DXOMARK has published its display test results for the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air. And despite a few minor differences, both achieved the same overall score, ranking #25 in their global ranking. Here are the details.
iPhone Air: ‘A balanced and refined visual experience’
According to DXOMARK’s findings, the new iPhone Air’s reflectance handling outperforms most competitors, but lags behind the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
It also offers good color performance whether True Tone is turned on or off. On the other hand, video playback in dark settings “can make the image feel too dim” when automatic brightness adjustments are turned on, “so users may prefer manual control to fine-tune visibility.”
Another upside, as noted by DXOMARK, is the display’s average touch response time, which at 69ms is 3ms faster than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and 21ms faster than the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.
The iPhone Air also closely beats these two devices in SDR and HDR video frame drops, but lags in a few technical aspects, such as 0 lux for video peak luminance in SDR.
Overall, the iPhone Air scored 154 out of 164 points in Readability, 155 out of 167 points in Color, 140 out of 167 points in Video, and 163 out of 164 points in Touch.
It placed 25th in the global ranking, and 20th in the ultra-premium ranking.
Phone 17: ‘A marked boost in readability’
Here’s DXOMARK’s overall impressions of this year’s entry-level iPhone:
“The iPhone 17 display delivers a refined and well-balanced performance across all key display parameters, with standout improvements in touch responsiveness and a marked boost in readability over its predecessor.”
Like the iPhone Air, DXOMARK’s test showed that the iPhone 17’s reflectance handling lags behind the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but “still surpasses most rivals, maintaining strong legibility even under direct sunlight.”
The device’s display closely matched the Samsung Galaxy S25’s performance in terms of how luminance drops as viewing angles increase, and sailed ahead of Samsung’s and Google’s devices in average reflectance and average response time.
Overall, the iPhone 17 scored 154 out of 164 points in Readability, 155 out of 167 points in Color, 140 out of 167 points in Video, and 163 out of 164 points in Touch, which are the same exact results observed with the iPhone Air.
For this reason, it also placed 25th in the global ranking, and landed in 5th place in the premium ranking.
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