Halide Team's In-Depth iPhone 17 Pro Camera Review: 'A Tremendous Telephoto Upgrade'

The team behind the popular Halide camera app has published its in-depth review of the new iPhone 17 Pro camera system. To test its capabilities, the developers took the new device on a five-day trip through New York, London, and Iceland.

The review notes the entire rear camera system is now built on 48-megapixel sensors, with the telephoto lens receiving a 56% larger sensor. The front camera has also been upgraded, featuring a new 24-megapixel square sensor that produces 18MP cropped images through its 'Center Stage' system. This new hardware is paired with updated image processing, which now uses deep learning for demosaicing to improve detail and color accuracy from the quad-pixel sensors.




Apple's new Center Stage front camera uses its larger square sensor to intelligently reframe shots, automatically including more people in a group photo or allowing for landscape selfies without rotating the phone. The Halide team calls it an impressive piece of engineering where the hardware change is almost invisible to the user.

While the Main and Ultra Wide cameras use the same sensors as last year's model, their output benefits from processing tweaks. The 2x zoom, which is a crop from the main sensor, produces noticeably better shots this year. The developers also praised the color consistency and smooth zooming between all three lenses. However, they call out the main camera's lack of close-focusing capabilities as a "serious user experience annoyance" that has persisted for several years.



The new 4x (100mm) telephoto lens was a highlight, described as a fantastic focal length for both portraiture and detail shots. Its larger sensor renders impressive detail, though the review also notes the lens is a bit soft—a quality the developers praised for its natural rendering and flattering look in portraits. It performs well in low light, though it is still reliant on Night Mode and processing compared to the Main camera.




The review was particularly impressed with the "optical quality" 8x (200mm) zoom, which is a center crop of the new 48MP telephoto sensor. The developers highlighted Apple's advanced hardware and software stabilization, which makes shooting at such a long focal length manageable and steady. While noting the results are not tack-sharp, the review called the output 'truly magical' and astonishing for a 200mm crop from a phone sensor.

The developers found the updated image processing feels more natural, but they still prefer shooting in less-processed formats like native RAW or their own Process Zero. The review also touches on the new aluminum unibody, its improved cooling, and the 'Liquid Glass' UI design in iOS 26. However, the software experience itself wasn't without issues; the developers noted the initial release felt like using a beta due to numerous bugs.

For video, the iPhone 17 Pro introduces features like ProRes RAW and genlock. The Halide team positions these as tools for professional workflows that can also fuel innovation in third-party apps like their own video camera app, Kino.

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