Next to the flashy redesign of the iPhone 17 Pro and the ultrathin, ultralight iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 may feel quite plain. But I'm here to tell you that I don't think there has ever been a better base model in the annual iPhone lineup.
It helps that the iPhone 17 has many of the features of its pricier siblings, from the brighter screen with ProMotion and Ceramic Shield 2 to the new square-shaped 18-MP selfie camera. No, you don't need to upgrade if you have an iPhone 16 or iPhone 15—maybe even an iPhone 13. But at $799, it remains the iPhone most people should buy, especially considering its cameras and battery life have a leg up over the pricier iPhone Air.
Catching Up
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Bear with me for a second, because the most exciting upgrade for the iPhone 17 isn't going to sound very exciting: It’s a faster refresh rate. Android phones have had 120-Hz screens for nearly a decade, and while it was exclusive to high-end devices at the start, the capability quickly trickled down. Today, you can find phones under $300 with high refresh rates. Apple limited the feature, dubbed “ProMotion,” to its Pro iPhones for the past four years, but it finally caught up with the rest of the market, adding a 120-Hz display for the iPhone 17.
What exactly does it do? Older non-Pro iPhones have 60-Hz screens—the display is showing you an image 60 times per second. The iPhone 17's screen doubles that, meaning you're seeing twice as many images per second. This will make everything on the screen appear smoother and more fluid, even if you're just scrolling through Instagram.
Even better, it supports a variable refresh rate, dropping as low as 1 Hz when the screen is static, like on the lock screen. That's what enables this iPhone to support the always-on display—by being able to ratchet the refresh rate down to 1 Hz, the display is more efficient and doesn't impact battery life as much. You now have an always-on display (if you want it), and anything you do on the phone will feel smoother. Hooray!