iPhone 17 Review
The iPhone 17 is undoubtedly one of the most significant generation-to-generation upgrades we’ve seen from Apple, and in this review we’ll be exploring why this is the case.
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Things we like
• The jump to a 6.3” screen is fantastic
• Significantly better 48MP ultra-wide camera
• Much lighter than its predecessor
• Huge leap in battery performance
Things to consider
• The Air, Pro and Pro Max models comes with a faster A19 Pro CPU
Release date
The release date of the iPhone 17 Pro Max is 19th September 2025.
Specifications
• Dimensions – 149.6mm x 71.5mm x 7.95mm
• Weight – 177g
• OS – iOS 26
• Display – 6.3” Super Retina XDR
• Resolution – 2622 x 1206
• Processor – A19
• Storage – 256GB; 512GB
• RAM – 8GB
• Rear cameras – 48MP Fusion main; 48MP Fusion ultra-wide
• Front camera – 18MP
• Battery – Up to 30 hours video playback
• Water and dust resistance – IP68
• Connectivity – Wi-Fi 7; Bluetooth 6; 5G
Design: Much lighter and thinner
At first glance, the iPhone 17 looks incredibly similar to the iPhone 16. When you start to look more closely, however, the differences became apparent and really excited us. The first design change is on the front, where the bezel has been reduced between the screen and the phone’s edge. This might not seem like much, but it helps the screen fill the space and provides a more immersive viewing experience. Being a slightly taller device, too, we found ourselves really appreciating these design updates.
Something else that’s noticeable about the iPhone 17’s design is how light and thin it is. We’re not talking iPhone Air levels of sleek, but the 1.5mm reduction in thickness from the iPhone 16 gives this phone a smaller – and more portable – profile. Weight is where the iPhone 17 really shines, being a whole 7g lighter than its predecessor. For context, the iPhone 16 was only 1g lighter than the iPhone 15, so this generation-to-generation change is quite remarkable.
To further hammer home this sizeable jump in construction, the iPhone 17 also sports Ceramic Shield 2 on the front for greater protection against scratches (3x according to Apple).
Display: A noticeable improvement
Moving onto the display, it becomes even clearer just how much Apple wanted to change things up with the base model. The iPhone 17 comes with a 6.3” Super Retina XDR screen, complete with the Dynamic Island feature, True Tone and HDR. These three features were present on the iPhone 16 and 15 handsets, but they didn’t support a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate and Always On like the iPhone 17 does.
These additions, particularly the adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, are already fantastic improvements, but the screen itself jumping from 6.1” to 6.3” is the cherry on top. Everything is significantly more immersive as a result of this change, and given that there was no screen size update from the iPhone 15 to 16, you’re going to notice the difference if you haven’t upgraded in a while.
As you can tell, Apple pulled no punches with the iPhone 17’s display, serving up one of the biggest suite of updates to the base model in quite some time.
Performance: Premium speeds for less
The iPhone 17 doesn’t see the same performance jump as we saw from the iPhone 15 to 16 (A16 to A18 CPUs respectively), but the A19 CPU here still provides a phenomenal amount of horsepower. Made up of 6 cores split between 4 efficiency and 2 performance cores, the A19 processor handled games, taking photos and swapping between tasks incredibly easily. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing is also supported, injecting realistic lighting into games that looks far better than older lighting techniques.
Performance is undoubtedly impressive, but if you want the best-of-the-best from the 17 series, the iPhone 17 Pro Max comes with a faster A19 Pro CPU. The base iPhone 17 is there if you want great performance without the flagship bells and whistles.
Software: Things just got prettier and smarter
iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence are the key software talking points on the iPhone 17, with the former receiving some exciting updates. The most apparent change is Liquid Glass; as the name suggests, it adds a glass effect to icons and menus that looks beautiful from every angle; the premium feel we got from Liquid Glass is quite something.
Functionality was also considerably improved with iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence, thanks to additions like the AI-powered Live Translation tool and Visual Intelligence. The latter feature makes it easier to ask questions based on what’s visible on the screen, without needing to open up a separate app or browser.
Cameras: The improved 48MP ultra-wide is a winner
There are the same number of cameras on the iPhone 17 as the handset before it, yet the underlying technology is far superior. You’re getting a 48MP Fusion main camera, but instead of a 12MP ultra-wide lens, it’s 48MP instead. If you like to crop your photos when editing them but find that detail is lost in the process, this 48MP camera will be a game-changer.
In terms of photography features, the iPhone 17 supports True Tone, Smart HDR 5 and spatial photos much like the iPhone 16. Switch to filming mode, however, and you’ll find some powerful tools to experiment with. The headliner is Dual Capture, with which you can record yourself and the subject in front at the same time in 4K 30FPS. We found this feature to be very useful when capturing activity ahead of us while simultaneously wanting to film our reaction, so it’s bound to be a handy tool at festivals and music gigs.
Battery: More time to spend
We’ve been really impressed by the generational changes made to the iPhone 17, and this extends to the battery, too. Up to 30 hours of video playback is possible, which is lightyears ahead of the iPhone 16’s 22 hours. It can also be recharged to 50% in around 20 minutes, compared to its predecessor’s 30 minute wait time. Again, if you’re an existing iPhone 16 owner or perhaps have an even older base iPhone, you’re going to notice the difference.
Summary
All in all, the iPhone 17 blew us away with just how improved it is compared to what came before. When you pair that with the jump from the iPhone 15 to 16, this is a generational leap that should be experienced by any base iPhone owner.
Wondering what to do about the data on your old iPhone? We have a useful step-by-step guide that will take you through the process and get you set up in no time.