Apple’s controversies with the iPhone 17 series do not show any signs of stopping anytime soon. The company has now officially confirmed that the iPhone 17 series has lost out on a key camera feature that was a staple of older iPhone models.
As per a support document by Apple, the iPhone 17 Pro series does not come with Night Mode support when taking pictures in Portrait mode. Users on Reddit and even Apple’s own support forums had been complaining for months about Night Mode not turning on when taking pictures in Portrait mode, but the official confirmation has now confirmed that the feature has been missing from the new iPhones.
Notably, every iPhone Pro model released since 2020 has had support for this feature, which makes it odd that Apple would take away an important capability like that without any clarification.
In case you are not aware, Night Mode works by extending the exposure time so the camera can gather more light in dim settings. Depending on how dark the scene is, the exposure can run from a brief moment to several seconds, helping the sensor pull in detail that would otherwise be lost.
With the iPhone 17 Pro, users have complained that Night Mode does not activate when clicking pictures in Portrait mode.
“If I take a picture of a person in Night Mode, it no longer saves the depth data and I can’t convert it to a portrait afterwards. And if I’m in Portrait mode, Night Mode will not activate no matter how dark it is,” a user explained in an Apple support forum.
Earlier controversies with the iPhone 17 series
Just a few months back, iPhone 17 Pro models were in the news after a stress test by YouTuber JerryRigEverything showed that the sharp edges around the camera island on the iPhone 17 Pro series were prone to chipping. The YouTuber said this was because the anodised coating used by Apple did not adhere well to the tight corners, a problem that was not present with the titanium frames of the previous generation iPhone Pro variants.
Meanwhile, significant marks and scratches were noticed around the MagSafe area on the back of dark coloured demo units in Apple stores soon after the release of the iPhone 17 series.
Some users on social media have also claimed that their iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max changed colour to a pink or rose gold hue. The tech giant is yet to comment on this issue.