Apple iPhone 17 Pro The iPhone 17 Pro is arguably Apple's greatest phone yet, making meaningful improvements to its cameras, upgrading its RAM, and shifting away from an all-glass design. It runs a little hotter than before and isn't quite as far ahead of Android chipsets as it used to be, and Apple Intelligence is lacking crucial smarts, but the more Android-like that iOS becomes, the easier it is to recommend the iPhone's simplicity.
Here I am, back for my annual dive into the wide world of iOS. It’s become something of a tradition at this point — I finish my review of Google’s latest Pixel flagship, then almost immediately swap my SIM (now an eSIM) into Apple’s top Android rival to see if Cupertino’s latest and greatest can tempt me to switch. Usually, I know how things are going to go: Apple will put up a pretty good fight with solid cameras and excellent optimization, only to come up short in terms of the overall experience.
This year, however, I feel like there has been less change from one generation of Android flagship to the next from the two most prominent players in the US. The Galaxy S25 line barely needed to exist, and the Pixel 10 series is the best phone Google has ever made, but it’s not life-changing — it’s still a Pixel, just better. This has opened the door for the iPhone 17 Pro to make an impression on me. So, I swapped to iOS for a month, and here’s how it went.
Oh, titanium, where’d you go?
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
At a time when all of the best Android phones in the US look, well, the same as they did last year, the iPhone 17 Pro actually looks… different. Not massively different — you can still pick out the Apple logo on the back, and the three camera sensors still sit in the easily identifiable triangle, but it’s certainly changed more than either the Pixel 10 series or the Galaxy S25. And honestly, I like it.
Apple’s Pro-grade overhaul starts with the possibly controversial decision to send titanium packing and adopt a unibody aluminum construction in its place. Now, I know I’d previously made fun of Apple for making such a big deal about its obsession with titanium, but it’s almost weirder to make this pivot. The Cupertino-based company had just spent how many years declaring titanium the toughest and lightest stuff around? Well, now aluminum is better, I guess.
The unibody aluminum design looks great... but what happened to years of hearing about titanium?
Alright, so at the very least, that change to a unibody construction means that the iPhone 17 Pro won’t shatter if dropped at just the right angle, which really is a good thing. I’ve seen too many friends carry spider-webbed iPhones for several months at a time before seeking repairs, so I’m glad to skip that step — a step that most Android flagships still risk if you don’t want to buy a phone case.
Of course, the new unibody aluminum design comes with two noticeable changes on the back: the camera bump is now significantly larger, and there’s a glass cutout around where the MagSafe ring and wireless charging coil reside. I don’t actually hate either change, as the new bump, dubbed the camera plateau, opens up much more space for the new telephoto sensor (which I’ll get to in a little while), and the Ceramic Shield insert complements the frame perfectly without sacrificing toughness.
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