With a reveal date of Tuesday September 9th, Apple’s next generation iPhone 17 is imminent and we could see it go on pre-sale the same week. We’ll have to wait just a little longer to find out exactly what the world’s most popular smartphone manufacturer has to offer, and how it will compare to the best phones for photography. However, using the nuggets of information currently available, I run through what we can expect as well as some less likely features that I would love to see in the iPhone 17.

It looks like there’s going to be four versions of the iPhone 17 – the titular base model, the more advanced Pro and Pro Max models (6.3inch and 6.9inch respectively) and a new ultra-thin model – currently being coined the iPhone 17 Air until we get its official name. 

Being the thinnest of the bunch with less room for internal components, the iPhone 17 Air could feature a single 48MP rear camera and will therefore be less versatile than the two or three camera lens designs found in previous iPhone iterations. Though all iPhone 17 models are said to have a new 24MP front facing camera which has twice as much resolution over the iPhone 16.

For the base iPhone 17 there’s not a whole lot to report on as it appears to use the same tried and tested rear camera setup as the iPhone 16 and is even reported to use the same A18 processor. Instead, users should benefit from a larger display, new 120Hz ProMotion panel for smoother scrolling, higher resolution front camera and faster charging.

It seems that the substantial camera upgrades have been saved for Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max which could be the first iPhone to make use of three dedicated rear lenses all with large 48MP sensors for brilliant image quality whether shooting ultra-wide or telephoto. It’s also rumoured to use Apple’s latest A19 PRO chip which is said to deliver a 5% performance boost and up to 10% better power efficiency – though we’ll have to wait to find out the exact details on this.

So these are the specs we’re likely to see, but I’m less sure about the following features – consider this more of a personal wish list.

The iPhone 17 could be the first time we see 8K video recording capabilities; it could also be the first time that we see a variable aperture installed in each of the camera lenses. The latter I’m less convinced about as the variable aperture would add extra bulk and Apple already does a brilliant job at artificially reducing depth of field for blurry backgrounds in Portrait mode. I think a built-in ND filter would be more likely for reducing light flow if that is an issue Apple wants to address.

Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) was introduced with the iPhone 6, and it wasn’t until the iPhone 12 Pro Max that we saw sensor stabilisation (IBIS) in an iPhone. The iPhone 17 could be the perfect opportunity when Apple combines both of these systems together for even smoother stabilisation for buttery smooth video and sharp still photographs.

If the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are getting the new A19 Pro silicone it’s going to be more powerful and efficient so we may see more AI features via Apple Intelligence. I’ve already been enjoying the ‘Look Up’ feature in the iPhone 16 which allows you to tap on an image to find out more information about an animal or food dish in your photo, as well as the Clean Up tool which uses AI to effortlessly remove unwanted people and distractions at a finger press. Perhaps we’ll see new AI features, or improvements to noise reduction and image upscaling on September 9th.

Apple completely redesigned its Camera App with the iPhone 16 and added a new shutter button so I think it’s safe to say these won’t be changed with the new release. I would however still love a Pro mode to be added so that the shutter speed can be adjusted without the need to install a third-party app.

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The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Amateur Photographer magazine or Kelsey Media Limited. If you have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic, or any other photography related subject, email: ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk

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