I need Apple to do these things with the iPhone 17 camera

The iPhone 16 ProA great camera can take some of the best photos you can squeeze from your phone. Thanks to numerous crystal-clear lenses and new photographic styles, it has something to impress even the most demanding photographers. He even waged a strong struggle with best camera phones around including Galaxy S24 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Read more: The iPhone 16 Pro is pitted against the Xiaomi 14 Ultra

But it’s not a perfect camera. As a seasoned phone reviewer and professional photographer, I have extremely high expectations for top-end phone cameras, and having used the iPhone 16 Pro since launch, I’m wondering what needs to change.

Here are the main things I want to see improved in the iPhone 17 when it is likely to launch in September 2025.

Larger image sensor

While the iPhone 16 Pro’s 1/1.28-inch main camera sensor is already a good size — and slightly larger than the S24 Ultra’s 1/1.33-inch sensor — I wish Apple would go bigger. A larger image sensor can capture more light and offer better dynamic range. This is why professional cameras tend to have at least full-frame image sensors, while really high-end cameras like the amazing Hasselblad 907Xhave huge “medium format” sensors for pristine image quality.

Xiaomi understands this by equipping its 14 Ultra with a 1-inch type sensor. It’s bigger than the sensors found in almost any phone, which the 14 Ultra allows take stunning photos in various conditions — including Taylor Swift concerts. I wish Apple would at least match Xiaomi’s phone with a similar 1-inch sensor. Although, if we are talking about grandiose desires, perhaps the iPhone 17 will be the first smartphone with a full-frame image sensor. I won’t hold my breath on this one – the phone and lenses would have to be huge to accommodate it, so it would probably be more efficient to just let you make phone calls with a mirrorless camera.

Variable aperture

Speaking of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, one of the other reasons why the phone is so difficult to shoot is its variable aperture on the main camera. Its widest aperture is f/1.6 — significantly wider than the iPhone 16 Pro’s f/1.78. This wider aperture lets in a lot of light in low-light conditions and more reliably achieves defocused bokeh around the subject.

But Xiaomi’s aperture can also close down to f/4, and with such a narrower aperture, it’s able to create starbursts around points of light. I like to achieve this effect in night shots with my phone. This makes the resulting images look more like they were taken by a professional camera and lens, whereas the same points of light on the iPhone just look like rounded blobs.

More photo styles

While Apple has different styles and effects built into the iPhone cameras, the iPhone 16 lineup has gone a step further, with more control over effects and greater toning options. So much so that CNET Senior Editor Lisa Eadicicco even declared the new photography styles her “favorite new feature of Apple’s latest phone.”

I think they are great too. Rather, they are wonderful beginning. Different color tones, like the ones you get with the Amber and Gold styles, add a charming warmth to scenes, and the Silent effect adds a vintage film fade, but there’s still not much to choose from. I wish Apple would introduce more photo styles with different color toning options, or even tones that mimic vintage Kodak or Fujifilm film.

And of course, there are plenty of third-party apps like VSCO or Snapseed that let you play with color filters as much as you want. But using Apple styles means you can take your images with the look already applied and then change it if you don’t like it – there’s nothing rigid about your image.

Better integration of ProRaw with photographic styles

I think Apple missed a bit of an opportunity with their Photo Styles, as you can only use them when shooting images in HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format). Unfortunately, you can’t use them when shooting in ProRaw. I like using Apple ProRaw on previous iPhones because it takes full advantage of the iPhone’s computational photography, including things like blending HDR images, but still outputs a raw DNG file for easier editing.

A DNG file usually also offers more options for brightening dark areas or reducing glare in an image, making it extremely versatile. It used to be possible to use Apple’s color presets when shooting in ProRaw, and I loved that. I often shot street style photos using a high contrast black and white mode and then edited the raw file further.

Now using the same black and white image only means shooting HEIF images, eliminating the benefits of using Apple ProRaw. Oddly enough, while the old “filters” are no longer available in the camera app when shooting a raw image, you can still apply these filters to raw photos in the iPhone gallery app via the edit menu.

LUT for ProRes video

And while we’re on the subject of color presets and filters, Apple should also apply them to video. On the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced the possibility shoot video in ProResresulting in very low-contrast, almost gray frames. The idea is that video editors will take this raw footage and then apply their edits on top, often applying contrast and color presets known as LUTs (look-up tables) that give the footage a specific look – dark blues for horror movies or warm and light tones for romantic drama.

But Apple doesn’t offer any kind of LUT for editing ProRes video on the iPhone, other than a simple contrast boost, which doesn’t really do the job properly. Of course, the point of ProRes is that you shoot that footage on an iPhone, put it into software like Davinci Resolve, and then recolor it properly to make it look smooth and professional.

But the files still stay on your phone, and I’d like to be able to do more with them. My gallery is littered with ungraded video files that I will be working with very little as they require external color grading. I would like to share them on Instagram or with my family on WhatsApp, changing these files from gloomy and gray to beautifully colorful.

With the iPhone 17 or even the iPhone 16 as a software update, I want to see Apple create a number of custom LUTs that can be directly applied to ProRes video files on the iPhone.

If Apple could implement all of these changes — except perhaps the full-frame sensor, which even I’ll admit is a bit ambitious — it would have an absolute camera.