iPhone 17 Pro And iPhone 17 Pro Max Debut With Camera Bar Design, A19 Pro Chip, And Aluminum Body

 

 Apple is a brilliant company. One of their greatest skills? Using marketing to turn a negative into a feature.

⚫ “Dynamic Island” → that little black cutout on the front of your phone we couldn’t engineer away
⚫ “Plateau” → a giant camera bump on the thinnest iPhone ever
⚫ “Fusion Camera” → taking away a camera sensor, but branding it as progress

It’s a masterclass in reframing. The lesson? Sometimes the story you tell is just as important as the product you build.

Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared to be channeling his predecessor and design genius Steve Jobs on Tuesday when he unveiled the iPhone Air, the company's slimmest handset yet, and the biggest change in eight years to a lineup that fans and analysts complained was stagnating.

Cook kicked off the company's (AAPL.O), opens new tab annual product launch event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters with a Jobs quote: "For us, design goes beyond just how something looks or feels. Design is also how it works."

Inside its 5.6-millimeter-thick (0.22 inch) frame - thinner than Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS), opens new tab S25 Edge at 5.8 mm - the iPhone Air's circuitry has been shrunk to the size of a few postage stamps, clearing the way for as much battery capacity as possible.

Going into the event, many analysts had predicted a ho-hum reception to the product launches, but on Tuesday, some said the four new iPhones - iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max - offered a lineup likely to appeal to customers with varied budgets.

And doubts still linger about whether the new smartphone will match its promised battery capacity, and whether consumers will settle for one fewer camera.

It will have Apple's best and newest A19 Pro processor chip, which is tuned to handle artificial intelligence tasks, and two new custom Apple communications chips.

"I heard loud claps the moment it was announced," said Gaurav Chaudhary, a YouTuber with nearly 24 million followers, popularly known as "Technical Guruji." He praised the Air's titanium frame and "ceramic shield" glass, which Apple said makes the device more durable.

Chaudhary said that despite hearing numerous leaks about the device ahead of time, he was still impressed after handling it in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple headquarters, even if he still wants to see if Apple's battery life claims hold up.

Seventeen years ago, Jobs famously introduced the company's first MacBook Air by pulling the ultra-thin laptop from an interoffice envelope to highlight how portable it was.

The iPhone Air, which borrows its name and design language from the laptop, may be what Apple fans have wanted for years: A device that looks different from others on the market and is packed with feats of hardware engineering in every square millimeter.

"I think in an era where we've seen a large degree of sameness, it's great to see Apple bring a new product to the market. It kind of reinvigorates the whole segment of iPhone," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.

On the downside, however, the iPhone Air has only one camera, compared with two separate cameras on the base iPhone 17 and three on the Pro models.

Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consultancy Creative Strategies, said it will also be critical to confirm whether it can live up to Apple's battery life claims. He said Apple's custom chips should help because the company has spent more than a decade designing its own chips with a relentless focus on energy efficiency and size.

The new product launches brought no new announcements, however, on artificial intelligence features that would help Apple to close the gap with the likes of Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, which has used its latest flagship phones to showcase the capabilities of its Gemini AI technology.

But analysts said the iPhone Air, especially, was likely to spur many upgrades, boosting Apple's sales in the crucial holiday shopping season.

It could also help Apple win back customers in China, where Apple has lost market share to rivals who have introduced slimmer smartphones, analysts said.

"It's miniaturization at its finest in a phone," Bajarin said.

The iPhone Air is priced in the middle of the iPhone lineup and at $100 less than the debut price of Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge, which hit markets earlier this year and shipped 1 million units in the second quarter, according to IDC. The price should make it a strong seller, said Nabila Popal, senior research director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker unit.

Popal predicted better sales for the iPhone Air, "not only because it's priced better, but because the (iPhone) Plus - which essentially the Air is replacing - already did between 5-7% of Apple's shipments."

"Apple's late, but when they do it, they do it bigger or louder or better than anyone," Popal said.

Following months of rumors, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are official. The successors of the iPhone 16 Pro feature a new camera bar design, which now makes room for three 48MP lenses, while offering at the opposite side the LiDAR scanner and the flashlight. Another important change of this year's iPhone is the aluminum body over the titanium option from the past few years.

Apple says this new aluminum alloy offers 20x greater thermal efficiency compared to an iPhone with titanium. This unibody design uses Ceramic Shield for the back, which brings 4x more resistance to cracks, while the display is protected by Ceramic Shield 2, with 3x better scratch resistance. A new anti-reflective coating improves usability in outdoor environments.

The new A19 Pro features a 6-core CPU, with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. With the second-generation Dynamic Caching in the 6-core GPU, Apple added Neural Accelerators to each GPU core, bringing 3x peak compute power compared to the A18 Pro. Apple says this is MacBook Pro-level technology, with 40% better sustained performance than last year's models. The company also adds an all-new Wi-Fi chip called N1, which supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Threads.

iPhone 17 Pro takes the cameras to the next level

Apple Inc.

The iPhone 17 Pro model cameras feature the new 18MP Center Stage front camera, which allows high-resolution photos in any orientation, so users don't have to flip the phone to capture more people in the image. The selfie camera also gets better stabilization, similar to the Action Mode functionality.

On the rear, all three cameras are 48MP with Fusion technology. With that, the user gets more details, even when zooming. Apple now promises up to 8x optical zoom and up to 40x digital zoom. The main sensor is 56% larger than the previous generation, which Apple says guarantees even more details. The company promotes these lenses as "eight Pro lenses in your pocket.

For video capabilities, Apple is adding support for ProRes RAW, which is the company's codec for high-quality video production. There's also support for Genlock, which brings precise synchronization between different cameras by using the new BlackMagic ProDock accessory. Users continue to have access to Dolby Vision HDR and video recording at 4K120fps.

Price, availability, and more

Apple Inc.

Apple promises up to 39 hours of video playback for iPhone 17 Pro Max with eSIM models. The company says this is the best battery life of an iPhone. Besides that, the company introduced new TechWoven, Clear, and Silicone cases. Just like the iPhone Air, Apple is also adding a crossbody strap to go along with the new TechWoven accessory.

For the first time ever, all iPhone 17 Pro models offer 256GB of storage. However, users who need more can choose the iPhone 17 Pro Max with up to 2TB of storage. With that in mind, the company continues to offer these devices for the same prices, as the previous generation was already available for $1,099 on the 256GB option. The iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199.

Both devices will be available in Deep Blue, Cosmic Orange, and Silver. Pre-orders start this Friday while the official sales start on September 19.

“Total game changer” is how Apple CEO Tim Cook described the iPhone 17 Air.

Not according to the investor base.

Underwhelm sums sit up, as the market had already priced in much of the hardware reveal…in large part thanks to Mark Gurman reporting ahead of the event.

The iPhone 17 Air is much lighter and thinner - just 5.6mm. Perhaps stress testing the materials' durability ahead of a foldable phone next year?

The price point fits neatly between the iPhone and Pro…

⚡️iPhone 17 at $799
⚡️iPhone 17 “Air” at $999
⚡️iPhone 17 Pro at $1,099 - $100 more than usual

There are also more powerful AirPods with a heart rate sensor and a new smart watch lineup.

But no “awe-dropping” moment as the event advertised itself.

Given the $430B run-up in the stock since the end of July, and a pretty expensive share price (it trades at 30x profits projected over the next 12 months)…a lot of factors in.

At $234, it that’s pretty inline with analysts’ average 12-month price target.