bhavya desai | Asian Photography India

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The iPhone 17 series is here — and while the regular models got camera tweaks, the Pro lineup takes a major leap forward. All three rear cameras now feature upgraded 48 MP sensors, signalling Apple’s ambitious move in mobile photography yet.

Starting at ₹1,34,900, I’ve been using the iPhone 17 Pro as my daily driver for two weeks, snapping over 500 photos. Here’s what stood out:

Design: A Functional Plateau

Apple calls it the ‘camera plateau’ — and it’s got the internet split. Some love it, some don’t. But there’s no denying that Apple’s sleek design language has shifted toward function over form this year.

The raised module now packs the A19 Pro chip, creating more room for a larger battery, and even a vapour cooling chamber beneath. There’s also an antenna band built into the ridge for stronger 5G reception — and yes, I actually noticed a slight signal boost.

Surprisingly, this chunkier design helps the phone rest flat on a desk. But you’ll likely use it with a case anyway.

Hardware: What’s New Under the Hood

The iPhone 17 Pro’s camera setup brings some serious upgrades:

Triple 48 MP Fusion Cameras at the back
18 MP front camera with a square sensor and Centre Stage
A19 Pro chip paired with 12 GB RAM
4K video at 120 fps, plus ProRes RAW and Genlock
Updated Photonic Engine for richer colour and better low-light shots.

Daylight Main Camera Shines

The primary 48 MP Sony IMX903 sensor outputs detailed 24 MP images, thanks to smart pixel-binning and sensor cropping. Colours are punchy yet natural, contrast is balanced and highlight control is excellent. For the first time, though, I did spot some processing in the images – a first for me. At 2x zoom, resolution drops to 12 MP, and you lose a bit of texture. It’s still solid, but pixel peepers will notice.

Ultra-Wide: A Turnaround

Ultra-wide cameras have traditionally been weakest link for most phones. The 48 MP Sony IMX972 ultra-wide delivers surprisingly crisp images even in tricky lighting. It handles shadows and highlights gracefully, and while there’s mild processing visible up close, overall dynamic range and colour reproduction are good.

Telephoto: The Showstopper

This is where Apple flexes. The new 48 MP Sony IMX973 telephoto sensor is 56% larger than last year’s and offers 4x optical zoom, 8x optical-quality zoom and digital zoom up to 40x.

At 4x and 8x, images are razor-sharp with rich tonality and texture. Even at 20x or 40x, detail retention is decent — though you’ll spot some colour shifting and processing artefacts.

It’s easily the most usable long zoom ever on an iPhone. My only gripe: AE lock could be steadier, especially at higher zooms.

Low-Light Performance

Low-light shots are vibrant, clean and accurate, with minimal visible processing. The main camera captures sharp, noise-free results. The wide sensor holds its own, though fine details fade a little. The telephoto, however, continues to stand out — retaining clarity even at long zooms, something previous iPhones struggled with.

Portraits: Natural and Cinematic

Portrait mode now lets you choose 1x, 2x, 4x, and even 5x. Skin tones look authentic, colours pop naturally, and edge detection is spot-on. Occasionally, I noticed minor skin smoothing and some distortion at 4x, but overall, portraits are pleasing, refined and cinematic – sure to be a hit with the users.

Macro: Detailed but Confused

Macro mode still activates automatically — and sometimes overstays its welcome. It occasionally stays locked in 12 MP mode – due to the minimal focusing distance, even when it should switch back to 24 MP, it doesn’t.

Despite this, macro shots are shockingly detailed, with rich depth and texture that make you forget they’re technically half-resolution.

Front Camera: Smarter, Sharper Selfies

The all-new 18 MP front camera features a square sensor and Centre Stage, which adjusts framing dynamically as you move. Selfies are crisp, well-lit and colour-accurate — with minimal low-light noise.

Apple’s dual capture mode also makes it easier for vloggers to record front and back simultaneously — a thoughtful touch for creators – but it’s not for me personally.

Video: Still the Gold Standard

When it comes to smartphone video, Apple remains in a league of its own. The iPhone 17 Pro shoots 4K at 120 fps, supports ProRes RAW, and can now record directly to external devices for advanced workflows.

Footage is smooth, stabilisation is top-notch (thanks to 3D sensor-shift), and the phone handles heat exceptionally well. There’s still some lens flare and ghosting, but overall, this feels like a mini cinema camera in your pocket.

