Apple's iPhone lineup Never before has it been so diverse. You have four new phones: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 pro max – with very different designs, sizes, colors, battery sizes and camera systems.
Still, it feels like the iPhone 17 has been updated to the point where it's a very good option for many buyers; it finally has a 120Hz display, battery life is significantly improved, and like the other devices, it starts with 256GB of internal storage. iPhone AirOn the other hand, it has the same chip and display size as the iPhone 17 Pro, but only one camera on the back.
That is why for many potential buyers the choice falls towards cameras. Apple has touted the iPhone Air's single camera as a multi-camera system in one, but is it really up to par with other iPhones, let alone cameras as powerful as Google Pixel 10 Pro? Is the iPhone 17's camera system as good as the Pro models without the zoom, or is it noticeably weaker in other areas too?
Let's try to compare some photos to answer all your questions.
Camera Shootout: Daylight
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. In daylight, at maximum resolution, there are virtually no differences between the three phones.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
I'm happy to report that all three cameras take amazingly detailed daylight photos with accurate colors. Increase the megapixel count to 48 if you want more detail, but only do this in suitable lighting conditions.
TL:DR: Three way draw.
Camera Shootout: Zoom
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. Again, without zooming in, you'll get very similar photos on all three devices.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
There's no real competition here: the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have a telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom, while the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air simply don't have such a lens. However, you can zoom in on all three phones (yes, even more than the standard 2x zoom) since Apple will select the smaller photo from the larger 48-megapixel photo.
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. The Pro Max's level of detail and sharpness is significantly better than the other two digital zoom phones. However, the iPhone Air consistently performed slightly better than the iPhone 17.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
As you can see above, photos without a dedicated telephoto lens simply can't compare to the level of detail you get on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, especially at 8x zoom. Interestingly, I got slightly better results with the iPhone Air than with the iPhone 17. This was fairly consistent across different settings and zoom levels, indicating that the Air has a better rear camera overall than the iPhone 17.
TL;DR: The iPhone 17 Pro Max wins this category, which is not surprising. What is a surprise? iPhone Air beats iPhone 17.
Mashable Speed ​​of Light
Camera Shootout: Ultra Wide Angle
Left:
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Right:
Left: iPhone 17 Pro Max, right: iPhone 17. Sometimes landscapes require ultra-wide photography, and the iPhone Air simply doesn't have that capability.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Only the iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 17 have an ultra-wide camera; the iPhone Air doesn't even have the ability to zoom out beyond the standard 1x. On both the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the ultra-wide lens produces significantly blurrier photos than the surprisingly sharp primary lens, so I recommend avoiding it. However, sometimes you just need to use it – usually when you need to fit a large group of people into a frame – and that's where this option comes in great, photo quality be damned.
TL;DR: The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max have a decent but not perfect ultra-wide camera; In Air this is not the case at all.
Camera Shootout: Low Light
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. This night scene was captured beautifully by all three phones. The photo taken on the iPhone Air has the most accurate colors, but the differences are subtle.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
I was particularly interested in low-light performance, as this is where you can really see if the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air can hold their own against the Pro Max's powerful main camera. I'm happy to report that the night photos came out pretty much the same whether I was using the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, or iPhone 17 Pro Max.
TL;DR: All three phones took roughly the same quality photos in low light.
Camera Shootout: Macro
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. Photos taken on the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro Max are almost identical. The iPhone Air simply can't capture as much detail up close.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
This test may be unfair to the iPhone Air, which doesn't have a dedicated macro mode. But it's still worth comparing the results, just to show how much better the other two phones are when it comes to this particular type of photography.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max automatically switched to macro mode when I got close to the flower, and both captured beautiful, detailed macro shots with vibrant colors. With the iPhone Air, zooming in this close would have blurred the photo, so I used the 2x zoom option to get a little more detail on the flower. It's not bad, but in terms of detail the quality is nowhere near as good as the other two photos. Additionally, the iPhone Air decided to blur the background, leaving me with a portrait photo; It's not bad, but not exactly what I need here.
TL;DR: The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max excel at macro photography; The iPhone Air doesn't even have a macro mode.
Camera Shootout: Selfie
From left to right: iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone Air. In Croatia we don't smile. Apparently.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
On paper, all three cameras should be the same, and judging by the selfies I took, they are. I've taken several selfies on all three phones and they are always realistic, with accurate colors and lots of detail. Here I chose a portrait selfie, which turned out very similar on all three phones.
TL;DR: Three way draw.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: Which is better for photography?
They're all pretty good, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max has the most versatile camera.
Photo: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The good news is that the main camera on all three phones is very similar, and the iPhone Air performed much better than I expected. For regular daylight photos as well as low light shots, nature shots and selfies, you can choose any of these phones and be happy.
The ability to zoom out and zoom in (especially zoom in) really makes a difference in photography. Plus, the iPhone 17 Pro Max's video capabilities are truly professional compared to the more basic (but still very good) video you get on the other two phones. If you like to tinker with settings, need a lot of video storage (the iPhone 17 Pro Max has up to 2TB capacity), and often use scaling, then the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a must-have.
How we tested
The rules of this competition were simple. I took photos in a variety of scenarios on all three phones, trying to use the same settings and take photos from the same position. I then downloaded the photos to my computer to see how different they were. In this article, I've used details from each series of photos to highlight the differences between the phones.
This is not a perfect test. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you end up with a bad (or surprisingly good) photo. I took multiple sets of photos for each scenario to confirm the reality of the differences I saw, but for the purposes of this article I only used one set of photos for each scenario.
