The moment that Apple fans have been waiting for is now just days away.
This coming Tuesday, on September 9, Apple will unveil its next generation of iPhones to the world.
And with the iPhone 17 already rumoured to be one of the tech giant’s biggest upgrades in years, expectations for the launch are sky high.
So, before Apple lets us take a look at its new flagship smartphone, here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming device.
Although we won’t know for certain until the big reveal on Tuesday, rumours point to some design changes and major tech upgrades to come.
Leaks suggest that Apple is looking to shake up its familiar designs with an enormous camera island, a dedicated camera button, and a new glass and metal back plate.
But the most exciting change of all is the release of an entirely new iPhone model in the form of the iPhone Air – expected to be Apple’s slimmest device to date.
But don’t expect those upgrades to come cheap, as rumours suggest American tariff disruption could see prices rising for all of the new models.
Apple is set to release the next generation of iPhones at its ‘awe dropping’ event this coming Tuesday. Ahead of the launch, here is everything we know about the iPhone 17
Launch date
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air at a major event on September 9.
Apple CEO Tim Cook teased the ‘awe dropping’ event on social media, sharing an invitation with a stylised version of the Apple logo.
The invitation read: ‘Please join us in person for a special Apple Event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park. September 9, 2025.’
The Apple logo itself unusually featured what appears to be infrared-style shadings.
In the past, the logo in Apple announcements has held clues for the products to come, so this could hint at possible features of the new iPhone 17.
Online speculation suggests this could be a reference to the rumoured vapour chamber upgrade, which would cool the phone from the inside using water vapour.
That would help the iPhone cool more efficiently and handle more computing power, but we won’t know for certain until Tuesday.
The iPhone 17 is expected to be one of Apple’s biggest upgrades in years, with changes to the internal hardware and design. Pictured: Renders by AppleInsider based on leaked information
Tim Cook (pictured), who became CEO of Apple in 2011 following the resignation of founder Steve Jobs, is expected to present the unveiling event on September 9 this year
Following the reveal, if Apple follows the pattern from previous years, the new iPhone will probably be available for pre-order by Friday that same week, on September 12.
The devices will then likely arrive in shops by the following week, on Friday, September 19.
At the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook is also expected to reveal the Apple Watch Series 11 on September 9, potentially with improved health monitoring features and battery life.
This will come alongside a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra, its high–end smartwatch line first announced in 2022.
The iPhone 17 Air
The most anticipated reveal of the day will be the iPhone 17 Air, otherwise known as the ‘iPhone Slim’, expected to be a lighter, thinner version of the smartphone.
Analysis and rumours don’t quite agree on how thin the new smartphone will be, but it is expected to be significantly smaller than other models.
In December last year, reliable leaker Mark Gurman of Bloomberg suggested that the iPhone Air would be two millimetres thinner than the current iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple is expected to release the iPhone Air, a thinner version of its flagship smartphone. Apple tipster Majin Bu posted the image to X (Twitter) showing the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air (right) next to the beefier iPhone 17 Pro (left)
iPhone 17: Rumoured features Material: Aluminium, glassDisplay: Ranging from 6.1 inches to 6.9 inches Expected release date: September 19, 2025 Cheapest model: $899/£899Most expensive model: $1,250/£1,250Other features: Rectangular camera bump, A19 chip, USB–C charger <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
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With the iPhone 16 Pro coming in at 8.25mm thick, that would make the iPhone Air Apple’s slimmest product at just 6.25mm.
However, other leaks suggest that the iPhone Air could be as slim as 5.5mm.
Leaks reported by The Information put the iPhone Air between five and six millimetres, and leaked dummy phones, models used for making phone cases, have measured 5.5mm.
Price
Another big change this year is likely to be the price of the new iPhone models.
After Donald Trump implemented a wave of tariffs on imports from China and other countries, US firms have had to pay more to import their goods made overseas.
Apple has managed to secure exemptions from most of the new tariffs, but the company has still incurred massive costs that experts expect it to pass on to consumers.
During an earnings call in July, Tim Cook said that Apple paid $800 million in tariff-related costs in the June quarter and expected to pay $1.1 billion in the September quarter.
