Apple just dropped a new ad highlighting one of the most practical upgrades in the iPhone 17 lineup: the upgraded Center Stage front camera.
And honestly? If you take a lot of group selfies, this one might hit home.
The big upgrade: smarter group selfies
The ad focuses on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, showing how the new front-facing camera automatically adjusts when more people step into the frame.
Here’s what makes it different:
- The camera expands the field of view automatically
- It can rotate from portrait to landscape
- You don’t need to physically rotate your phone
- Everyone stays centered without awkward cropping
In short, the phone adapts to you, not the other way around. It’s not just the Pro models. The regular iPhone 17 and iPhone Air also feature the same upgraded Center Stage front camera.
How It Actually Works
All four iPhone 17 models come equipped with:
- 18-megapixel front camera
- Square image sensor
- AI-powered Center Stage for photos and video
Because of the square sensor, the camera captures more image data than what you initially see on screen. When someone joins the frame, the phone uses AI to intelligently widen the crop.
Apple explains it like this:
The Center Stage front camera features a larger, square sensor that allows for high-resolution photos and videos in any orientation — users no longer have to rotate their iPhone to take a landscape selfie.
For group selfies, Center Stage for photos uses AI to automatically expand the field of view and can rotate from portrait to landscape to include everyone in the frame.
That vertical-to-landscape flexibility is the real trick here. You keep holding your phone upright, but the image can rotate and expand to fit more people.
This upgrade fixes a very real everyday annoyance
Group selfies are everywhere:
- Family gatherings
- Travel moments
- Concerts
- Weddings
- Quick friend shots
The iPhone 17 lineup basically says: stop adjusting yourself for the camera. The camera will adjust for you, and in typical Apple fashion, it’s the kind of feature that feels small until you use it once.
