Apple's latest iPhone 17 has officially been unveiled, showcasing a blend of innovative features and a surprisingly accessible price point. The iPhone 17 arrives with the A19 chip, a ProMotion display, and a starting price of $799.
Performance and Design
The iPhone 17 boasts Apple's new A19 chip, promising faster CPU and GPU performance. The A19 features a six-core design, with a 20% performance increase compared to the A18 in the iPhone 16. The A19 has a five-core GPU that should improve gaming, especially when paired with the 120Hz display. The iPhone 17 display has been upgraded with improved brightness up to 3,000 nits. A new anti-reflective coating also helps make the iPhone more readable in harsh indoor and outdoor lighting. A new Ceramic Shield 2 cover glass protects the phone from drops and dings.
Display and Features
Arguably the biggest change concerns the display. At 6.3 inches, it's larger than the iPhone 16's 6.1-inch screen. The bezels are thinner too. Not only is the iPhone 17 screen larger than the one on its predecessor, it boasts a Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, meaning it has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling. It's an always-on screen. When you aren't using your iPhone 17, the refresh rate dips to 1Hz to help optimize battery life. The iPhone 17's display got upgrades trickling down from the Pro model features of last year, with a larger 6.3-inch screen (up from 6.1 in the iPhone 16).
Camera Enhancements
Regarding the camera system, Apple has revamped the front selfie camera with a new sensor that is about twice as large. Apple also says the sensor is optimized to take selfies in any orientation. You can actually take a landscape selfie without having to physically rotate your device. When the phone detects other people in the frame, this aspect ratio change can happen automatically, with a feature that Apple brands as Center Stage. On the rear of the phone, there are still two camera lenses. However, the ultra-wide lens has been upgraded with a new higher-resolution 48-megapixel sensor. The main camera is a 48MP lens with integrated optical-quality 2x Telephoto.
Models and Pricing
The iPhone 17 lineup includes four models: iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air. Apple is discontinuing the "Plus" variant due to lackluster demand. Pricing starts at $799 for the iPhone 17, while the iPhone Air is set at $999. The iPhone 17 Pro comes in at $1,099, and the top-tier iPhone 17 Pro Max is priced at $1,199. All iPhone 17 models now start with 256GB of storage. The iPhone 17 comes in five colors: Lavender, Mist Blue, Black, White and Sage.
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are built from aluminum, instead of the titanium frames that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro. It's a unibody construction, which should make it especially durable -- as should the new "Ceramic Shield" toughened glass on the front and back which Apple says is 3x more scratch resistant. The A19 Pro processor features an improved CPU and GPU which Apple reckons can achieve 40% better performance than the iPhone 16 Pro. Keeping things cool is a new thermal management system which includes a vapor chamber that uses de-ionized water to actively cool the phone as it gets hot. The aluminum alloy also apparently dissipates heat 20x better than the titanium design of previous models. The cameras themselves are still clustered in the same location as before, although Apple says the expanded space gives more room for batteries and for the updated telephoto zoom camera. The optical zoom is now 8x, which is twice as much as the previous generation. The main wide camera sensor is larger than before, as much as 56%, which should mean a lot more light to work with. The troika on the back are now all 48-megapixels each.
A19 Chip Variants
Apple introduced A19 and A19 Pro chips for the iPhone 17 lineup. The iPhone 17 uses the regular A19 chip, while the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models have the A19 Pro. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have a higher-end A19 Pro chip with a 6-core GPU, and the iPhone Air has an A19 Pro chip with one less GPU core.
