Apple today announced the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch Series 11, SE 3, and Ultra 3 at its “Awe Dropping event”, which lasted for a total of 1 Hour and 10 minutes.
This year, Apple has brought some of the most requested features to the base iPhone 17. The new 6.3-inch iPhone 17 comes with 120Hz ProMotion and Always-On Display, similar to Pro models such as the iPhone 16 Pro. The display also comes with 3000 nits of Peak outdoor brightness and Ceramic Shield 2, which offers 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation, along with improved anti-glare.
The new iPhone also features the A19 Chip which consists of a 6-core CPU, 5-Core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural engine. Apple claims that the A19 performs 20% better than the A18 on the iPhone 16.
Borrowed from the iPhone 16 Pro, the base iPhone 17 now coms with a 48MP Ultra Wide Lens, which enables 12MP Macro Shots. Moreover, this year’s models feature an 18MP Center Stage Front Camera. According to Apple, “The Center Stage front camera features the first square front camera sensor on iPhone, offering a wider field of view and higher resolution — up to 18MP for photos — to capture more detail. Users no longer have to rotate their iPhone to take a landscape selfie — they can now take photos and videos in portrait or landscape while holding their iPhone vertically, enabling a more comfortable, secure grip and centered gaze. For group shots, Center Stage for photos uses AI to automatically expand the field of view and can rotate from portrait to landscape to include everyone in the frame. The Center Stage front camera enables ultra-stabilized video in 4K HDR, and users can now record on the front and rear cameras simultaneously with Dual Capture — perfect for capturing themselves and the world around them.”
Image: Apple Newsroom
The iPhone 17 also includes the new Apple-designed N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. Apple claims that it “improves the overall performance and reliability of features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop.”
In terms of pricing, the iPhone 17 starts at $799 with double the base storage: 256GB, and $999 for the 512GB model. The phone comes in lavender, mist blue, sage, white, and black. Pre-orders will begin on September 12th, starting at 5:00 a.m. PT, and the iPhone 17 will be available on September 19th.
