Apple‘s Awe Dropping event earlier today has unleashed four new iPhone models which are spearheaded by the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. If the iPhone Air was dubbed the slimmest iPhone ever, these two models are being called the most powerful iPhones ever.
Bye-bye titanium, hello aluminium
The iPhone 17 Pro series devices feature a newly revamped design, which also marked the end of the Pro series titanium era, which was the chosen material for iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro frames. Instead, Apple chose to utilise aerospace-grade 7000-series aluminium to craft the iPhone 17 Pro series unibody.
Interestingly enough, it appears that Apple is using the forged aluminium unibody of the iPhone 17 Pro series devices to help manage their thermal levels. It worked together with the new vapour chamber that has been laser-welded to their chassis.
The thermal design is apparently able to dissipate heat evenly through the aluminium unibody and still remain comfortable to hold, even when these iPhone 17 Pro series devices are running heavy workloads. Aside from being lighter, Apple also claimed that the aluminium alloy it used has 20x greater thermal conductivity than titanium.
In addition to that, the new unibody design also provides space for the Cupertino giant to add a larger battery to iPhone 17 Pro series.
Ceramic Shield front and back
Just like the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, the IP68-rated iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max have been equipped with Ceramic Shield 2 to increase the durability of their screen. Similarly, they also feature a new, Apple-formulated coating that the company claimed to provide 3x better scratch resistance and improved anti-reflection properties.
Speaking about their Super Retina XDR display, the iPhone 17 Pro have been equipped with a 6.3-inch screen while the iPhone 17 Pro Max features an even larger 6.9-inch screen. Both of them feature the 120Hz ProMotion dynamic refresh rate technology and a maximum brightness level of 3000 nits alongside Dynamic Island and Always-On Display capabilities.
Being a Pro model, of course, Apple didn’t just stop there. The company has implemented Ceramic Shield on the back area of the iPhone 17 Pro series devices and while it might be a previous generation apparatus, it is apparently 4x more resistant to cracks than the back glass on previous models.
The new A19 Pro processor
Said to be the most powerful and efficient iPhone chip ever created, the new A19 Pro processors act as the beating heart of iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple boldly claimed that the chip’s 6-core CPU is the fastest in any smartphone.
At the same time, there’s also the 6-core GPU that has Neural Accelerators built into each core in addition to having a larger cache and more memory than the GPU in its predecessor, the A18 Pro. The GPU works in hand with the chip’s equally new 16-core Neural Engine to process AI models and graphics workloads, including ray tracing.
Triple 48MP Fusion rear camera
Another major change that Apple has brought to the iPhone 17 Pro series is by having a triple 48MP Fusion camera system on both devices.
In other words, the 48MP Fusion camera is not only present on the main and ultra wide cameras for the iPhone 17 Pro series devices but also in the telephoto camera. This allows the iPhone 17 Pro series device to have a wider optical-quality zoom range from 0.5x up to 8x.
On a related note, especially for professional-level creatives out there, the new iPhone 17 Pro devices can support ProRes RAW video codec as well as Genlock and time code support. These devices can record videos at 4K 120fps Dolby Vision.
Centre Stage selfie camera
Apple surely didn’t forget to update the selfie camera on iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. After all, the company has also equipped iPhone 17 and iPhone Air with the new 18MP Center Stage camera.
As the new selfie camera has a wide viewing angle, users don’t have to rotate their camera if they want to take a group selfie. With the help of AI, Center Stage can even choose the best field of view automatically when it detects a group selfie.
The new Center Stage camera is also capable of capturing 4K HDR video, complete with stabilisation enhancements. Apple has also implemented a new feature called Dual Capture that allows users to record videos using the front and rear cameras simultaneously.
The best iPhone in terms of battery life
To top it off, the iPhone 17 Pro series has the best battery life on any given iPhone, according to Apple. Specifically, the iPhone 17 Pro Max can deliver video playback of up to 37 hours, while the smaller iPhone 17 Pro can go as high as 31 hours.
The eSIM-only version of the iPhone 17 Pro series device can even last as long as 39 hours. The absence of physical SIM card apparatus has provided additional space that allows Apple to fit a larger battery into the eSIM-only devices, although this variant will not be released in Malaysia.
Apple also pointed out that both iPhone 17 Pro devices can charge 50% in just 20 minutes using a high-wattage USB-C power adapter, such as the company’s new 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max.
iPhone 17 Pro Malaysia Pricing
Just like the iPhone 16’s launch last year, Malaysia has been chosen as one of the first markets in the world to launch the new iPhone 17 Pro series. You can pre-order iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max on Apple Malaysia’s official website starting from this Friday, 12 September at 8 PM
Here is the full price list for the iPhone 17 Pro models in Malaysia:
- iPhone 17 Pro 256GB: RM5,499
- iPhone 17 Pro 512GB: RM6,499
- iPhone 17 Pro 1TB: RM7,499
- iPhone 17 Pro Max 256GB: RM5,999
- iPhone 17 Pro Max 512GB: RM6,999
- iPhone 17 Pro Max 1TB: RM7,999
- iPhone 17 Pro Max 2TB: RM9,999
When it comes to colourways, there are only three options available for the iPhone 17 Pro: Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue. You can grab extra protection for the device through the AppleCare+ plan which costs RM949.
