Do we all need the new iPhone 17 Pro Max?

by philg

The latest iPhones are announced. According to the potentially-lying New York Times, the cameras on the Pro series have bigger sensors, which could be huge, so to speak, for image quality:

As for the camera systems, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come equipped with an 18-megapixel front-facing camera with support for Center Stage and a wider field of view, along with enhanced, widescreen selfie support. On the back, all three cameras are 48 MP lenses, including a 48 MP telephoto camera with up to 8x optical zoom and support for 40x digital zoom. The sensors are 56% larger than the previous generation for sharper, more detailed images. The telephoto camera leverages an updated photonic engine that preserves natural detail, reduces detail, and improves color accuracy.

Note that a fixed telephoto lens that does not zoom is characterized as “8x optical zoom”. Also, the information about larger sensors might be #FakeNews. Apple’s own site suggests that only the telephoto camera sensor is larger:

The dual-capture video could be fun, at least for people who are attractive (inset photo of the phone owner from the front camera while the main video is taken by a rear camera).

Those of us with IQs over 207 can take advantage of the built-in Thread support? (Who among us is actually using Thread at home? Are there more IoT companies than non-WiFi IoT devices that actually get used on a daily basis?)

13 thoughts on “Do we all need the new iPhone 17 Pro Max?”

  1. Apple is turning into the world’s newest camera company.

    In all seriousness, what percentage of the time do people actually spend using their phones to take pictures compared to everything else? Most smartphone use goes to gaming, Facebook, and TikTok, not photography or phone calls.

    To that end, shouldn’t “Phone” in “iPhone” be replaced with something more fitting?

    • George: The number of minutes per month that the phone is used as a camera might not be large, but the camera is still critically important. I value a lot of the photos that I’ve taken with smartphones even if I’ve forgotten what else I did with those now-discarded devices.

  2. “…what percentage of the time do people actually spend using their phones to take pictures compared to everything else?”

    Probably a lot. Apple announced that iPhone users worldwide took 500 billion selfies in the last year. Given the half billion or so pictures and videos my daughter-in-law, her mother and my wife take of our grandchildren and share with each other endlessly, and the number of Grandmothers with iPhones, I could safely say the cameras get significant use.

    Whether they care they about capturing the images in ProRAW for post production editing or need most of the other new stuff (or stuff introduced in the last 5 versions) is another question.

    • @Scott, I was about to say, “Damn, that’s a lot of pictures” but then it hit me — it is worse. If Apple is tracking how many pictures its users take, then privacy is out the window! But that’s hardly news and no one seems to care.

  4. The square sensor should be a nostalgic return to medium format, for those who can afford it. The rest of us will be living vicariously through the blog.

  5. I’m using Pro Max for many years, for both screen size and camera quality, and camera improvements in the latest Pro/Pro Max are quite impressive.

    But I’m going to order iPhone Air – 17 Pro Max is even bigger and heavier than my 15 Pro Max, while Air has almost the same screen size and much lighter. Yes, I’m going to miss the cameras, but I can live with single camera with fusion sensor just fine.

    If I’ll have a strong need for real photos, I’ll undust my real cameras.

    My prediction is that Air is going to be most sold iPhone ever – it’s no-brainer and cheap upgrade from low level iPhone; Pro is already too heavy; and it has novel recognizable form factor showing that you are cool and can afford latest gadget.

    • If everyone puts his/her/zir/their iPhone into a bulky case for protection against the inevitable drops why is the super slimness of the Air exciting? I guess it is nice to lose 2.5 ounces (5.8 vs. 8.2), but not when you lose the ultrawide camera and the telephoto camera.

    • You are spot on on the trade-off. With Air vs Pro/Pro Max you essentially trading extra weight for 2 more cameras and extra battery.

      I carry my iPhone 15 Pro Max without the case not because I’m like it this way, but because it’s too large otherwise! I bought extended AppleCare. I already had to use it once and now I have to use it again to repair cracked back before it finally expires.

      I was reflecting on extra cameras – I love to have them, but honestly, I’m not using them that much. So I’m excited to get lighter phone finally.

  7. > The dual-capture video could be fun, at least for people who are attractive

    OMG, attractive or not, more influencers or at least more of their content flooding e’rything?
    Not <333 -ing that. I do hope my precog flash-forward was wrong.

Comments are closed.