We’re less than a week away from the launch of the iPhone 17 lineup, and a new rumor today sheds light on several more improvements Apple has up its sleeve. In a post on Weibo, the oft-reliable leaker Instant Digital says the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature notable updates to the display, battery life, and more.
Here’s a breakdown of what the account says is coming for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max:
- They can maintain a higher brightness level for a longer period of time when used outdoors in the sun. This will also extend to the Camera app performance, letting you take more 4K 60fps video outdoors without thermal throttling.
- Upgraded thermals will allow for improved frame rate performance for graphics-intensive games.
- Improvements to battery efficiency, along with increased battery capacity, for “the longest battery life” of any iPhone.
That’s a pretty nice rundown of improvements, all made possible by upgrades to the battery and thermal management of the iPhone 17 Pro.
When it announced the iPhone 16 lineup last year, Apple touted that all four models could reach 2000 nits of max brightness when outdoors. That’s double the 1000 nits of typical brightness and higher than the 1600 nits max HDR brightness. However, that increased brightness level can only be sustained for several minutes before it drops way, way lower because of thermal and heat limitations. Any improvements to that experience will be much-appreciated, but the bar is quite low.
One important thing to note is that it appears all of these improvements will be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. If you’re going to buy the sleek new iPhone 17 Air, you’ll be out of luck.
What’s at the top of your iPhone 17 wishlist? What limitations are you hoping Apple will address? Let us know down in the comments.
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