Going backwards through the presentation, I’ll start writing about the iPhone 17 Pro first. This section was the least exciting, as the Pro gets all the new features already shown off while revealing the other phones. Unique to the Pro are the design, the battery life, and the camera systems.

39- or 37-hour battery life

This year, Apple will ship the iPhone Pros in two variants: with and without a SIM tray. And they’re making use of the available space if you buy an eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro by filling it with an additional two hours of battery capacity. This is, to quote from the presentation, “the biggest battery in any iPhone.”

Vapor chamber

Finally, the iPhone comes with a vapor chamber. This will doubtless improve thermals during extended use, and Apple already showed an iPhone recording in ProRes in their promo video—but the recording was over an hour and still running. Also worth a few minutes in the presentation was gaming performance.

The Cameras

The cameras are better, the chip is better, and so on. Worth mentioning: all three rear-facing camera sensors are now 48 MP sensors, which should significantly improve photos and video recording.

The Name

I think calling iPhone Pro a phone is questionable. Apple Watch can make phone calls, and iPhone Pro is clearly a camera/gaming handheld that happens to be able to make phone calls. If Apple were to introduce this form factor today, I think they’d not call it a phone.

Update: I had to laugh when I noticed Apple didn’t even mention the Pro Max in their presentation, but there is one…