Image this: you’re out and about together with your iPhone Professional, spot a distant topic value capturing, take out your smartphone, and swap to the telephoto lens—solely to finish up with a grainy mess that doesn’t do it justice. This was my total 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 12 months’s highest-end iPhone lastly addresses the digicam zoom’s shortcomings. One of the best ways was to seize my iPhone 16 Professional Max and 17 Professional Max and take the very same pictures facet by facet. What I noticed blew me away.
Getting began
Earlier than we evaluate the 2 iPhones’ telephoto pictures, 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 under had been taken in the identical spots with my iPhone 16 Professional Max and 17 Professional Max working the newest iOS 26.0 steady construct. I used the default settings in Apple’s built-in Digicam app on each telephones, and the output was not edited, cropped, or manipulated in any approach. The samples merely purpose to reveal the unprocessed energy of every telephoto lens. You’re sure to get higher outcomes with both telephone in case you spend extra time perfecting the composition and tweaking parts corresponding 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’ll be able to manually pinch to achieve 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 appears washed out, and in sure instances—significantly across the Apple Pencil—the blur appears synthetic and inaccurate. To be truthful, 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 evaluate the standard. When you can inform within the first photograph that you just’re taking a look at a lighthouse, the main points 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 pictures 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 practically twice the zoom distance.
5x vs 5x: Up shut
For the following check, 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 stage, the output was nonetheless grainy and barely usable. The 17 Professional Max, in distinction, outputs legible textual content which you could simply learn, and the framed components 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 full of life 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 house, I captured a mural utilizing the 5x and 4x optical zooms. Like earlier pictures, 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 appears like a jumbled colour salad.
10x vs 10x: Low mild
I ran again house 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 direction of the underside proper. With the iPhone 17 Professional Max, regardless of the difficult circumstances, I used to be capable of get a clear shot throughout the complete body.
5x vs 8x: Evening mode
For the ultimate check, 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 pair 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 when it comes to colour copy and element preservation. This bought me pondering—if Apple had been to permit iPhone 16 Professional Max customers to take long-exposure pictures 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 document on each telephones and pinched to achieve the 15x and 24x respective digital zoom limits. That is the one check that makes use of the ultra-wide and vast sensors on each telephones, because the movies begin at 0.5x zoom and regularly improve to hit the aforementioned limits. When you get an extended zoom vary with the iPhone 17 Professional Max, the utmost 24x zoom stage in video appears 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 12 months’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 swap between the 2 based mostly 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 12 months’s vary. iOS already lets us simply swap between 1x, 1.2x, and 1.5x, so a future replace might realistically introduce that.