On Tuesday, Apple introduced the new iPhone 17, alongside the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air. Here’s everything that’s new with the iPhone 17!
New colors
Of course, the most immediate change compared to iPhone 16 is the new colors. iPhone 17 comes in Lavender, Sage, Mist Blue, White, and Black, while iPhone 16 came in Pink, Teal, Ultramarine, White, Black. And although they share the same names as before, the Black color is lighter than before, and the White color looks slightly brighter.
Super Retina XDR Display with ProMotion
For the first time in a non-Pro iPhone, the new iPhone 17 finally features ProMotion! This means that iPhone 17 will get a some great new features:
Adaptive refresh rate, from as low as 1Hz to as high as 120Hz. This will result in both a more smoother-feeling display and better battery life.
Always-On display: now, when iPhone 17 is asleep, the display can still show the time, Widgets, and notifications.
The iPhone 17 also gains a slightly larger display at 6.3″, up from 6.1″ on iPhone 16. This is mostly due to thinner bezels around the display.
iPhone 17 also debuts Ceramic Shield 2, which brings a few new features:
An Apple-designed coating that provides 3x better scratch resistance, a very welcome addition.
A new 7-layer anti-reflective coating to significantly reduce glare
Finally, all new iPhone models this year feature 3000 nits of peak display brightness when outdoors, up from 2000 last year. Combined with the new anti-reflective coating, Apple says this will provide 2x better contrast when outdoors.
A19 Chip
The A19 chip will give iPhone 17 even better performance. The new features are largely focused on increasing AI capabilities: new Neural Accelerators will substantially improve performance for machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks. Apple says it will provide “MacBook Pro-levels” of power. A19 also features increased memory bandwidth, though Apple hasn’t specified how much it was increased. Finally, things like gaming will be improved, as Apple says the GPU of A19 features 20% better performance compared to A18.
Improved battery life and charging
According to Apple’s tests, iPhone 17 is set to bring significant increases in battery life. Here’s how it compares to iPhone 16:
Up to 30 hours of video playback (downloaded), up from 22 hours
Up to 27 hours of streamed video playback, up from 18 hours
iPhone 17 even offers improved performance compared to iPhone 16 Plus:
Up to 30 hours of video playback (downloaded), up from 27 hours
Up to 27 hours of streamed video playback, up from 24 hours
iPhone 17 also has new charging capabilities. It now supports Qi2.2 with up to 25W of fast charging via a Q2.2 or MagSafe charger. It also now supports 40W fast charging, so you can now get up to 50% charge in just 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
New 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide Camera
Like iPhone 16 Pro last year, iPhone 17 gains a 48 megapixel ultra wide “Fusion” camera, a 4x increase over iPhone 16’s 12MP ultra wide camera. The “Fusion” here means that you can get full-resolution 12MP Macro photos, instead of 3MP. You can get 24MP for ultra wide photos by default, but you can choose to capture 48MP as well. This means Macro photos will be much clearer and sharper. However, there is one slight downgrade: iPhone 16 had 100% Focus Pixels, while iPhone 17 has “Hybrid Focus Pixels”, meaning it may not always use the more advanced autofocus that Focus Pixels offer.
All-new Center Stage front camera
One of the headlining features of the new iPhone lineup is the all-new Center Stage front camera. This camera now uses a square image sensor, meaning that you can switch between portrait photos and landscape photos without having to rotate the phone. The sensor is also now 18MP, so your photos will always be high resolution.
The square sensor and higher resolution enables Center Stage on iPhone for the first time. Like on iPad, this means that the camera will automatically adjust the frame to keep you visible on a FaceTime call or other video call. But Center Stage also works when taking selfies: the camera will automatically adjust the frame and switch between portrait and landscape depending on who is in the frame. When recording a video, it will also be ultra-stabilized, similar to Action Mode on the back camera.
Finally, a new dual capture mode finally allows you to record video on both the front and back cameras as the same time.
New N1 wireless networking chip
With iPhone 17, Apple has introduced their first in-house wireless chip. In addition to improving overall wireless performance and reliability of features that rely on this chip (such as Personal Hotspot and AirDrop), this new chip iPhone 17 now has Bluetooth 6.
iPhone 17 also now has a precision dual-frequency GPS for more accurate and reliable GPS functionally. It also gains support for NavIC in India.
Physical size and thickness
The dimensions of iPhone 17 has changed slightly compared to iPhone 16. First, it is slightly heavier and thicker:
7.95 mm thick, up from 7.80 mm
177 g (6.24 oz), up from 170 g (6.00 oz)
iPhone 17 is also slightly taller but slightly narrower than iPhone 16:
5.89 in (149.6 mm) tall, up from 5.81 in (147.6 mm)
2.81 in (71.5 mm) wide, down from 2.82 in (71.6 mm)
Pricing and availability
The big news here is that iPhone 17 now starts with 256 GB of storage at the same starting price of $799. Last year, this would have cost $899. The 512 GB option also now costs less, coming in at $999 instead of $1099.
Unlike the past three generations, there is no iPhone 17 Plus this year.
iPhone 17 will be available for preorder at 5:00 AM PT on Friday September 12, and you can get ready for preorder until tonight at 9:00 PM PT. It will be available in stores a week later on Friday, September 19.
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