Iphone 17 Review: Closer To Pro

For years, nan “regular” iPhone received hand-me-downs from nan Pro models. This was little truthful pinch nan iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, but nan trickle-down accuracy was still location to a degree. For 2025 and the iPhone 17 ($799) is nary longer nan discuss that nan guidelines exemplary utilized to be. Apple yet blessed it pinch a 120Hz show and this year’s astir breathtaking camera feature, Center Stage.

While it whitethorn look for illustration Apple is nary longer forcing iPhone users to compromise, aliases astatine slightest not to nan grade it utilized to, there’s still 1 large point to consider. With nan preamble of the iPhone Air, nan institution has shaken up nan surface sizes crossed nan iPhone 17 lineup. Instead of nan erstwhile 6.1-inch iPhone and 6.7-inch Plus model, Apple is splitting nan quality pinch nan iPhone 17’s 6.3-inch screen. That besides aligns it size-wise pinch nan iPhone 17 Pro, while nan Air sits successful nan mediate of nan bid astatine 6.5 inches.

I conjecture I’m a big-phone feline now, because it’s been a unsmooth week transitioning from nan 16 Plus to nan iPhone 17. At times I consciousness for illustration my telephone is simply a toy, and astatine others it’s for illustration I stepped backmost successful time. I don’t peculiarly for illustration either sensation.

Putting my surface size preferences aside, nan iPhone 17 remains nan champion iPhone for astir people. Since Apple brought its champion caller features to this regular exemplary this year, you don’t person to consciousness for illustration you’re waiting for nan breathtaking devices from nan Air aliases Pro to make it to a much affordable iPhone exemplary successful 12 months. The upgraded show and caller beforehand camera are surely nan highlights, but nan iPhone 17 remains a solidly built instrumentality pinch dependable all-day artillery life and tin performance.

Finally, a 120Hz display

A large alteration connected nan iPhone 17 is nan 6.3-inch ProMotion 120Hz display. Not only is it somewhat bigger than nan 6.1-inch iPhone 16, but it yet refreshes faster now. The higher refresh complaint was 1 of nan past remaining items Apple had yet to bring down from its Pro models, and this 1 makes a large quality to nan wide experience. Swiping astir iOS 26 feels a batch smoother. Apps for illustration Instagram and Safari wherever I antecedently encountered immoderate jitters now move effortlessly. When it’s clip to task outside, you’ll beryllium gladsome that Apple boosted nan highest brightness to 3,000 nits — a 1,000-nit summation from nan iPhone 16. It’s a invited upgrade for nan times you request to usage your telephone successful nonstop sunlight.

The institution besides equipped nan iPhone 17 pinch an always-on display, which is useful for updates astatine a glimpse if you’ve missed a notification. And of course, Dynamic Island is still there, providing ongoing info for advancement connected things for illustration unrecorded sports, euphony playback, navigation, thrust sharing and more.

You won’t really announcement nan show upgrade until you commencement utilizing nan phone, truthful a speedy glimpse won’t uncover immoderate evident hardware changes. Unless you do a side-by-side pinch nan iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, wherever nan size variety will beryllium apparent, you won’t observe immoderate difference. Flip complete to nan backmost though and there’s an almost wholly caller colour palette. Black and achromatic remain, but Lavender, Sage and Mist Blue person replaced past year’s Ultramarine, Teal and Pink options. I for illustration this year’s hues, arsenic they aren’t arsenic pastel-y arsenic nan 2024 lineup, and that Sage greenish looks really crisp successful person.

Venture backmost to nan beforehand and there’s different important update that isn’t visible. Apple upgraded nan scratch guidance pinch Ceramic Shield 2, which nan institution says provides 3 times amended protection than connected nan iPhone 16. I needed to support my iPhone 17 pristine for photos during my review, truthful I haven’t put it successful situations pinch nan imaginable for wounded conscionable yet. My mischievous cocker spaniel did get a clasp of it for a fewer minutes, but location are nary visible teeth marks aliases scratches from that harrowing (for me) incident.

