What the reviewers said
Tech Advisor UK
4/5Oct 23, 2025An excellent phone with great performance, battery, cameras and build, but the cheaper iPhone 17 is hard to beat on value.
- Gorgeous 6.3-inch display with 3000-nit peak brightness
- Compact, easy one-handed design
- Superb A19 Pro performance with vapour chamber cooling
- Brilliant cameras including telephoto
- Solid battery life
- Divisive raised Plateau design
- Regular iPhone 17 offers same display for less
- Aluminium frame seems less durable than titanium
- Heavier than iPhone 16 Pro
- More expensive than the iPhone 17
Android Central US
4.5/5Oct 2, 2025A bold redesign, much better sustained performance, a bigger battery and standout cameras make the iPhone 17 Pro a strong upgrade, though it costs more and is heavier.
- Gorgeous new orange color and bold design
- Much better sustained performance from vapor chamber cooling
- Brighter OLED display with anti-reflective coating
- Standout rear and front cameras
- Bigger battery that lasts longer
- Telephoto lens not as good as Android rivals
- Heavier than last year
- iOS 26 has a few quirks
- Costlier than last year
Pocket-lint UK
4.5/5Editor's ChoiceSep 24, 2025A bold, polarizing redesign that grows on the reviewer, with a brighter display and cooler-running A19 Pro, though battery and camera gains are modest. Worthwhile for design-minded upgraders.
- Stunning new design with softer rounded edges
- 8x sensor-crop zoom works well
- Improved 18MP front camera with Center Stage
- Brighter 3,000-nit display outdoors
- Stays cooler under sustained heavy loads
- Only a minor upgrade over iPhone 16 Pro
- Polarizing camera plateau design
- Aluminum body reportedly scratches easily
- Battery life gains marginal in reviewer's testing
- No smarter Siri; AI features underwhelm
Tom's Guide US
4/5Sep 17, 2025A smaller flagship with a redesign, strong A19 Pro performance, a versatile Center Stage selfie camera and better charging, though the $100 price rise stings.
- Beautiful new redesign with two-tone Cosmic Orange finish
- Class-leading performance from A19 Pro chip
- Center Stage front camera offers flexible selfie framing
- Sharp photos from 48MP 4x telephoto
- Faster charging speeds
- Few major Apple Intelligence features
- $100 price increase over the previous generation
- Titanium dropped for aluminum frame
- Telephoto sensor resolution trade-off versus 16 Pro's 5x zoom
The Verge US
8/10Sep 17, 2025A bold redesign with better cameras, battery and charging, but most changes are modest; the regular iPhone 17 is the smarter buy for most people.
- Solid battery life, with the Pro Max lasting well through a day
- Brighter outdoor screen
- Center Stage front camera works well in portrait
- Faster 40W wired and MagSafe charging
- Runs cooler under gaming load thanks to vapor chamber
- Siri still lacking
- Heavier than last year
- Upgrades feel modest for the price
- Regular iPhone 17 offers same screen for less
TechRadar UK
4.75/5Sep 17, 2025Apple's fastest iPhone yet, with standout cameras, bold new design and strong battery life in a more pocketable size than the Pro Max.
- Fantastic cameras with strong zoom performance
- Excellent performance from the A19 Pro chip
- Strong battery life for a compact phone
- Bold, comfortable aluminum design with new colors
- Bright display reaching 3,000 nits outdoors
- No major screen technology updates over predecessor
- Apple Intelligence still lags behind rivals
- Titanium frame replaced by aluminum
A strong upgrade with excellent battery life, sustained performance from vapor chamber cooling, bright displays and class-leading video. Heavier and chunkier, but a better iPhone overall.
- Excellent battery life, longer than predecessors
- Vapor chamber cooling sustains performance under gaming load
- Bright 120Hz displays
- Versatile triple-camera system with top video recording
- Improved 4X telephoto camera
- Chunky and heavy compared to iPhone Air
- Portrait mode struggles in low light
- Shadows lifted too much in some low-light scenes
Verdicts, pros and cons are short summaries in our words of each publisher's review; scores are as the publisher gave them. Specs are taken from the reviews' spec boxes — where they differ, we show the value most of them give; price is the US launch price of the base model. Read the originals for the full picture.
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