Let’s be frank — Men’s Folio will not be the Men’s Folio it is today without the iPhone.

How do you think the team takes arrival and front row footage in some of the most hectic and chaotic settings? How do we secure first looks of our favourite celebrities or drops when no amount of physical gatekeeping is safe from the open and savage wild of the Internet? And when we have to time to actually sit down with stars — how can we mobilise and make every single member of our team top-tier, independent and reliable content creators?

No longer is editorial coverage for any product or profile quality-checked by actual content alone; the tool and device used to capture what is said, seen or heard is as if not more important than having an eye or nose for news. That’s why Apple’s iPhone is so incredibly integral to our everyday, from micro, bread-and-butter tasks to big, exclusive moments with who’s who. We rely on it to see and hear before our own eyes and ears can even process what’s being captured — which is why every new iPhone drop has us on our toes, and why the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air and the AirPods Pro 3 in particular are the best partner-in-crimes we could ask for. Here are 10 big and small reasons why.

1. Say no to overheating from overuse

There are two parts to why the iPhone 17 Pro is so much better at managing heat. The first part: a heat-forged aluminium unibody. The Apple-designed 7000-series aluminium alloy is lighter than titanium and over 20x more thermally conductive, meaning it can disperse high temperatures much more quickly and efficiently. The second part: an all-new vapour chamber — where a single drop of water inside the iPhone moves through the chamber from vapour to liquid to keep the iPhone cooler for longer — allows the powerful new A19 Pro chips to work on heavy loads while keeping thermals in check. For us, that means editing high-resolution videos on CapCut for prolonged periods at a time without getting a super hot iPhone — super handy when its a heavy news or coverage kind of day.

2. Insane battery life

The iPhone 17 Pro offers up to 33 hours of video playback, which is more than enough for a full day in the office doing up organic and crowd-sourced content, as well as an evening out with both event coverage and celebrity soundbites. But it’s also partly because of the new Adaptive Power feature of the new iOS 26, which is where the phone learns your usage patterns and anticipates when you might run low on battery. In other words, a smarter version of the existing Low Power Mode — no need to turn on and off the little button when we are in need of the full operating power of the Pro’s visuals and functions.

3. More insane camera functions! The zoom in particular!!

Can’t talk about the impressive upgrades of the iPhone 17 Pro without talk about the cameras. Yes, plural. For the first time, all three lens on the rear are 48MP, and if you add on the 4x/8x Fusion telephoto, there are essentially eight pro lenses in your pocket — more resolution, versatility, and capability than ever before. The updated Photonic Engine brings machine learning to more parts of the image pipeline, preserving natural detail, reducing noise, and resulting in significantly improved colour accuracy — especially in low light. How that works for us? More creative possibilities when shooting editorial, for both still and moving images.

But that 4x and 8x optical zooms in particular? Being about to spot your favourite A-listers from further away without the fear of a) endangering on their personal space and being blacklisted by their management forever, b) capturing them in their most unfiltered and natural states, c) making sure the footage is still high-definition because we demand of that quality for ourselves, and of course, our readers/followers. But more on moving images below.

4. We can all become professional videographers (if we wanted to be)

There’s a lot of jargon in the press release on this but that’s because the video capabilities of the iPhone 17 Pro are really that, well, professional grade. To sum it up, the Pro RAW format — an Apple-developed video codec that records all the information captured by the camera’s sensor — now gives an unparalleled flexibility in post-production. It’s become industry standard for productions requiring the absolute highest levels of control and quality, and is supported by Final Cut Camera and Blackmagic Camera; the latter enables shooting in 6K so there’s a sign of industry-grade quality.

 

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The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models also allow GenLock, which is a first for smartphones. This basically means shooting on multiple cameras and recording devices with seamless synchronisation. It won’t take a video editor to now churn out a sit-down style interview with the fancy multiple-angle cuts in record time — post-editing should be a breeze. Not something we have tried yet, but definitely considered when planning for more longform content to come, or in shorter clip-instances like taking celebrities arriving at shows from multiple angles.

5. Lens cleaning hint

A bit of small thing that made the world of a difference when making breaking-news-content material. The amount of footage we have had to delete because of a stray hair, dust particle or worst still finger cameo…you get the drift.

6. Your iPhone can charge things too!

This one might not be new, but its certainly something that has come in handy. With a USB-C charge cable, the iPhone 17 Pro can provide up to 4.5W of power for charging products like the Apple Watch, AirPods, or other USB Power Delivery–compatible accessories. We once forgot to bring our mic out to an event and had to use the AirPods as the stand-in mic, to which we had to also charge on-the-go without a portable charger. No problem — charge with the new iPhone 17 Pro.

7. Is thin necessary? Maybe. But God, it’s beautiful!

The true measure of any system is how quickly it disappears when you need it most. We’ve all been there: a thousand open tabs, the inevitable buffer wheel, that moment when the creative flow hits its stride and the hardware chokes. It’s an insult to the process.

The iPhone Air is designed to eliminate friction. It is, by design, the least distracting thing you can own. The housing is titanium. It’s only 5.6 millimeters thick, which is a structural nightmare that their engineers somehow solved. But don’t be fooled by its design. Inside, the A19 Pro is running a marathon, maintaining a cool, consistent performance that lets you hit that flow state and stay there. It’s thin, light, and almost invisible — because the only thing you should be thinking about is the content you’re building, the conversation you’re having, or the win you just secured.

8. Again, insane battery life — even for a phone that’s as thin as your credit cards.

Apple’s idea of “all-day battery life” has always been a little bit like a wellness mantra — it sounds good, it feels aspirational, but in real life, it’s a constant negotiation between brightness levels, app usage, and charger anxiety. With the iPhone Air, Apple is doubling down on that promise, even as it literally makes the battery smaller.

To its credit, the brand is leaning into architecture and software — not brute capacity — to prove that intelligence can outlast bulk. The new Adaptive Power Mode in iOS 26 feels like Apple’s quiet way of saying “let’s make battery usage smarter about your rhythm”. It’s tech behaving human, and a strong promise that thin isn’t a compromise.

9. Cute accessories!

Apple’s making light work look fun. Clip on the slim MagSafe battery pack for 40 hours of play (crazy, we know), dress it up in a see-through case, or sling it crossbody and call it fashion. It’s giving portable, playful, and perfectly Air — the kind of energy that doesn’t quit (or weigh you down).

10. AirPods that stay in… no cap!

Stop forcing your earbuds to fit. The new design is engineered for all-day snugness, so they don’t budge whether you’re mid-podcast or going for a run. It’s the ultimate set-it-and-forget-it tech upgrade. No more adjusting, no more anxiety. Just plug in, zone out, and enjoy the most effortlessly clear sound yet.