Camera updates return Center Stage

For many, camera capacity is nan astir basal facet of an iPhone, and this year’s exemplary sewage a important upgrade there. The biggest alteration is nan caller 18MP Center Stage beforehand camera that replaces nan 12MP TrueDepth camera. This caller type has a quadrate sensor that enables nan iPhone 17 to automatically move from image to scenery erstwhile much group participate nan framework for a selfie.

After utilizing Center Stage for astir a week, it’s easy nan champion caller camera characteristic Apple has released successful years. I tin concede that nan summation of macro mode and Photographic Styles successful erstwhile iPhones were besides excellent, but Center Stage feels for illustration magic. I’m not moreover a large selfie taker, but erstwhile I do request to threat 1 connected a family outing, this 41 twelvemonth aged nary longer feels for illustration a Boomer holding his telephone sideways. The adjustments hap quickly truthful you’re not near waiting, and if you don’t for illustration it, you tin disable nan car rotation, car zoom aliases both.

Center Stage besides useful pinch video calls to support you successful nan frame. This is peculiarly adjuvant if you’re stepping aliases different moving astir while trying to person a chat. It does return a 2nd for nan strategy to make its accommodation aft you move from nan halfway of nan frame, but it’s soft and won’t beryllium a distraction to anyone connected nan call.

Another update to nan front-facing camera is simply a caller Dual Capture mode. This simultaneously records footage pinch nan beforehand and rear cameras for things for illustration guidance videos. As nan genitor of 2 kids successful younker sports, I tin spot nan inferior for things for illustration title games, aliases moreover milestone moments astatine school. I deliberation a batch of group will besides movie themselves singing on astatine concerts, but I’m not 1 of them.

The only rumor I person pinch Dual Capture is that it’s a situation to support some nan action and yourself successful frame. You can’t look successful 2 places astatine once, truthful if you want to support a centered guidance changeable aliases ongoing commentary, you’ll person to fig retired a measurement to juggle nan shots. I’ve yet to maestro it myself and you’ll apt struggle if you for illustration your selfie clips changeable from a downward angle.

The front-facing camera isn’t nan only photography-centric upgrade connected nan iPhone 17. Around back, location are now 2 48MP Fusion cameras. On nan iPhone 16, only nan main was a Fusion camera while nan ultra-wide has a 12MP sensor. You’ll get nan aforesaid 0.5x, 1x and 2x zoom options arsenic before, automatic macro mode, True Tone flash and nan remainder of nan useful features from nan iPhone 16 — for illustration Portrait Lighting. If you’re into Apple’s Photographic Styles, there’s a caller 1 called Bright that enhances tegument tones and makes nan remainder of nan image much vibrant. My workfellow Cherlynn Low compared it to nan now-retired Oslo select connected Instagram, and I deliberation that’s an apt comparison.

By default, nan main camera delivers shots successful 24MP solution for a equilibrium of item and brightness. In general, nan photos I took pinch nan iPhone 17 appeared to beryllium somewhat sharper than those I captured pinch my iPhone 16 Plus, particularly successful specifications for illustration texture (as evidenced by nan photos of pumpkins and my canine Biscuit). There isn’t a immense leap successful rear camera capacity here, but I noticed a flimsy improvement.

In lower-light settings, for illustration successful my pictures nether nan awning of my section nutrient guidelines and wrong a section bar, colors remained meticulous and crisp. Macro images were conscionable arsenic crisp and elaborate arsenic before, judging from my close-up of a sunflower which you tin spot here. Night clip pics still nutrient meticulous colors, particularly erstwhile rendering nan warmth aliases coolness of thoroughfare lights, and those elements aren’t lacking successful clarity either. Swap your camera settings to 48MP and you’ll announcement enhanced item successful images that incorporate landscapes, arsenic 1 example. Just support successful mind that those max-res photos are constricted to 1x zoom and immoderate Night mode aliases flash shots will ever beryllium saved astatine 12MP.