These leaked images show four metal ‘dummy models’ – meaning they are identical to the real product except they don’t actually work. Note the ultra-thin iPhone Air compared to the thicker iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Models
Due to tariffs implemented by US president Donald Trump, Apple is expected to increase the price of its entire iPhone lineup by $50 (£37)
This makes it likely that Apple will slightly increase the cost of all models to cover their elevated costs.
According to an investor note published by Jefferies analyst Edison Lee, Apple is expected to put an extra $50 (£37) onto the price of its entire iPhone lineup.
Likewise, reliable Chinese Apple leaker Instant Digital reported last month that Apple might increase the cost of the iPhone 17 by $50, and raise the base storage option from 128GB to 256GB.
This would increase the basic price of the iPhone 17 to $849 (£631) and the iPhone 17 Pro to $1,049 (£780).
However, these prices will likely be regionally specific, and there is, as yet, no suggestion of how much the iPhone 17 will cost in the UK.
Design
In addition to the big design change of iPhone 17 Air, the standard iPhone models are also expected to see some major alterations.
Leaked video, reportedly taken from within an Apple manufacturing plant in China, shows what the iPhone 17 Pro Max might look like.
Video supposedly leaked from an Apple manufacturing centre shows the new design of the iPhone 17 Pro
As earlier rumours had suggested, this clip shows that the iPhone 17 may have a very large camera island covering most of the top of the phone.
The island appears to feature three main cameras arranged in a triangle with two smaller sensors stacked on the other side.
In a major departure from the all-glass design of earlier iPhone 16 Pro range, these factory models seem to sport a half-metal-half-glass design.
The large glass panels are reportedly necessary since wireless charging doesn’t work well through a metal frame.
In July, what appeared to be an iPhone 17 Pro prototype in testing was spotted by a member of the public in San Francisco.
That prototype model had a very similar design, featuring the large camera island and triple-camera arrangement.
In September, veteran Apple leaker Majin Bu suggested that Apple was prototyping a new control button for the iPhone 17 Pro.
That button would supposedly combine the volume and action buttons into a single control, similar to the camera button on the iPhone 16 Pro.
According to the standard iPhone 17 will have two camera lenses in a vertical alignment, one on top of the other. But the other three options will have a rectangular camera bar across the back – similar to Google’s Pixel phones
A prototype iPhone 17, complete with wide camera bar, was spotted ‘in the wild’ by a social media user in San Francisco
In terms of broader changes, some leaks also suggest that the iPhone 17 range might change over to an all-aluminium design rather than the titanium used on the iPhone 16 Pro.
According to a report published by The Information, all four new iPhone models will have aluminium frames.
Colours
Like previous generations of iPhones, the iPhone 17 range will come in two sets of colours: One for the standard models and one for the Pro and Pro Max range.
The iPhone 17 will come in the options of black, white, and steel grey, but brighter colours are also likely.
Apple is reportedly preparing a pastel green and purple finish for the iPhone 17, but only one of those colours may ultimately be available.
Similarly, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will once again be available in the familiar choices of Dark Blue, Grey, Black, and Silver.
However, leaks also suggest that Apple may depart from its usual muted colour-scheme to include a bold orange option for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
Alongside a bold new orange finish, the rumours suggest that the iPhone 17 Pro will be available in Dark Blue, Grey, Black, and Silver. Pictured: Apple Insider renders
Other leaks suggest that the iPhone 17 could come in either a pastel green or pale purple finish, but only one of these bold options is likely to make it to production
New this year will be a set of colour options exclusively for the iPhone 17 Air.
Majin Bu had previously suggested that Apple was preparing a ‘Sky Blue’ colour for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max; however, it now appears that this colour is being reserved for the iPhone 17 Air.
Performance and battery life
Besides looks, the iPhone 17 is likely to see a few major technical upgrades.
Most significantly, the new iPhone lineup will include Apple’s latest and most powerful chipset to keep up with the increased demands of AI tools.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air are expected to be fitted with the A19 chip, while the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are likely to have the new A19 Pro chip.
In order to manage that additional power, some reports suggest that iPhone 17 models will use vapour chamber cooling technology.
A vapour chamber is a metal chamber filled with liquid that becomes a vapour that draws heat away from internal components to help keep the chipset cool.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air are expected to be fitted with the A19 chip, while the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are likely to have the new A19 Pro chip. Pictured: Apple Insider renders
Multiple leaks suggest that the iPhone will feature a fairly large vapour chamber to keep cool, but this might be limited to the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
All four phones are expected to come with 12GB of RAM, which is an upgrade from the 8GB of RAM found in the iPhone 16 Pro.
