Apple just announced the iPhone 17. This iteration has been upgraded with a larger 6.3-inch display and a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. It comes in some lightly refreshed color variations, but otherwise preserves much of the iPhone 16’s design. Apple scrapped the Plus model, leaving only one size option.
Some of the biggest updates for this generation are in the cameras, including a 48-megapixel “dual fusion” camera system on the rear that combines the capabilities of multiple cameras into one, according to Apple. That means the phone has a 48MP main camera that can double as a 2x telephoto by cropping into the image, as well as a 48MP ultrawide camera that can also take macro shots.
The iPhone 17 also introduces a new 18MP Center Stage front camera, which sports a sensor that’s twice the size of the one in the previous iPhone. The front camera’s sensor is now square-shaped, allowing users to take high-quality landscape-mode selfies without having to rotate their phone. Users can tap on the Camera app to expand the field-of-view and rotate between portrait and landscape modes.
The base iPhone 17 is a smidge larger than its predecessor, bumping the 6.1-inch OLED screen to 6.3 inches with slimmer bezels. The 60Hz refresh rate has also been upgraded to an adaptive 120Hz ProMotion display, a feature that was previously limited to iPhone Pro models. It’s able to drop down to 1Hz when needed to conserve battery. The iPhone 17’s display can reach 3,000 nits of peak brightness, the highest brightness level for an iPhone. The screen is also 3x harder to scratch, thanks to the newly introduced Ceramic Shield 2 protective coating. All in all, the base model’s screen is a close match for the Pro model’s screen for the first time in years.
That slight size increase is the most significant change to the iPhone 17’s exterior design. That’s good news for folks who prefer the vertically oriented rear camera bar, but it now stands in stark contrast to the iPhone 17 Pro and Air models, which are sporting a horizontal camera bar that stretches across the back.
Internally, the iPhone 17 has been upgraded to the A19 chip, built on 3nm technology to help power the upgraded display features and on-device AI models. The A19 chip has a 6-core CPU, and a 5-core GPU, which Apple says provides a “huge boost in speed” compared to older iPhone models. The iPhone 17 provides “all-day battery life”, according to Apple, and up to 30 hours of video playback, eight hours more than the previous generation.
The iPhone 17 introduces a new N1 networking chip that provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. The Apple-designed N1 replaces chips that were previously supplied by Broadcom, similar to the in-house C1 5G modem that replaced Qualcomm tech in the iPhone 16E.
The iPhone 17 starts at $799 with 256GB of storage, a bump from the 128GB minimum on the iPhone 16. It’s launching in black, lavender, blue, green, and white color options, and will be available on September 19th, with preorders opening this Friday, September 12th. Unlike previous generations, Apple isn’t releasing a larger “Plus” model, so customers who prefer bigger Apple phones will have to opt for the more expensive Pro Max or Air models.