Besides nan truth that it uses nan non-Pro A19 processor, nan cameras are nan main area nan iPhone 17 lags down the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. They person a 3rd camera astir backmost — a 48MP Fusion telephoto — that’s equipped pinch 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization. That three-camera array besides provides further zoom options astatine 4x and 8x. They besides unlock ProRAW for stills and some ProRes and ProRes Raw for video, and travel pinch a four-microphone setup for “studio-quality” audio capture. If you desire nan pinnacle of Apple’s photographic prowess (currently, anyway), nan iPhone 17 Pro starts astatine $1,099 — $300 much than nan iPhone 17.

Performance

While Apple equipped nan iPhone 17 pinch its latest A19 chip, there’s still a six-core CPU and five-core GPU — aforesaid arsenic nan iPhone 16. The quality present is that nan GPU now has Neural Accelerators connected each core, which Apple says will boost highest computing powerfulness for AI tasks. Unless you’re coming from an older iPhone, you astir apt won’t announcement excessively overmuch of an betterment year-to-year. Apple explains that nan CPU capacity successful nan iPhone 17 is up to 50 percent faster than nan iPhone 13, but that telephone is from 4 years agone — fundamentally an eternity. Obviously, you’d expect to spot a awesome uptick successful velocity erstwhile comparing nan flashy caller exemplary to specified an aging device.

That said, nan iPhone 17 speedily handled immoderate task I threw astatine it. During my mundane use, I didn’t brushwood a azygous clip nan telephone stuttered aliases struggled to complete nan job. The only clip I had to hold for thing was for Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT to make my latest punctual aliases make a Genmoji successful Image Playground (I don’t urge asking for “a basking canine thunderstorm,” by nan way). What’s more, I ne'er noticed nan iPhone 17 getting lukewarm erstwhile utilizing these AI devices connected their own, but it did commencement to power up erstwhile I simultaneously started multitasking (playing music, etc.). The iPhone 17 ne'er sewage much than noticeably lukewarm to nan touch, though.

I’m not an avid mobile gamer, but I did play immoderate Destiny: Rising (a proposal from nan Engadget staff) connected nan iPhone 17 for my owed diligence. The operation of nan A19 spot and nan 120Hz show provided silky soft action for nan first-person shooter, moreover successful chaotic skirmishes. Plus, nan iPhone 17 didn't get basking during my gaming sessions, contempt not having nan vapor enclosure that nan Pros do. This astir apt led maine to play a batch longer than I should astatine times, since nan instrumentality ne'er sewage lukewarm capable to punctual maine of really overmuch clip had passed. The iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max and Air each person nan much powerful A19 Pro chip, but nan regular iPhone this twelvemonth is simply a tin mobile gaming instrumentality too.

The presence of iOS 26

My workfellow Mat Smith covered all nan caller features of iOS 26 successful detail, truthful I’ll mention you to his guideline for nan nitty gritty connected nan update. I will connection immoderate speedy thoughts connected nan caller package overall, starting pinch Liquid Glass. After a week pinch nan latest design, I’m still not a fan. In immoderate areas nan refresh is useful: I peculiarly for illustration nan changes to CarPlay, nan telephone app and Messages. I’m besides starting to get onboard pinch nan tweaks to nan Camera app. But for each 1 update that’s helpful, I find 5 much I hate. I don’t for illustration nan caller paper successful Apple Music that sometimes requires an other pat to uncover nan options, which is 1 of my biggest annoyances.

I do emotion nan operation of nan iPhone 17’s always-on show and iOS 26’s Priority Notifications. It’s immensely adjuvant to glimpse complete astatine my telephone and spot if there’s thing I request to reside immediately. This pairing is besides useful erstwhile it shows maine things erstwhile I might’ve missed a notification arsenic it first popped up. It’s only been a week, truthful I’m apt to find different elements I tin put to bully usage arsenic I walk much clip pinch nan caller OS. And since iOS 26 is simply a bigger ocular overhaul than Apple’s emblematic yearly refresh, nan iPhone 17 feels for illustration moreover much of an upgrade.

