iPhone 17 Pro review: the refinements that finally add up
No revolution here, and that's the point. The 17 Pro sands down the edges of an already excellent phone — battery first. Coming from a two- or three-year-old model, you feel the jump everywhere.
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Apple
iPhone 17 Pro
The most balanced Pro in years
Our score
✓ Pros
- ＋Battery finally lasts a full day
- ＋Benchmark photo and video
- ＋Power to spare, long software support
✗ Cons
- －Minimal upgrade from the 16 Pro
- －Price climbs fast with storage
⚖ Verdict
The best iPhone for anyone upgrading from a few years back. If you own the 16 Pro, you can comfortably wait.
✎ PREXO · 3 min read
The testing notebook
The two-minute verdict
The iPhone 17 Pro is the most balanced Pro in years: power to spare, cameras that rarely miss, and a battery that finally lasts a full day without anxiety. It doesn't upend anything over the 16 Pro, and that's the idea — it refines what already worked. Coming from a phone two or three years old, the leap shows everywhere.
Price and availability
It starts high, in step with the ultra-premium tier: over a thousand euros in the base setup and climbing with storage. It's sold in the usual memory sizes; think hard about how much space you truly need, because the gap between tiers adds up. If you're chasing value, the 16 Pro has dropped in price since the new one landed.
Design and build
The shell stays recognisable, with finished edges and a weight that sits well in the hand. The display reaches 6.3", under tougher scratch-resistant glass, and in bright sun legibility is never an issue. The port is USB-C, now standard, and wireless charging is still here. Nothing revolutionary in the looks: this is an object built to last, not to dazzle every year.
In daily use
Camera
This is where the Pro earns its keep. The 48 MP main sensor pulls clean shots even against the light, the telephoto zooms in without falling apart, and night mode handles tricky lighting well. Video stays the category benchmark: stabilisation and dynamic range others are still chasing.
Performance and gaming
The A19 Pro has power to burn: no game troubles it, and the heaviest app opens without a beat of hesitation. Under sustained load it warms up a little, but with no obvious throttling in real use.
Battery and charging
Here comes one of the most concrete improvements: you reach the evening with headroom even on full days, which hasn't always been a given on the Pro. Wired charging is quick but not blazing, recovering a good slice of the battery in half an hour.
Buy it if… / Don't buy it if…
- Buy it if you're coming from an iPhone two or three generations back: the jump is clear everywhere.
- Buy it if camera and video are your absolute priority.
- Buy it if you want a phone that stays updated and supported for years.
- Don't buy it if you own a 16 Pro: the differences don't justify the outlay.
- Don't buy it if you want the longest zoom or the fastest charging on the market: Android does more there.
The alternatives
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra remains the pick for extreme zoom and the S Pen. A Google Pixel in the same tier costs less and offers the smartest computational photography, if the Apple ecosystem isn't a constraint.
The verdict
The iPhone 17 Pro reinvents nothing and doesn't need to: it takes an already great phone and files down its flaws, battery first. Score 9 out of 10 for anyone upgrading from an older model, far less compelling as a year-on-year update.