The 2025 iPhone 17
The iPhone 17 is Apple's most affordable flagship iPhone at $799, and it is being sold alongside the thin and light iPhone Air that's priced at $999, and the higher-end iPhone 17 Pro and 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max that are priced starting at $1,099
This year's lineup eliminates the "Plus" iPhone and replaces it with the iPhone Air. The iPhone 17 family includes the 6.3-inch iPhone 17, the 6.5-inch iPhone Air, the 6.3-inch iPhone 17 Pro, and the 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max.
With its lower price point, high-end camera, upgraded display technology, and A19 chip, the iPhone 17 is the ideal phone for most people. Apple's most cutting edge features are reserved for the iPhone 17 Pro models to make the extra cost worth it to consumers, and the iPhone 17 isn't as thin as the iPhone 17, but it is still a powerful smartphone that will last for many years to come.
Apple upgraded the display size of the iPhone 17, and it now has a 6.3-inch display, up from 6.1 inches. It is the same size as the iPhone 17 Pro. The larger display size means the iPhone 17 is a little bit taller, thicker, and heavier than the iPhone 16, but some of the improvement is from a reduction in bezels.
Aside from the size increase, the iPhone 17 is identical in design to the iPhone 16, featuring an aluminum frame, a frosted glass back, a vertical dual-lens camera bump, and the Dynamic Island. The Dynamic Island houses the front-facing TrueDepth camera and other sensors for Face ID biometric authentication.
The iPhone 17's Super Retina XDR OLED display is protected by Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says offers 3x better scratch resistance. This year, Apple brought the ProMotion display to the iPhone, and it now supports adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz. 120Hz refresh rates offer smoother scrolling and other benefits, with the upgraded display also enabling Always-On display technology. Apple improved the display's peak outdoor brightness, and it now reaches 3000 nits, up from 2000 nits. Typical brightness is still 1000 nits, and HDR brightness peaks at 1600 nits.
The iPhone 17 has the same Action button and Camera Control button that were available on the iPhone 16, and there continues to be a dual-lens rear camera with a 48-megapixel "Fusion" Wide-Angle lens and a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide-angle lens that's an upgrade over the prior 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens. The Fusion lens supports 2x optical zoom, so there are 0.5, 1x, and 2x zoom options available. The Ultra-Wide lens offers improved low-light performance and it supports macro images.
An upgraded 18-megapixel front-facing camera improves selfies and video calls. A square sensor allows for capturing portrait and landscape photos without rotating your iPhone, and it supports Center Stage for wider views when capturing images and taking video calls. Updated stabilization ensures your front-facing videos are shake free. Apple added Dual Capture, a feature that lets you record up to 4K Dolby Vision video with the front and back cameras at the same time, so you can film reaction-style videos that show you along with what you're filming.
You can get the iPhone 17 in five colors, including Lavender, Mist Blue, Sage, Black, and White. The bottom of the iPhone features a USB-C port for charging, and it supports USB2 transfer speeds.
The iPhone 17 is equipped with an A19 chip built on Apple's third-generation 3-nanometer node. It includes a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU, but each GPU core has a Neural Accelerator that Apple says improves on-device generative AI and other system intensive tasks. There's an upgraded 16-core Neural Engine, 8GB RAM, an updated display engine, and a new image signal processor. Apple didn't change the thermal design of the iPhone 17 like it did with the iPhone 17 Pro models, but it still benefits from thermal improvements made last year to improve heat dissipation.
With the new A19 chip and an Apple-designed N1 networking chip, the iPhone 17 is more efficient than ever for improved battery life. The iPhone 17 battery lasts for up to 30 hours when watching videos, or up to 27 hours when streaming videos. That's 6+ hours better battery than the iPhone 16.
Charging speeds have also been improved, and the iPhone 17 can fast charge to 50 percent in 20 minutes with a 40W or better power adapter. It can charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes with a MagSafe charger, and it supports both MagSafe and Qi2 charging at 25W. An Adaptive Power mode in iOS 26 intelligently manages battery consumption to extend the iPhone 17's battery even further.
A Qualcomm modem chip brings improved 5G connectivity, and the N1 includes Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking technology. There's still a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, plus NFC support, dual-frequency GPS, and safety features like Emergency SOS via satellite, Messages via satellite, and Crash Detection.
In the U.S. and several other countries, the iPhone 17 is available without a physical SIM card, with Apple instead using eSIM technology.
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How to Buy
Pricing on the iPhone 17 starts at $799 for the base model with 256GB of storage, but there is also a 512GB option for $999. Pre-orders began on Friday, September 12 at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with a launch to follow on Friday, September 19.
After the iPhone 17
Starting in 2026, Apple will split its iPhone lineup between fall and spring launches. The iPhone 18 Air, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a foldable iPhone will launch in the second half of 2026, while the standard iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e won't launch until spring 2027.
The iPhone 18 Pro models that are coming in 2026 could have under-display Face ID, which would cut down on the size of the Dynamic Island. There might just be a single camera hole for the front-facing camera, with the camera cutout located in the top left corner. Later, in 2027, Apple could release an iPhone with an all-screen design, featuring an edge-to-edge display with no cutouts.
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected in fall 2026, and it will launch alongside the iPhone 18 Air and iPhone 18 Pro models. It is expected to have a "nearly invisible" crease when it's folded, thanks to a high-quality hinge.
The iPhone 18 Pro expected in 2026 could have a main rear camera with a variable aperture. A variable aperture lens would allow the iPhone to perform more like a DSLR camera, providing users with more manual control over the amount of light entering the lens.
A variable aperture lens would be able to better adjust to different lighting conditions, and it would also allow for more control over depth of field for sharper focus on subjects and smoother background blur.
The iPhone 18 Pro models may include the C2 chip, an upgraded version of Apple's C1 modem. The C2 is expected to feature improved power consumption and transmission speed, and it will include mmWave 5G support.
Apple's iPhone 18 models will use Apple's A20 chip, which could be manufactured on the next-generation 2-nanometer process. The 2nm process will ensure that the A19 has notable speed and performance improvements over the 3nm A19 chip that's coming in the iPhone 17 lineup.
A future version of the iPhone could have a 200-megapixel camera, which would match technology that Samsung has made available in its Galaxy line. The 200-megapixel camera would likely be for the rear Main lens, and a higher megapixel option would allow the iPhone to shoot photos with more detail. Images would be higher resolution, and would able to be cropped in further without loss of image quality.