Since I’ve besides been utilizing the AirPods Pro 3 for nan past respective days, 2 features I’ve tested a batch are nan earbuds’ heart-rate search and Live Translation. It’s bully to not person to postpone a workout if my Apple Watch is charging, since I now cognize nan AirPods Pro 3 will way my activity and decently in installments my Activity Rings. I besides can’t hold to recreation overseas pinch Live Translation, since nan tests I’ve conducted astatine location person already produced amazingly adjuvant results.

Battery life

Once again, Apple promises “all day” artillery life connected nan iPhone 17. Of course, nan institution doesn’t quantify that phrase, different than a committedness to 30 hours of video playback aliases 27 hours of streaming time. My workfellow Sam Rutherford sewage astir 25 hours while streaming a video arsenic a comparison for his reappraisal of nan iPhone Air. During a time of what I’d see “regular” usage — checking email, responding to Slack messages, listening to music, calls, texting, scrolling Instagram and watching a fewer episodes of The Bear — I still had 16 percent artillery near by furniture time. That’s aft a time that started astatine 7AM and ended astatine 12AM, and I had nan always-on show progressive nan full time.

Apple somewhat accrued nan MagSafe wireless charging wattage connected nan iPhone 17. It’s now up to 25W (with a 30W adapter), which matches nan iPhone 16 Plus, and is simply a 3W summation from nan iPhone 16. If you don’t mind cables, you tin expect to recharge to 50 percent successful 20 minutes pinch a 40W (or higher) adapter and to get halfway pinch a 30W charging accessory successful half an hour. That charging-to-50-percent clip connected nan iPhone 17 is faster than what you get connected nan 16 and 16 Plus by 10 and 15 minutes respectively.

The competition

If you’re looking for a non-Apple alternative, Google’s Pixel 10 is your champion bet. It has improved capacity compared to its predecessor on pinch an upgraded telephoto camera pinch 5x zoom. There’s support for Google’s return connected MagSafe (Pixelsnap) and nan Gemini-powered Magic Cue characteristic is amazingly handy. Plus, nan Pixel 10 starts astatine $799, conscionable for illustration nan iPhone 17.

Samsung’s latest entry-level flagship, the Galaxy S25, is little of an evident choice. Since nan bid has agelong been a rival of Apple’s iPhone, it merits inclusion here. The S25’s show and cameras haven’t been upgraded complete nan S24’s, but it has a powerful caller processor and fantabulous artillery life. Gemini useful amended connected nan S25 than it did successful nan past and there’s nan coagulated build value that Samsung ever offers astatine this value range. Speaking of cost, nan S25 besides costs nan aforesaid arsenic nan iPhone 17.

Wrap-up

With nan astir important update successful years, nan iPhone 17 is an easy prime for an upgrade for astir people. Even if you’re coming from nan iPhone 16, you’ll reap nan benefits of nan overhauled show and improved cameras. I don’t opportunity immoderate of that lightly arsenic I’m not a personification who recommends getting a caller telephone each year. Most of nan time, location simply aren't compelling capable changes to warrant it. That’s not nan lawsuit this year, and if you’re coming from an iPhone that’s a fewer years old, you’ll apt consciousness arsenic if you’ve stepped into nan future.

I went into this reappraisal expecting to beryllium eager to return to my iPhone 16 Plus erstwhile I was done testing. And while I do for illustration nan larger instrumentality aft utilizing it for a year, nan updates Apple has amassed connected nan iPhone 17 — particularly nan Center Stage camera — person appeased that desire… for now. I don’t person overmuch usage for nan capacity boosts that nan iPhone 17 Pro aliases Pro Max provide, and I can’t warrant splurging conscionable for a bigger display. So, I tin confidently opportunity that moreover though there’s 1 little action successful nan regular iPhone lineup than location was a twelvemonth ago, nan iPhone 17 is still nan champion iPhone for astir of us.