Image this: you’re out and about together with your iPhone Professional, spot a distant topic price capturing, take out your smartphone, and change to the telephoto lens—solely to finish up with a grainy mess that doesn’t do it justice. This was my general expertise with the iPhone’s telephoto digicam over the previous few years.
With the iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max, Apple upgraded the telephoto sensor from 12MP to 48MP. I used to be skeptical, so I made a decision to check it myself and see whether or not this yr’s highest-end iPhone lastly addresses the digicam zoom’s shortcomings. The easiest way was to seize my iPhone 16 Professional Max and 17 Professional Max and take the very same photographs facet by facet. What I noticed blew me away.
Getting began
Earlier than we examine the 2 iPhones’ telephoto photographs, there are some things we have to break down. The iPhone 16 Professional Max’s 12MP sensor helps 5x optical zoom and as much as 25x digital zoom, whereas the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s 48MP sensor affords 4x and 8x optical zoom choices, with 40x max digital zoom.
The photographs beneath had been taken in the identical spots with my iPhone 16 Professional Max and 17 Professional Max operating the newest iOS 26.0 secure construct. I used the default settings in Apple’s built-in Digital camera app on each telephones, and the output was not edited, cropped, or manipulated in any approach. The samples merely goal to reveal the unprocessed energy of every telephoto lens. You’re sure to get higher outcomes with both telephone when you spend extra time perfecting the composition and tweaking parts similar to publicity, highlights, saturation, Photographic Kinds, and many others.
5x vs 4x: Portrait mode
Our journey begins in my condominium, the place I used to be captured doodling on my iPad utilizing Portrait mode. Not like common photographs, Portrait mode with the telephoto lens limits you to 5x on the iPhone 16 Professional Max. In the meantime, the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s preset zoom ranges show 4x, however you may manually pinch to succeed in the hidden 5x worth. Since many customers go for the preset zoom ranges in Portrait mode, I shot at 5x and 4x utilizing the 2 telephones, respectively.
The iPhone 16 Professional Max is clearly the winner on this spherical, as the colours look extra vibrant and pure, and the blur impact is on level. Conversely, the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s shot seems to be washed out, and in sure circumstances—significantly across the Apple Pencil—the blur seems to be synthetic and inaccurate. To be honest, Portrait mode is primarily designed for close-up topics. Had I sat nearer to the iPhones, the 17 Professional Max’s output would’ve been higher.
25x vs 25x: iPhone 16 Professional Max restrict
I then headed to the balcony to check the iPhone 16 Professional Max’s digital zoom limits. Whereas the 17 Professional Max can go as much as 40x, I set it to 25x to get the very same shot and examine the standard. Whilst you can inform within the first picture that you simply’re a lighthouse, the small print are distorted with a excessive quantity of grain. The 17 Professional Max’s shot, alternatively, is each brighter and cleaner.
25x vs 40x: iPhone 17 Professional Max restrict
I used to be curious to see whether or not the iPhone 17 Professional Max photographs equally get noisy when choosing the 40x max zoom restrict. Surprisingly, the iPhone 17 Professional’s zoom nonetheless manages to look extra vibrant and clear than the iPhone 16 Professional at 25x, regardless of almost twice the zoom distance.
5x vs 5x: Up shut
For the subsequent take a look at, I set each telephones’ cameras to 5x and photographed a framed show of the unique iPhone. Regardless of the iPhone 16 Professional Max utilizing its default optical zoom degree, the output was nonetheless grainy and barely usable. The 17 Professional Max, in distinction, outputs legible textual content that you would be able to simply learn, and the framed elements look crisper.
5x vs 8x: Distance
Subsequent, I walked to the Mediterranean Sea and shot beachgoers swimming and tanning on the max optical zoom for the 2 telephones, 5x and 8x zoom ranges. That is one other apparent win for the iPhone 17 Professional Max, because the hues look extra saturated, and the faraway people are extra detailed.
5x vs 8x: Up shut
Then I attempted the identical zoom ranges on a feline inside shut vary. The iPhone 17 Professional Max’s output was equally extra energetic than that of the iPhone 16 Professional Max. The newer sensor additionally produced sharper cat fur.
5x vs 4x: Within the center
On my approach again residence, I captured a mural utilizing the 5x and 4x optical zooms. Like earlier photographs, the iPhone 17 Professional Max, but once more, output a vivid picture with little or no noise. For instance, zooming in on the top-left pots reveals particular person flowers within the 17 Professional Max shot. In the meantime, the identical spot within the 16 Professional Max seems to be like a jumbled coloration salad.
10x vs 10x: Low gentle
I ran again residence to look at the sundown and share how the telephoto lenses carry out in dimmer environments. I set the zoom to 10x on each iPhones, and the distinction was like night time and day. Within the 16 Professional Max shot, the sky and sea are noticeably pixelated, and so is the signal in the direction of the underside proper. With the iPhone 17 Professional Max, regardless of the difficult circumstances, I used to be in a position to get a clear shot throughout the complete body.
5x vs 8x: Evening mode
For the ultimate take a look at, I went out at night time and opted for the utmost optical zoom ranges of 5x and 8x. I set Evening mode to auto, which took 3.5-second and a couple of.6-second lengthy publicity photographs on the iPhone 16 Professional Max and 17 Professional Max. Past the completely different zooms, the 2 photographs look fairly related by way of coloration replica and element preservation. This acquired me pondering—if Apple had been to permit iPhone 16 Professional Max customers to take long-exposure photographs within the daytime, the output would equally look much less grainy in well-lit setups.
15x vs 24x: Video
I then wandered the streets of Beirut to run some outside assessments. To guage the efficiency within the video division, I hit report on each telephones and pinched to succeed in the 15x and 24x respective digital zoom limits. That is the one take a look at that makes use of the ultra-wide and broad sensors on each telephones, because the movies begin at 0.5x zoom and regularly improve to hit the aforementioned limits. Whilst you get an extended zoom vary with the iPhone 17 Professional Max, the utmost 24x zoom degree in video seems to be nearly as grainy as that of the 16 Professional Max’s 15x.
The decision
I’m pleasantly stunned by the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s telephoto lens. Not solely does the optical zoom carry out higher than final yr’s mannequin, however the digital zoom has additionally eradicated noticeable pixelation—even when hitting the 40x restrict.
On condition that customers now get 4x and 8x optical zoom ranges, one can simply change between the 2 primarily based on the topic’s proximity. Together with a 5x zoom shortcut within the preset selector, nevertheless, could be a welcome change for these accustomed to final yr’s vary. iOS already lets us simply change between 1x, 1.2x, and 1.5x, so a future replace might realistically introduce that.