Which iPhone 17 Model Should You Buy? Leave a comment

Apple’s 2025 iPhones are right here, and issues are fairly completely different for the primary time shortly. The bottom iPhone 17 will nonetheless really feel acquainted, however the iPhone 17 Professional fashions have a totally new look, and there is a brand-new mannequin known as the iPhone Air. The “Air” branding has been considerably diluted of late—the current-gen iPad Professional fashions are lighter than the iPad Air—however the iPhone Air brings that means again to the unique concept: a super-thin and ultra-lightweight machine.

Preorders kick off September 12, and official gross sales begin September 19. In case you’re contemplating an improve, what mannequin must you get? I will break down the important thing variations and similarities among the many iPhone 17 lineup, so you possibly can hopefully make a extra knowledgeable alternative in your subsequent iPhone.

You Don’t Have to Improve

When you have an iPhone from just some years in the past, you in all probability need not improve to Apple’s newest, until your machine has points. Even then, there are issues you are able to do to repair your iPhone, like getting a battery substitute, or you possibly can strive a few of these troubleshooting steps. The purpose is, you should not really feel the necessity to improve simply because Apple has a brand new mannequin.

In case you’re set on shopping for an iPhone 17 mannequin, we’ve got a information on tips on how to promote your iPhone in order that it does not simply acquire mud in a drawer. When your new machine arrives, again up your outdated iPhone earlier than switching to the brand new one, then observe our information on manufacturing facility resetting your machine earlier than promoting or giving it away. We even have tips about tips on how to arrange your new iPhone and what settings to alter to get essentially the most out of it.

Which iPhone 17 Is Proper for You?

Let’s rapidly speak concerning the similarities throughout all of the iPhone 17 fashions this 12 months, and sure, that features the iPhone Air, even when it does not have “17” within the title.

The Show

Though iPhones differ in display measurement, all of them characteristic an OLED display (Apple refers to it as a Tremendous Retina XDR show) and make use of ProMotion expertise. That is the primary time the non-Professional fashions have ProMotion, which is actually a 120-Hz refresh charge.

This has been a typical characteristic on Android telephones for some time, but it surely means your show refreshes 120 occasions per second quite than 60, like on the iPhone 16, so the whole lot you do will really feel smoother. (We’ve got a broader explainer right here.) These are adaptive refresh charges that may drop as little as 1 Hz when there’s little exercise on the display, which is why the brand new iPhone 17 and iPhone Air now assist the always-on show.

Apple additionally says there is a new Ceramic Protect 2 entrance glass that is 3X extra scratch-resistant than earlier than, and a brand new antireflective coating to cut back glare. All of those screens can even hit as much as 3,000 nits of peak brightness, that means it’s going to be simpler to learn your iPhone display on sunny days.

The Digicam

The front-facing selfie digital camera is similar on all of the iPhone 17 fashions. It is a new square-shaped 18-megapixel sensor, and meaning you possibly can anticipate extra element out of your selfies. Nevertheless, the sq. sensor additionally introduces a wiser technique to seize group selfies. You possibly can preserve holding your cellphone in portrait orientation for one of the best grip, and it’ll mechanically zoom out to verify everybody suits within the body, whereas additionally switching to a panorama orientation for the widest view. All of those fashions additionally assist Twin Seize, which helps you to shoot with each the entrance and rear cameras on the identical time. You possibly can learn extra about these options right here.

The Common Specs

The entire iPhones are IP68 water- and dust-resistant and have Face ID, the Digicam Management button, Motion Button, USB-C, and Qi2 magnetic wi-fi charging (MagSafe). All gadgets begin at 256 GB of storage. There’s Apple Intelligence on these gadgets, the identical Emergency SOS through Satellite tv for pc and Crash Detection capabilities, they usually make the most of Apple’s new N1 wi-fi networking chip for Bluetooth 6, Wi-Fi 7, and Thread assist.

The Variations

Now, here is the place they diverge, which is able to provide help to higher perceive what mannequin to purchase.