Both the iPhone 17 Pro models feature a new design over predecessor models and come in three colors: the new Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, and Silver.
They are the first Pro-level iPhone models to feature the aluminum chassis design rather than the titanium chassis design (that was used in both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro, later used in the iPhone Air) and the stainless steel chassis design (that was used in among the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro), in response to the overheating issues of the iPhone 15 Pro.
They are also the first Pro-level iPhone models to not come in the black color option.
Chipset
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max use the A19 Pro system-on-chip. It incorporates the new Apple-designed N1 networking chip, part of a trend by Apple to reduce reliance on Broadcom. The Pro and Pro Max do not use Apple's new C1X modem found in the iPhone Air, opting instead for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80. Apple said it intends to continue adoption of its own chips going forward, but that wasn't the focus for this year. The iPhone 17 Pro comes with 12GB of RAM.
Display
The Pro has a 6.3" display (2622‑by‑1206-pixel resolution) and the Pro Max has a 6.9" display. (2868‑by‑1320-pixel resolution.) Excluding size, both displays are identical to the display on the standard iPhone 17 and support up to 3000 nits of brightness.
Camera
The "plateau camera" was redesigned for the first time since the iPhone 11 Pro, featuring a large horizontal camera bump and a 4x telephoto "tetraprism" camera lens, instead of the previously used 5x. The new telephoto sensor is 48MP allowing for the use of sensor crop to emulate an optical-quality 8x zoom. As a result, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have the best optical-quality telephoto lens on any iPhone. The drop from 5x to 4x allows for smoother transitions from 1-4x zoom levels and the higher quality sensor allows for optical-quality zoom without digitally cropping.
The front camera uses a new 18MP Centre Stage camera with a unique square-shaped sensor, allowing the user to rotate the image taken without rotating the phone itself. The new Dual Capture feature allows the phone to take video with both the front and rear cameras at the same time.
Security
Starting with all iPhone 17 models and iPhone Air, devices based on the A19 and A19 Pro include Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE). MIE is an always-on, hardware-and-OS, memory-safety defense that uses Apple's secure memory allocators, Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE) in synchronous mode, and Tag Confidentiality Enforcement policies. By default, MIE hardens key attack surfaces including the kernel and over 70 userland processes while preserving performance. Apple states that MIE targets mercenary spyware by making end-to-end exploit chains significantly more expensive and difficult to develop and maintain.