distant subjects than you could achieve with the iPhone’s 16 Pro’s 5x zoom. The iPhone 17 Pro’s 8x zoom is the equivalent of a DSLR camera’s 200mm lens; the iPhone 16 Pro’s 5x zoom reaches to 120mm.