In terms of battery life, the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to see similar marginal improvements to previous releases.
The only major update is a suggestion that Apple could be preparing to launch ‘reverse wireless charging’ for the iPhone 17 range.
If that is the case, users would be able to charge their AirPods or Apple Watch simply by resting them on the back of the phone.
This would be the first time Apple has integrated this feature, although it has been available on Android products for a few years.
The iPhone 17 Air, on the other hand, could come with an even smaller battery life due to its reduced size.
According to a report in The Information, the iPhone Air’s battery will be so small that only 60 to 70 per cent of users are expected to make it through a full day.
It is possible that the iPhone 17 may be the first to include reverse wireless charging. This means users could charge their AirPods or other accessories simply by placing them on the back of their phone. Pictured: Apple Insider render
That would be quite poor performance, even compared to ultra-slim models such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.
However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has suggested that Apple could adopt next-generation silicon-anode batteries.
Apple’s supplier, TDK, is expected to have started shipping the upgraded cells at the end of June, so Apple might have had time to include them.
If true, this would offset the reduced battery size and reportedly give the iPhone Air battery life comparable with previous iPhone models.
THE TRILLION DOLLAR RISE OF APPLE
1976: Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne created the company on April 1 1976 as they set about selling computer kits to hobbyists, each of which was built by Wozniak.
The first product was the Apple I.
1977: Apple released the Apple II in June, which was the first PC made for the mass market.
Steve Jobs unveils Apple Computer Corporation’s new Macintosh February 6, 1984 in California.
1981: Jobs became chairman.
1984: The Macintosh was introduced during an ad break for the Super Bowl and later officially unveiled during a launch event. It was discontinued a year later and Jobs left the firm.
1987: Apple released the Macintosh II, the first colour Mac.
1997: Apple announces it will acquire NeXT software in a $400 million deal that involves Jobs returning to Apple as interim CEO. He officially took the role in 2000.
The then Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Steve Jobs, with the iPhone
2001: Apple introduced iTunes, OS X and the first-generation iPod.
The first iPod MP3 music player was released on October 23, 2001, at an event in Cupertino and was able to hold up to 1,000 songs.
2007: Apple unveils the iPhone.
2010: The first iPad was unveiled.
2011: Jobs resigned in 2011 due to illness, handing the CEO title to Tim Cook. Jobs died in October from pancreatic cancer.
2014: Apple unveiled the Apple Watch. It also unveiled its first larger iPhones – the 6 and 6 Plus.
2015: After purchasing Beats from Dr Dre, Apple launched Apple Music to compete with Spotify and other music streaming services.
2016: Apple returned to its roots and announced the 4-inch iPhone SE. Meanwhile, the firm is embroiled in a legal battle with the FBI, involving the agency demanding access to the locked phone used by Syed Farook, who died in a shootout after carrying out a deadly December attack in San Bernardino, California with his wife. The court order was dropped on March 28 after the FBI said a third party was able to unlock the device.
2017: Apple introduces the iPhone X, which removes the home button to make way for a futuristic edge-to-edge screen design and a new FaceID system that uses advanced sensors and lasers to unlock phones with just the owner’s face.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks at an Apple event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
2018: In a first for the company, Apple introduces new features in its latest operating system, iOS 12, that encourage users to manage and spend less time on their devices. The move was spawned by a strongly worded letter from shareholders that urged the firm to address the growing problem of smartphone addiction among kids and teenagers.
2019: In January, Apple reports its first decline in revenues and profits in a decade. CEO Tim Cook partly blamed steep declines in revenue from China.
2020: In March, Apple closes all its bricks and mortar retail stores outside of China in response to coronavirus.
2021: In an online virtual event in April CEO Tim Cook declared Apple’s goal of becoming carbon neutral for Earth Day. Later in the year the iPhone 13 was announced.
2022: In September the iPhone 14 was announced. One of the new features included a new sensor to detect if a user had been in a car crash as well as an improved camera system.
2023: Apple brought back its ‘Home Pod’ after the first generation was discontinued. The ‘Home Pod’ can be seen as an alternative to Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home as it is powered by voice commands.
2024: Apple makes its first steps into artificial intelligence with the release of Apple Intelligence. The features are not all released at once with many delayed until the following year.