Imagine this: you are on the move with your iPhone Pro, locate a distant subject that deserves to be captured, remove your smartphone and go to the objective of telephoto – only to end up with a grainy mess that does not do it justice. It was my global experience with the telephoto lens in the iPhone in recent years.
With the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, Apple has improved the 12MP telephoto lens sensor at 48MP. I was skeptical, so I decided to test it myself and see if the most high-end iPhone of this year finally addresses the gaps of the zoom camera. The best way was to grasp my iPhone 16 Pro Max and 17 Pro Max and take the same photos side by side. What I saw amazed at me.
To start
Before comparing the telephones of the two iPhones, there are a few things that we must decompose. The 12MP iPhone 16 PRO Max sensor supports the 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom, while the 48MP 48MP sensor of the maximum and 8x optical zoom options, with a 40x max digital zoom.
The photos below were taken in the same places with my iPhone 16 Pro Max and 17 Pro Max performing the last stable IOS 26.0 construction. I used the default settings in Apple’s integrated camera application on the two phones, and the output has not been modified, cropped or manipulated in any way. The samples simply aim to expose the unseat power of each telephoto lens. You have to get better results with one or the other phone if you spend more time perfecting the composition and refining elements such as exhibition, strengths, saturation, photographic styles, etc.
5x vs 4x: portrait mode
Our trip starts in my apartment, where I was captured scribbled on my iPad using portrait mode. Unlike ordinary photos, the portrait mode with the telephoto lens to 5x on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Meanwhile, the predefined zoom levels of the iPhone 17 Pro Max display 4x, but you can paint manually to reach the hidden 5x value. Since many users opt for predefined zoom levels in portrait mode, I filmed at 5x and 4x using the two phones, respectively.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is clearly the winner of this Tour, because the colors are more vibrant and natural, and the blurred effect is on the point. Conversely, the shooting of the iPhone 17 Pro Max seems to be washed and, in some cases, in particular around the Apple pencil – the vagueness seems artificial and inaccurate. To be fair, the portrait mode is mainly designed for close -up subjects. If I was sitting closer to the iPhones, the release of the 17 pro Max would have been better.
25x vs 25x: iPhone 16 pro max limit
I then went to the balcony to test the digital zoom limits of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Although the 17 pro max can go up to 40x, I set it for 25x to get exactly the same photo and compare the quality. Although you can say in the first photo you look at a lighthouse, the details are distorted with a large amount of cereals. The shooting of the 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, is both brighter and cleaner.
25x vs 40x: iphone 17 pro max limit
I was curious to see if the iPhone 17 pro Max shots also become noisy when they opt for the 40x max zoom limit. Surprisingly, the iphone 17 Pro zoom is always more vibrant and clearer than the iPhone 16 Pro at 25x, despite almost double the zoom distance.
5x vs 5x: closely
For the next test, I adjusted the cameras of the two phones on 5x and photographed a framed display of the original iPhone. Despite the iPhone 16 Pro Max using its default optical zoom level, the output was always grainy and barely usable. The 17 pro Max, on the other hand, publishes readable text that you can easily read, and the framed pieces seem clearer.
5x vs 8x: distance
Then, I went to the Mediterranean Sea and I fired on the lovers of beach by swimming and sunbathing at the Max optical zoom for the two phones, 5x and 8x zoom. This is another obvious victory for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, because the colors seem more saturated, and distant humans are more detailed.
5x vs 8x: closely
Then, I tried the same zoom levels on a blatant feline. The release of the iPhone 17 Pro Max was also more alive than that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The new sensor has also produced a clearer cat fur.
5x vs 4x: in the middle
On the way back, I captured a wall using 5x and 4x optical zooms. Like the previous plans, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, once again, publishes a lively image with very little noise. For example, the zoom on the upper left pots reveals individual flowers in the 17 pro max. Meanwhile, the same place in the 16 Pro Max looks like a blurred salad.
10x vs 10x: Low light
I went home to watch the sunset and share how telephottos work in gradation environments. I set the zoom to 10x on the two iPhones, and the difference was like night and day. In the 16 pro max shooting, the sky and the sea are substantially pixelated, just like the sign downwards. With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, despite the difficult conditions, I was able to get a clean shot on the entire frame.
5x vs 8x: night mode
For the final test, I went out at night and I opted for the maximum optical zoom levels of 5x and 8x. I adjusted the night mode on Auto, which took photos of exposure 3.5 seconds and 2.6 seconds on the iPhone 16 Pro Max and 17 Pro Max. Beyond the different zooms, the two photos seem quite similar in terms of color reproduction and preservation of details. This made me think – if Apple should allow users of the iPhone 16 Pro Max to take long exposure shots during the day, the exit would also be less grainy in well -lit configurations.
15x vs 24x: video
I then wandered in the streets of Beirut to perform outdoor tests. To assess the performance of the video department, I reached a recording on the two phones and pinched to reach the limits of 15x and 24x digital zoom. This is the only test that uses ultra-large and wide sensors on the two phones, because the videos start at 0.5x zoom and gradually increase to reach the aforementioned limits. Although you get a longer zoom range with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the maximum zoom level 24x in video seems almost as grainy as that of the 16x of 16 pro Max.
The verdict
I am pleasantly surprised by the telephoto of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Not only does the optical zoom work better than last year’s model, but the digital zoom also eliminated significant pixelation, even during the 40x limit.
Since users now obtain 4x and 8x optical zoom levels, you can easily switch between the two depending on the proximity of the subject. However, the inclusion of a 5x zoom shortcut in the predefined selector would be a welcome change for people accustomed to last year’s range. IOS already allows us to easily switch between 1x, 1.2x and 1.5x, therefore a future update could introduce it realistically.
