iPhone 17 Pro launched with a new “plateau” design, A19 Pro chip

September 10, 2025

Apple announced the iPhone 17 Pro in its “Awe Dropping” event last night. This compact flagship Apple phone is a very different device from last year’s titanium-clad iPhone 16 Pro. So let’s take a closer look at the new iPhone 17 Pro, including its expected price in Nepal, specifications, and availability.

iPhone 17 Pro Overview

Design and display

Starting off with the design, Apple has swapped out titanium for a precision-milled aluminum unibody with softer curves and a wide camera “plateau.” But despite the switch to aluminum, the iPhone 17 Pro isn’t lighter than its predecessor. In fact, it’s actually gained some weight (206 gm > 199 gm).

But even disregarding the material used in the iPhone 17 Pro, its design nonetheless feels very polarizing. Especially with the new “Cosmic Orange” finish that some users are calling “traffic cone orange”.

This isn’t the first major smartphone to come up with something completely unexpected and unconventional, like the Nothing Phone 3 (review). Alienating even its most die-hard fans.

The display keeps the 6.3-inch size from last year, but brightness is now up to 3,000 nits. Ceramic Shield 2 glass and a new anti-reflective coating make it harder to scratch and easier to see outdoors. The Dynamic Island remains unchanged, though iOS 26 adds a “Liquid Glass” interface that should smooth out animations.

Performance

At its core is the A19 Pro chip with a first-ever vapor chamber cooling setup on an iPhone. And with this setup, Apple claims “40 percent better sustained performance” compared to last year.

Although, in my opinion, it has no practical use as most people won’t notice that in everyday use. The A18 Pro from last year was already strong enough for gaming, editing, or whatever you’d throw at it. But if you’re a gamer, a vlogger, or someone who pushes their phones to the extreme, that sustained performance should definitely be noticeable.

Cameras

The real upgrade comes in the camera system. All three rear lenses are now 48MP — wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto. The telephoto uses a 100mm f/2.8 lens with 4x optical zoom and “optical-quality” 200mm 8x shots.

This may look like a downgrade since the iPhone 16 Pro actually had a 5x optical zoom lens, but Apple has a much higher-res 48MP camera setup this time. Instead of the iPhone 16 Pro’s 12MP telephoto camera.

As for videos about videos, the iPhone 17 Pro improves on video compared to the 16 Pro in a few ways. Its rear cameras still do 4K at 120fps, 1080p slow-motion at 240fps, Dolby Vision HDR, ProRes 4K, Cinematic Mode, and Action Mode, just like before.

But it now adds ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2, and Genlock as well. That last one is more geared towards professional video creators, which allows them to sync footage from multiple iPhones and other supported cameras.

The front camera is a bigger upgrade with the 18MP sensor, which can record stabilized 4K HDR, automatically frame people in portrait or landscape, and even adjust for groups. You can also use Dual Capture to record from the front and back at the same time.

Battery and charging

Apple has also managed to squeeze in a larger battery thanks to the new design. With this, Apple claims this phone has up to 33 hours of video playback, compared to 27 hours on the iPhone 16 Pro. Charging is faster too, since you can get it to 50% in 20 minutes with a new 40W “Dynamic Power Adapter”.

Storage and connectivity

The base storage for the iPhone 17 Pro now starts at 256GB, instead of 128GB, as they had been giving since forever. But unlike the iPhone 17 Pro Max that can be configured with up to 2TB storage, the regular iPhone 17 Pro caps out at 1TB. Meanwhile, connectivity gets a boost with an Apple-designed “N1” wireless chip to handle WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread.

iPhone 17 Pro Specifications

Design, build: 150 x 71.9 x 8.75 mm, 206 gm, IP68 rating
Display: 6.3-inch OLED screen, FHD+, 120Hz refresh rate (LTPO)
Chipset: Apple A19 Pro (3nm mobile platform)
Memory: 12GB RAM, 256/512GB/1TB storage (non-expandable)
Software & UI: iOS 26
Rear Camera: Triple (48MP primary, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto)
Front Camera: 18MP “Center Stage” camera (Dynamic Island)
Security: Face ID (via the front camera)
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 7 (dual-band), Bluetooth 6, GPS / Glonass / Galileo / BeiDou / QZSS / NavIC, USB-C, 4G LTE, 5G
Sensors: Accelerometer, Barometer, Dual ambient light, Gyroscope, LiDAR, Proximity
Battery: 4,252 mAh with 25W wireless charging (no power adapter in the box)

iPhone 17 Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

Since Apple didn’t introduce a price hike on the entire iPhone 17 series, the iPhone 17 Pro still costs USD 1,099 in the US for the 256GB model. And it goes all the way to USD 1,499 for the 1TB configuration. We expect the price of the iPhone 17 Pro in Nepal to start at NPR 201,000 when it launches here shortly.