All four iPhone models unveiled at Apple’s September 2025 event got an interesting new camera upgrade: The iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max have a brand new 18-megapixel Center Stage selfie camera. I don’t care much for megapixel counts, but I do care about quality-of-life upgrades, and the Center Stage camera lets you take different types of selfies without rotating your iPhone.
Apple eliminated the standard 4:3 sensor for the iPhone’s front camera. Instead, the Center Stage camera has a square sensor—a first for iPhones—that offers a higher resolution and wider field of view. The result is that you can hold your iPhone vertically and take photos and videos in portrait or landscape mode, whatever your preference. Apple says you’ll be able to capture photos in four different compositions, all without rotating your phone.
Credit: Apple
During the iPhone 17 launch event, Apple showed a pre-recorded demo of a group of people taking selfies with the Center Stage camera. It starts with one person clicking a selfie, and more people join the frame later. The demo shows the Camera app automatically detecting people’s faces and expanding the frame without any user input, and if it works as advertised, it’ll reduce the effort needed for group selfies.
Personally, I’ve always hated taking group selfies because it’s so difficult to hold my heavy Pro Max iPhone in landscape mode. In portrait, my grip on the phone is more natural, and I can easily press the volume buttons to take photos. The iPhone 17 models should let me do just that, but I can have pictures in landscape.
What do you think so far?
The new iPhone 17 front camera also takes better videos. Apple says the Center Stage front camera enables ultra-stabilized video in 4K HDR, which means that you’ll get less shaky videos even from the front camera, including in video calls via FaceTime or other apps where Center Stage is meant to keep you more stable and in the frame. An added benefit of the new sensor is Dual Capture, a new mode that lets you record the front and rear camera simultaneously, which may appeal to content creators in particular.