Apple has announced the iPhone 17, the latest edition of its standard model iPhone. This iteration has been upgraded with a larger 6.3-inch display and a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. It comes in some lightly refreshed color variations, but otherwise preserves much of the iPhone 16 design.
The iPhone 17 starts at $799 with 256GB of storage, a bump from the 126GB minimum on the iPhone 16. It’s launching in black, lavender, blue, green, and white color options, and will be available on September 19th, with preorders opening on September 12th. Unlike previous generations, Apple isn’t releasing a larger “Plus” model for the standard iPhone 17, so customers who prefer bigger Apple phones will have to opt for the more expensive Pro Max or Air models.
Some of the biggest updates for this generation are the cameras, including a 48-megapixel “dual fusion” camera system on the rear that combines the capabilities of a main camera and telephoto camera into one, according to Apple. The camera also includes a 24-megapixel default resolution thats better for saving smaller image files, and a 2x optical quality telephoto. There’s also a 48-megapixel fusion ultrawide that’s capable of capturing images in 4x higher resolution compared to the iPhone 16, according to Apple.
The iPhone 17 also introduces a new 18-megapixel Center Stage front camera, which sports a sensor that’s twice the size of the one in the previous iPhone. A notable feature is that the front camera’s sensor is now square-shaped, allowing users to take high-quality landscape mode selfies without having to rotate their phone. Users can tap on the Camera app to expand the field-of-view and rotate between portrait and landscape modes.
The base iPhone 17 is a smidge larger than its predecessor, bumping the 6.1-inch OLED screen to 6.3 inches with slimmer bezels. The 60Hz refresh rate has also been upgraded to an adaptive 120Hz ProMotion display, a feature that was previously limited to iPhone Pro models. When the Always On display isn’t in use, the refresh rate will drop down to 1Hz. Apple says the iPhone 17’s display can reach 3,000 nits of peak brightness, the highest ever brightness level for iPhone, according to Apple. The screen is also 3x harder to scratch, thanks to the newly introduced ceramic shield 2 protective coating.
For hardware, the iPhone 17 has been upgraded to the A19 chip, built on 3nm technology to help power the upgraded display features and on-device AI models. The A19 chip has a 6-core CPU, and a 5-core GPU, which provide a “huge boost in speed” compared to older iPhone models, according to Apple.
The iPhone 17‘s predecessor saw some big changes last year. The iPhone 16 adopted the Action Button, which had previously been exclusive to the Pro line; it reintroduced the vertical dual-camera arrangement, which had last been seen on the iPhone 12; and it added the Camera Control button, which also debuted on the iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple also heavily pushed the iPhone 16’s AI capabilities. But in the end, many of its flagship Apple Intelligence features didn’t ship. That didn’t seem to hurt the launch, though, with the iPhone 16 managing to outperform the iPhone 15 in Apple’s year-over-year Q4 sales.