My favorite new feature isn’t the design or the more powerful processor. Instead, it just makes the iPhone so much more fun to use.
The iPhone 17 series houses a square sensor for Center Stage selfies.
Apple introduced ultra-stabilized video shooting to the iPhone’s selfie camera, and it’s actually useful.
These features are available across all four new iPhones.
I recently shifted to the iPhone 17 Pro Max from my iPhone 16 Pro, thinking the new 4x telephoto camera and vapor cooling chamber would be the upgrades I notice the most. But after using the new iPhone for weeks now, my favorite pick turned out to be the selfie camera. Odd, right?
Many might dismiss the new selfie camera as a minor feature, but the 18MP sensor is more about quality-of-life upgrades than just a megapixel bump. It is housed inside every new iPhone, including the iPhone Air, and offers capabilities that will undoubtedly be copied by the competition — not because they’re trendy but because they’re convenient and enhance the overall user experience.A bigger deal than we think
As a refresher, the iPhone 17 series comes equipped with a new 18MP Center Stage camera housed in a square sensor. It lets you shoot landscape selfies without needing to turn your phone in that orientation. The software automatically repositions its framing based on the number of people in the photo, and it works surprisingly well!
Apple’s Center Stage is one of those rare artificial intelligence features that’s reliable and works without you needing to fiddle with the settings. But the best part is that Center Stage works in third-party apps.
