Let’s get one thing out of the way: the iPhone 17 is boring.
The design is near-identical to last year’s model. And last year’s? Well, aside from Dynamic Island, some chamfered edges, and the odd extra button, its DNA can be traced back to the iPhone 12. If you’re after excitement, this isn’t the iPhone for you.
Which is why it might surprise you that I believe it’s also the iPhone most people should buy this year. Here’s why.
It’s almost as pro as the Pro
Three cameras! Also: three HUNDRED bucks more than the vanilla 17.
Apple finally relented on the display. No more bargain-basement 60Hz refresh rates that made Apple’s pride and joy feel like a budget Android handset. The iPhone 17 now has the exact same ProMotion display that you get in the iPhone 17 Pro. That means it’s brighter, smoother, and has an excellent always-on mode.
Battery life is nearly identical. The size and frame are similar as well – although the 17 is a hair thinner and a touch lighter. Even in terms of raw power, the iPhone 17 is no slouch. Sure, the A19 Pro in the more expensive phone is better for sustained workloads – exporting video; hammering through graphically intensive games – but 99% of users won’t notice 99% of the time.
Elsewhere, storage starts at 256GB for both phones, the superb new selfie cam is identical, and both phones have 48MP wide and ultra-wide cameras. The Pro, however, gets a third camera with a monster 8x telephoto zoom. The iPhone 17… does not. It also lacks USB-C 3 connection speeds and a 1TB capacity option for people made of money.
Still, last year I thought the iPhone was as close to the iPhone Pro as it would ever get. I was wrong. This year it’s even closer.
It’s almost as light as the Air
Don’t call it the iPhone Compromise. Because Apple will yell at you.
Compared to the iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 looks prehistoric. The Air’s svelte form is almost absurdly sleek, and it even manages to outgun the iPhone 17 in terms of raw power by using the same chip as the iPhone 17 Pro. It has a slightly bigger screen than both devices and a durable titanium frame too. On paper, things aren’t looking great for the 17.
And then you look at the rest of the specs. The Air has worse battery life – bad enough that Apple unveiled an optional bespoke branded MagSafe battery for it. The Air has one fewer camera, which means no ultra-wide or macro shots. Astonishingly, it even has one fewer speaker, which is going to surprise people watching videos in landscape mode. Stereo sound is, apparently, so last year.
Even the purported benefits might not be so clear cut. Yes, the Air is 2.5mm thinner than the 17 at its thinnest point, but the camera still sticks out just as much. Bulk? The Air is all of 12g lighter. If you can spot that difference by hand, congratulations on your new job as a human weighing scale.
It’s the best-value iPhone around
Boring colors? Yes. Boring phone? Yes. The one to buy? Also yes.
If none of that convinces you, this might: the iPhone 17 starts at $799/£799. That’s a full $300/£300 cheaper than the Pro and $200/£200 less than the Air. And crucially, it no longer feels like poor value next to Android rivals that have had 120Hz displays for years.
Even stacked up against last year’s iPhone 16, which Apple now sells at a discounted $699/£699, the 17 is by far the smarter buy. For your extra $100/£100, you get that gorgeous display, 20% more CPU grunt, better battery life, a far superior selfie cam, a sharper ultra-wide, and double the storage. The last of those things alone would have cost you a hundred bucks last year. Which is probably why Apple won’t let you up the iPhone 16’s storage from 128GB. Pitting a $799 256GB iPhone 16 against a new, identically priced 256GB iPhone 17 would have been ridiculous.
The only real downside when comparing the two? Colors. For reasons unknown, Apple’s dialed things back to muted shades after last year’s Ultramarine and Pink stunners. But, hey, that’s what cases are for.