- The iPhone 17 Pro lost a popular photography feature
- The change was confirmed by an official document from Apple
- Still, Apple won’t say why the change was made
Usually, when you buy one of the best iPhones, you expect its features to be more advanced than those that came before it. For the most part, that’s true with the iPhone 17 Pro, but some eagle-eyed users have just noticed that it’s missing a key camera feature compared to the iPhone 16 Pro — and people are disappointed.
Users on Reddit and Apple’s official forums have noticed that the iPhone 17 Pro does not allow Night mode to be used when shooting in Portrait mode, with Catalyst Clover on Reddit stating: “Night portraits don’t look as good as they could, and it’s a downgrade from the quality that previous models were able to achieve.”
News site Macworld has confirmed that an Apple support document supports users’ claims, as it lists the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max as devices that can use Night and Portrait modes together – excluding the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Considering last year’s iPhone 16 Pro allowed both of these features to be used at the same time, it looks like the latest high-end iPhone comes with a noticeable camera downgrade (at least in this area).
Portrait mode lets you take studio-style photos that tastefully blur the background with bokeh effects while keeping your subject in focus. Apple’s Night mode, on the other hand, allows for long exposure photos that allow you to take better images even when the available light is very low. Once assembled, you can create artistic photos even in low light conditions.
Or at least you could on the iPhone 16 Pro. Macworld claims that Night mode images taken on an iPhone 17 Pro lack the depth information used to create Portrait mode photos, preventing the two features from being used together. Conversely, when you try to take a Portrait mode photo in the dark, the Night Mode option disappears. With the iPhone 17 Pro unable to combine these two tools, photographers will find themselves with fewer weapons in their arsenal.
An unexplained gesture
Despite this disappointment, the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera is still a huge improvement over its predecessor. It now comes with all three lenses offering 48 MP resolution, the ability to capture photos and videos at the same time, a Center Stage compatible front camera, and much more.
It’s unclear why Apple abandoned the ability to combine Portrait and Night modes in the iPhone 17 Pro, as the company has not commented on the decision. We have requested comment from Apple and will update this story if we receive a response.
Hopefully Apple will decide to bring it back via a software update, but without knowing why the change was made in the first place, we don’t know if it’s due to a technical reason that would prevent its return.
All we know is that it’s very unusual for Apple to abandon a popular feature like this, especially since you’ve been able to combine Portrait mode and Night mode since the iPhone 12 Pro launched in 2020. If you like creating portrait photos in dark environments, the iPhone 17 Pro may not be the phone for you.
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