Apple’s September announcement hasn’t disappointed; along with new models of Apple Watch and AirPods Pro, we’ve seen the iPhone 17 for the first time.
While it might look very similar to its predecessor, the iPhone 17 packs some serious upgrades.
That includes the long-awaited 120Hz ProMotion display tech support, bringing a much smoother screen experience, along with a more powerful A19 chipset, longer battery life and an upgraded 48MP ultrawide camera – but it’s arguably the selfie camera that has had the most interesting update.
Centre Stage tech comes to the selfie camera
Apple first introduced its Centre Stage camera technology on the iPad Pro back in 2021 before slowly rolling out to other iPads – but the iPhone kept the same regular 12MP selfie camera first introduced on the iPhone 11.
Well, the iPhone 17 ditches it for what Apple is calling a Centre Stage Front Camera. The new selfie camera doesn’t just offer a boost in resolution, but it packs a wider field of view.
This allows for both regular narrow selfies and better support for group selfies with a wider field of view, and also allows the camera to track your face. This should help keep you front and centre in video chats and the like, as it does on iPad.
But it’s more than face tracking
You might assume that’s all there is to Apple’s new selfie camera – but you’d be wrong. In a rather unique twist, Apple has utilised a square camera sensor – most selfie cameras use a 4:3 aspect ratio sensor – but this limits framing to whatever way you’re holding your phone; upright for vertical shots, side-on for horizontal shots.
Apple’s new square sensor allows you to take both horizontal and vertical selfies when holding the phone upright, negating the need to rotate your phone. What’s more, the camera will automatically detect when there are too many people in a vertical selfie, and will automatically switch to a horizontal alternative.
It’ll also offer all-round improvements in performance, with sharper selfies with more accurate colours, and it’ll also offer smoother video recording capabilities with similar tech to that used in the rear-facing Action Camera mode.
The iPhone 17 is up for pre-order this Friday, with release set for 19 September.
