- The iPhone 17 Pro has lost a popular photography feature
- The change has been confirmed through an official Apple document
- However, Apple will not say why the change was made.
Typically, when you buy one of the best iPhones, you expect its features to be more advanced than before. For the most part, that’s true with the iPhone 17 Pro, but some eagle-eyed users just noticed that it’s missing a key camera feature compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, and people are disappointed.
Users on the official Reddit and Apple forums have noted that the iPhone 17 Pro does not allow the use of night mode when taking photos in portrait mode, with Catalyticclover on Reddit saying: “Night portraits don’t look as good as they could, and it’s a downgrade compared to the quality previous models were able to achieve.”
News site Macworld has confirmed that an Apple support document supports user claims as it lists the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max as devices that can use Night Mode and Portrait Mode together, excluding the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Considering that last year’s iPhone 16 Pro allowed these two features to be used at the same time, it seems that 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 elegantly blur the background with bokeh effects while keeping your subject in focus. Meanwhile, Apple’s Night Mode allows for long exposure photography that lets you take better images even when there’s very little light available. When combined, you can create inventive photographs even in low lighting conditions.
Or at least you could on the iPhone 16 Pro. Macworld says that Night Mode images taken with an iPhone 17 Pro lack the depth information used to create Portrait Mode shots, 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. Since the iPhone 17 Pro cannot combine these two tools, photographers will be left with fewer weapons in their arsenal.
An inexplicable movement
Despite this disappointment, the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera is still a considerable improvement over its predecessor. It now comes with all three lenses with 48MP resolution, the ability to capture photos and videos at the same time, a Center Stage-enabled front camera, and more.
It is not known why Apple has removed the ability to combine Portrait and Night modes on the iPhone 17 Pro, as the company has not commented on the matter. We have asked Apple for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Hopefully Apple decides 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 remove a popular feature like this, especially since you’ve been able to pair Portrait mode and Night mode since the iPhone 12 Pro launched in 2020. If you’re a fan of creating portrait photos in dark environments, the iPhone 17 Pro may not be the phone for you.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
