Apple iPhone 17 Has Square Selfie Camera Sensor and Hardware Upgrades

Matt Growcoot
Five iPhones in different colors—purple, blue, black, green, and yellow—are shown standing upright, highlighting the rear cameras and side buttons. Two display floral-themed wallpapers on their screens.
The new iPhone 17

Apple has officially announced the base iPhone 17 which has a new ‘center stage front camera’ that means users will no longer have to rotate their phone to change the orientation of the shot.

The new camera is Apple’s “largest front camera sensor ever” and is notably square, not 4:3. That means selfie-takers can take a vertical selfie or a landscape selfie without actually having to move the phone.

Furthermore, an AI system will automatically change the field of view and rotation on the 18-megapixel camera depending on how many people someone is trying to get in the shot.

Four friends smile and pose closely together for a selfie, using a smartphone in a dimly-lit, colorful party setting with balloons in the background.
No more rotating the phone for selfies.

Four young women smile and pose for a selfie on a sandy beach, with a striped pink fabric tent and ocean waves in the background. They are wearing bright, colorful sweaters.

On the back, a dual camera array consists of the ‘Fusion Ultra Wide Camera’, a 48-megapixel, 13mm, f/2.2 camera. While a 12-megapixel ‘1x Macro’ camera sits directly underneath, which has a focal length of 26mm and an aperture of f/2.2.

Rocky coastline with steep, green and reddish-brown cliffs beside the blue ocean under a partly cloudy sky, with waves gently hitting the stony shore.
iPhone 17 example shot. The back camera boasts four times the resolution of the iPhone 16.

A person with voluminous curly red hair stands against a stone wall, looking thoughtfully to the side. Sunlight highlights their hair and face, casting a warm glow.

A person in black clothing stands on a sandy beach beneath a large, blue parachute canopy billowing above and behind them against a clear sky.

Rocky cliff with geometric formations in the foreground, overlooking a vast green mountain landscape under a clear blue sky with a low layer of clouds in the distance, bathed in golden sunlight.

A close-up of a dandelion seed head with delicate white seeds against a bright blue background.

A woman in a denim jacket and pink shirt stands surrounded by large red and white gingham-patterned fabric sheets, smiling softly as sunlight filters through the material.

iPhone 17 records video in 4K60 fps Dolby Vision with creative features, such as Cinematic mode and Action mode.

Video is captured with Spatial Audio for immersive listening; Audio Mix lets users adjust sound after capture to boost voices and reduce ambient noise; and wind noise reduction minimizes unwanted noise. iPhone 17 can also take spatial photos and videos to help users relive memories with remarkable depth on Apple Vision Pro.

Six iPhones are fanned out, showcasing their side profiles and rear cameras. The phones are displayed in black, blue, green, yellow, pink, and white, highlighting their different color options.

The iPhone 17 comes in five different colors: lavender, mist blue, black, white, and sage. It has a 6.3-inch display — slightly larger than the iPhone 16.

A smartphone with a colorful, symmetrical flower pattern on its screen and the text "6.3" displayed in the center, indicating the screen size; the phone is shown against a black background.

Close-up of a purple smartphone showing two rear cameras. Text on the left lists camera specs: 48MP Ultra Wide (13mm, f/2.2), and 12MP Macro (26mm, f/1.6), with features like quad pixel and Hybrid Focus Pixels.

It has a brightness of 3,000 nits for “peak outdoor display” and ‘Ceramic Shield 2’ which has three times better scratch resistance to protect from everyday scratches.

The display itself has ‘Promotion’ that has an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, designed to “dynamically respond” to the content the user is viewing.

“When you’re not using your iPhone, the Always-On display efficiently adjusts down to 1Hz,” Apple adds. The Promotion feature gets eight more hours of video playback compared to the iPhone 16.

Close-up of several smartphones in different colors—black, white, green, yellow, blue, and purple—showing dual rear cameras and a flash, arranged in a diagonal line against a black background.

Powering the iPhone 17 is Apple’s latest-generation A19 silicon chip, a 6-core CPU which Apple says is 20 percent faster than the iPhone 16.

Of course, there are more Apple Intelligence features, including asking it questions about what is being shown on the iPhone screen and live translation.

“iPhone 17 is a big upgrade with powerful features that make iPhone even more useful in your day-to-day life, from the bigger and brighter ProMotion display with 3x better scratch resistance, to all-day battery life with faster charging, the A19 chip for powerful performance, a fantastic 48MP Dual Fusion camera system, and the innovative Center Stage front camera — our best front camera yet,” says Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing.

“iPhone 17 is a fantastic choice for customers looking for the latest features and the confidence in knowing their iPhone is built to last.”

The iPhone 17 will be available with 256GB and 512GB storage capacities. It starts at $799.

Image credits: Apple

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