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This year Apple finally finished the holy trinity and upgraded the weakest part about the iPhone camera system, the telephoto camera.
iPhones are famous for their cameras, but if you’ve followed the last few years of Pro models, you know the telephoto has been the weakest link. It was soft with not that much detail, and for some reason Apple thought that a 5x zoom range will be a good idea on the 16 Pro last year. Spoiler alert — it wasn’t. It was a weird zoom range that did not work for portraits; its only benefits were that it can zoom in very close to far away objects, which users rarely needed.
With the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple finally decided to fix everything that was wrong with the telephoto camera, and the results are surprisingly good. But are they good enough to elicit an upgrade to the iPhone 17 Pro just for its new telephoto camera?
Why 4x feels different
It might not seem like shifting from a 5x to a 4x optical zoom would result in a big change to how images look, but you’d be wrong to think that.
The old 5x on the iPhone 16 Pro worked out to roughly a 120 mm equivalent focal length — “equivalent” being the key word here. Smartphone lenses aren’t actually 120 mm long; that would be physically impossible in a device this slim. Instead, Apple (and every other phone maker) uses “35 mm equivalent” terms borrowed from full-frame cameras. It’s a way to help photographers compare the look of a phone shot with what they’d expect from a traditional camera system.
Now, the iPhone 17 Pro’s new 4x lens lands at about a 100 mm equivalent, and that change makes all the difference. In the world of photography, 100 mm is a classic focal length for portraits and landscapes. It gives you enough reach to isolate a subject, but without the “telescope effect” that made the 120 mm feel cramped and awkward.
As a result, you might find yourself using the 4x lens a lot more, because it is less of a niche tool now, and it finally feels like an integral part of the iPhone’s core camera kit.
48 megapixels of flexibility
The other reason that the new telephoto camera is a massive improvement over the older one is its resolution. Of course, more megapixels are only a good thing if you use them properly, and Apple sure is.
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Besides giving a more detailed image, the 48MP sensor also gives you the opportunity to use a crop mode and get 8x zoom, which has barely any loss of quality. Apple calls this “lossless zoom,” and it actually lives up to that name provided you have plenty of light to work with.
Of course, if you start pushing it all the way to 40x the illusion of this great image quality quickly starts to collapse into a mushy mess (although still much better than what we had on the iPhone 16 Pro models). If you stick to the 4x and 8x, though, this lens is in a different league than what iPhones were capable before.
So should you upgrade just for the new telephoto camera on the iPhone 17 Pro?
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If you’re serious about photography, the 4x telephoto is hands-down the most meaningful upgrade Apple has delivered to its camera system in years.
I know, I know: this is just a phone, so how can we talk about it in any serious manner when discussing photography? Or at least that’s what people used to say, but it’s more clear than ever that flagship phones can now easily be incorporated into profession workflows in a photographer’s and an even a filmmaker’s career.
But I digress — portrait shooters will love the natural perspective at 100 mm, and landscape photographers can finally frame peaks, ridges, and architectural details without losing too much of the scene. And for travel photography, this is the first time an iPhone telephoto feels versatile enough to lean on heavily.
It’s no exaggeration to say the 4x lens brings the iPhone closer to DSLR-like versatility, especially with that lossless 8x zoom.
For casual users, maybe not so much
If you own an iPhone 14/15/16 Pro, then I’d say that the new telephoto camera alone is not a good enough reason to upgrade. The “Pro” label on these phones used to be a joke, but the iPhone 17 Pro is the first one that actually has solid ground to claim that moniker. In other words, unless this is going to help you earn money in some way, then you can probably spend your hard-earned money somewhere else; like a week’s trip to a place you’ve never been, for example — we are talking about a $1100, after all…
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Aleksandar is a tech enthusiast with a broad range of interests, from smartphones to space exploration. His curiosity extends to hands-on DIY experiments with his gadgets, and he enjoys switching between different brands to experience the latest innovations. Prior to joining PhoneArena, Aleksandar worked on the Google Art Project, digitizing valuable artworks and gaining diverse perspectives on technology. When he's not immersed in tech, Aleksandar is an outdoorsman who enjoys mountain hikes, wildlife photography, and nature conservation. His interests also extend to martial arts, running, and snowboarding, reflecting his dynamic approach to life and technology.
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