Apple is merely a few weeks away from launching the iPhone 17 series, and so far, most of the hype has been focused on the rumored design refresh. There’s also a considerable amount of hype around the iPhone 17 Air, but it seems the iPhone 17 Pro could steal the thunder with its zoom capture chops.
What’s the big take?
The “Pro” iPhones have traditionally focused on high-end camera output and demanding software-based tricks to go with it. According to a reliable leakster from China, the iPhone 17 Pro could feature “the strongest telephoto” camera on any smartphone out there.
So far, multiple leaks have pointed to a new telephoto camera sensor that enables 8x optical zoom output. For comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro pair can only go up to 5x lossless zoom. The competition in the Android ecosystem is either limited to 5x output, or 10x optical zoom in a rare few cases.
Another crucial change will be the sensor resolution. Rumors suggest that the iPhone 17 Pro will come equipped with a 48-megapixel telephoto camera, four times bigger than the 12-megapixel zoom camera on the current-gen iPhone 16 series phones.
Where’s the competition?
Enhancing the zoom range is an obvious benefit, but the bigger 48-megapixel camera sensor also opens the doors for more detailed shots at full resolution and better shots at 12-megapixel resolution using the pixel binning tech.
As far as the competition in the US market goes, the Google Pixel 9 Pro offers a 48-megapixel telephoto camera that delivers 5x optical zoom output. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, on the other hand, features two telephoto cameras that can cover 3x and 5x optical zoom range.
Interestingly, on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung served a 10x optical zoom camera two years ago. It would be interesting to see how Apple’s rumored camera level-up on the iPhone 17 Pro will add more heat to the competition in the smartphone industry.
