Another September, another Apple event. Today, Apple revealed its new iPhone 17 lineup in regular and Pro models, as well as the new and very thin iPhone Air. The company also showed off the new Apple Watches—Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE—and the refreshed AirPods Pro 3.
There wasn’t much talk of software, or about Apple’s ongoing efforts to seamlessly integrate AI into all its products. But we got lots of hardware! Here’s everything Apple announced today.
New iPhones
There are four iPhones as usual, but Apple has changed things up quite a bit this year. Gone is the Plus model, and in its place is the iPhone Air, a new ultra-slim and lightweight iPhone that’s just 5.6 mm thick.
The new iPhone Air, available in four colors. Courtesy of Apple
You only get one camera on this model, though, and Apple seems to be using high-density silicon-carbon batteries. The company is claiming the same 27 hours of video playback that the iPhone 16 Plus was capable of, even though this phone is much thinner and presumably has a slimmer battery. We’ll see how it performs when we test it. There’s a new low-profile MagSafe battery pack to accompany it in case you’re worried (or Apple is worried) about battery.
The iPhone 17 Pro models have a completely fresh look, with a new “Camera Plateau” design. The highlights here are a vapor chamber cooling system which helps regulate the heat generated by the beefier processor, and a 48-megapixel telephoto camera that hits 4x optical zoom and 8x “optical-like” zoom.
The iPhone 17 Pro. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu The forged plateau creates extra space for components, like a larger battery. Courtesy of Apple
All of these phones employ Apple’s new N1 wireless networking chip, which features Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support, though only the iPhone Air comes with Apple’s homebrewed C1X modem. That’s likely because the C1X doesn’t support millimeter wave 5G (only sub-6).
The iPhone 17 Series Gets the Biggest iPhone Design Refresh in Years Apple’s thinnest iPhone Air brings with it a high price, and the redesigned iPhone 17 Pro features a telephoto camera that can zoom up to 8X.
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