iPhone 17 Pro could get three massive camera upgrades — what we know

Enormous changes could be coming to the iPhone 17 Pro's camera system, according to a tip sent to MacRumors.

The details in question apparently came from someone involved in making an advertisement for the iPhone 17 Pro, showing off several new camera features.

First up, the iPhone 17 Pro will apparently offer up to 8x optical zoom. Currently, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max offer 5x telephoto zoom cameras. And if that wasn't enough, the iPhone 17 Pro's lens will be movable, to allow for continuous optical zoom below the 8x maximum.

Most rival phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or Pixel 9 Pro have up to 5x zoom, so going up to 8x would put the new iPhones firmly in the lead. As for moveable zoom, this is something we've only seen on a handful of phones, like Sony's Xperia 1 series.

If that wasn't enough of a hardware upgrade, then the next part of the rumor is that Apple will also be adding a second Camera Control button. This apparently lives on the top edge of the iPhone 17 Pro, and lets users access the camera and camera settings. This isn't a replacement for the one added to the right side of the iPhone 16 series, so presumably has at least some separate functions.

Lastly, the leak says Apple will also add a new pro camera app, either in the form of a vastly updated Final Cut Camera app or a fully original one. Final Cut Camera doesn't come pre-installed on iPhones, like some other phones with pro camera apps do, but perhaps Apple will want to put this new app front-and-center if it's going to be a big focus for this year's launch.

As a bonus, the leaker explains that the iPhone 17 Pro will come in a "copper-like" color, and has a repositioned Apple logo on its back. This is presumably to account for the alleged enlarged camera block we've seen in renders and dummy images.

So many camera upgrades, I can't focus…

It's not often we at TG are taken aback by a smartphone rumor, but this one has succeeded. A new app, increased camera zoom and a new physical control button is a huge number of changes to make in a single year. In fact, it's so much of an upgrade, it raises our suspicions quite a bit.

One should always be skeptical of rumors, but this one makes several big claims that we've not heard about before now. Previous rumors have told us about the telephoto camera being upgraded to 48MP, to match the other two rear cameras, and that Apple going to focus on video recording for this year's iPhone launch. But while you could interpret those as supporting evidence of what this leak claims, there's not a direct link between increasing a camera's resolution or a video-first launch and what we've been told.

We'll keep our ears to the ground in case there are more rumors that back this up. If you want to know about more alleged features for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max or brand-new iPhone 17 Air, our rumor hubs are the place to go. But if only confirmed official details will do, you'll have to wait with the rest of us for the usual iPhone launch period of early September.

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