Apple iPhone 17 Pro review: Come for the camera, stay for the battery

Summary

The iPhone 17's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 17's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 17 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 17 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 17's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 17 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 15 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. The iPhone 15 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. And the iPhone Air's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. Note that for the others, the numbers changed but the shape of the line did not. The more aggressive thermal throttling here affects performance disproportionately toward the end of the run. The iPhone 17 Pro doesn't have this problem. And the iPhone Air's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. Note that for the others, the numbers changed but the shape of the line did not. The more aggressive thermal throttling here affects performance disproportionately toward the end of the run. The iPhone 17 Pro doesn't have this problem. The iPhone 15 Pro's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. And the iPhone Air's 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited chart. Note that for the others, the numbers changed but the shape of the line did not. The more aggressive thermal throttling here affects performance disproportionately toward the end of the run. The iPhone 17 Pro doesn't have this problem. The CPU performance of the iPhone 17 Pro is also marginally better than this year's other phones, but not by enough that it will be user-noticeable. As for battery, Apple's own product pages say it lasts for about 10 percent longer than the regular iPhone 17 and between 22 and 36 percent longer than the iPhone Air, depending on what you're doing. I found the iPhone Air's battery life to be tolerable with a little bit of babying and well-timed use of the Low Power Mode feature, and the iPhone 17's battery was good enough that I didn't worry about making it through...