Battery Performance

With a 3,988 mAh battery, the 17 Pro comfortably lasts a full day — even with heavy photo and video use. The new vapour cooling chamber keeps temperatures in check during long recording sessions or gaming. For creators who push their phones hard, this is a quiet but meaningful upgrade – although coming from a Max it does feel like a compromise.

Verdict

I think the iPhone 17 Pro marks one of Apple’s biggest leaps in mobile photography in years.
Photographs are sharper, colours are truer, and the telephoto system finally delivers usable long-zoom shots.

But there are still some quirks — visible processing in some scenes, occasional colour shifts, and macro confusion — but none are deal-breakers. With improved battery life, cooling and professional-level video tools, the 17 Pro is a capable, pro-grade camera system that fits in your pocket.

Users often are unaware of how harmful blue light emitted from a device can be. Dr Chris Bai, Chief Colour Scientist, BenQ Global is responsible for patenting Low Blue Light technology at BenQ and Bhavya Desai spoke to him about its importance, colour accuracy for professionals and what sets BenQ apart from other companies. Excerpts:

You’ve patented and worked on the Low Blue Light technology at BenQ, which is critical. How did that happen?

Over 10 years ago, we observed that blue light’s effects on people’s daily lives. Hence, we introduced the low blue light technology, initially it was the first gen, which eventually turned into the second generation. The difference between the first and second generation is that the latter was a hardware-based solution. We fine-tuned all the LED wavelengths so you don’t get distorted colour temperature. It’s not going to be yellowish, but you still get the benefit of having a good colour and picture quality and more importantly people can have a good night’s sleep.

This was important. In terms of colour science, why are accurate colours important for both a consumer and a professional?

These are two very different aspects we’re looking at. For the consumer, they don’t really care about the colour reproduction because they look at colours from a fashion colour perspective, which are more saturated, more pleasing to the eye. They don’t care if this red or this green looks correct or not.

But a professional cares about these things since they would like to have a correct image in order to reproduce what they really look like. Hence, we have two aspects of the colours currently. One for consumers, where we’re having what we call glazing colour, so that we do some colour adjustment to best represent what we’re interpreting of the colour or the images. But for professionals, we do not make any adjustments on the monitor, which just truly represents what your artwork, what your videos look like. So, it lets professionals do their adjustment

So, this allows them to layer and colour grade the way they want?

Yes and also allows them to interpret the colours the way they want. It is a blank canvas and you do all your creativity on this canvas. And this is the most diffiuclt part for us, because adjusting the monitors is easy, but to do none of it, like it’s a transparent layer, that’s very difficult.

Do you feel consumers prefer more saturated colours?

Well, this is just a preference. Some people will believe in more saturated colours, some people believe in more neutral colours. From my perspective, when we look at those more saturated colours, like the first 10 seconds, we’ll be like wow. But after 30 seconds, you’ll feel tired, you’ll have fatigue, you don’t want to look at it anymore.

But more subtle colours, more natural colours will last longer because you’ll feel it’s more day-to-day life. This is just your take on what kind of premise you’re looking at – If you want to just impress your viewer within the first 15 seconds, then saturated colour is what you should go for. But if you want your viewers to enjoy your video or artwork for a longer period of time, I think maybe go for subtle colours or neutral colours.

How much time does it take for you to make any subtle changes on a display when it comes to the colour science?

This is really hard to put a number on, but I’ll give you a rough idea. To do adjustment on the monitor itself will take me about a month – to do a really good adjustment. But do some fine tuning, I’ll say several weeks. I need to consider all the aspects though.

How difficult is it to replicate that into a mass market product? From a test bench to final product?

Yes, yes, definitely. There will be variance. So that’s why all our professional monitors come with factory calibration. That’s what makes sure that everything’s on the standard platform. And then we add adjustments. And all of our mainstream monitors, we also come with some basic calibration as well.

What are the three USPs that BenQ has?

I think the first is definitely colour. And secondly, we have a complete solution for professional users, which is colour consistency. We have screen-to-screen colour consistency across different devices. That’s a powerful tool for a creative workflow. And third, that we have a really knowledgeable group of colleagues to help professionals achieve the goal they want to.

What is a good standard display from a consumer’s perspective?

We have standards and take measurements to tell the difference between them. For example, the colour temperature definitely should be 6,500K and any large deviation from that, is not acceptable. For example, the gamma curve should be 2.2 or 2.4 in the industry. Anything deviating from that should not be acceptable. So, we do have measures, thresholds, and targets to follow.

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iPhone 17 Pro Camera Review: Is This Apple’s Most Serious Camera Yet?