Apple has always had a complicated relationship with smartphone cameras. Back in the early days, iPhones dominated. Then there was a stretch when Apple seemed to fall behind while competitors like Samsung and Google pushed hard into camera innovation. Over the past few years, however, Apple has regained its position at the top with some of the best mobile photography and video experiences on the market.
With the iPhone 17 lineup—including the sleek new iPhone Air—Apple is rolling out camera upgrades that go well beyond bigger sensors and higher megapixel counts. I’ve been able to test some of these new features, and three in particular stood out to me.
Smarter Selfies Without the Awkward Grip
Ever tried to take a big group selfie, flipped your phone sideways for that wider shot, and almost dropped it because your grip was so awkward? Apple’s trying to fix that. The selfie camera on the new iPhones now uses a square sensor instead of the usual rectangular one.
Here’s why that matters: a square sensor, combined with a wider field of view, lets the phone decide whether your shot should be portrait or landscape—without you physically rotating the phone. If it’s just you, the shot stays vertical. Add a few friends into the frame, and the camera automatically switches to a horizontal shot to fit everyone in.
This works in conjunction with Apple’s Center Stage technology, which can automatically zoom and reframe as needed. You can also override it manually if you prefer. And yes, the selfie camera itself is getting a serious bump in quality with a new 18-megapixel sensor and better 4K HDR stabilization. For vloggers or anyone constantly shooting selfie videos, this is a big deal.
Dual Capture for Front and Rear Cameras
It feels like Apple finally listened. With the new iPhone 17 lineup, you can now record with both the front and rear cameras at the same time directly in the native camera app. Android users might be shrugging because this feature—often called Dual Recording or “bothies”—has existed elsewhere for years. But for iPhone owners, this is the first time it’s built right into the stock camera experience.
It works in video mode up to 4K at 30 frames per second. When enabled, you get your main video feed from the rear camera while a floating preview shows footage from the front camera, just like on a video call. You can drag this floating window around before you start recording, but its placement becomes permanent once you hit the shutter button. It’s a small creative tool, but for vloggers, journalists, or anyone capturing reactions and events simultaneously, it opens up new possibilities.
8X Optical-Like Zoom on the Pro Models
Now for the feature I’m personally most excited about: Zoom. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models now offer up to 8X optical-like zoom quality thanks to a new 48-megapixel telephoto camera. Technically, it’s still a 4X optical zoom lens, but Apple’s computational photography blends multiple frames to deliver 8X shots that retain sharpness and detail far better than the digital zooms of the past.
I took a few sample shots, and the results looked promising—even compared to competitors like Google’s Pixel 10 or Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, both of which have pushed zoom photography for years. You can zoom beyond 8X, up to 40X digitally, but image quality drops off fast at those levels.
A Quick Word on the iPhone Air
While the iPhone Air’s slim design feels amazing in the hand, it only has a single rear camera. That means no ultrawide shots and no high-quality zoom beyond 2X. If mobile photography is a big priority for you, the Pro models clearly offer a lot more flexibility.
Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup launches on September 19, and we’ll have a full camera review soon. But from what I’ve seen so far, Apple is finally giving iPhone owners features that photographers and casual users alike have been asking for.
