iPhone 17 review: all the phone you need, and more

The iPhone 17 is the best base-level model Apple has ever produced. That may sound obvious, as it stands to reason that it will best the last generation. However, I mean that it’s a better option than any of the previous models were when they first launched.

I’ve always liked the standard model and also thought the iPhone 16 was excellent, but it did have a few niggles that stopped it from being perfect. Namely, the 60Hz display, which lacked the always-on feature, and the 12MP ultra-wide lens. Thankfully, both of these issues have been addressed in the iPhone 17.

Like the iPhone 17 Pro, it now features a 6.3-inch display with ProMotion technology, which means both always-on functionality and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It also sports both a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultra-wide camera, not to mention an updated 18MP Centre Stage front-facing camera. It’s a huge step up and one that might make you question the need for a Pro model.

For this reason, even an upgrade from the iPhone 16 will seem like a significant step forward, so if you have an older phone, it’s a no-brainer. In fact, even those with older Pro models will want to consider opting for this phone, particularly on a decent contract deal.

How much is the iPhone 17?

The iPhone 17 starts from £799 in the UK, or $799 in the US. That’s €949 in Europe and A$1399 in Australia. While it might be a stretch to call that cheap, it’s comparatively affordable, and – at least in the US – has remained the same price since the iPhone 12 in 2020. There are very few other tech products that cost the same as they did five years ago.

That base model comes with 256GB storage, but there’s also a 512GB version, which comes in at £999 / $999. There are no other options for this model. If you are buying in the UK or Europe, the iPhone 17 doesn’t come with a USB-C Power Adapter. Most users will already have one from another device, however, if you need one, the Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter, which will allow for fast charging, is an extra £39 / $39.

What’s new on the iPhone 17?

Though visually very similar to the iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 has a lot of new features. Firstly, the display is larger. This is now a 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR, rather than the previous 6.1-inch. As a result, the phone is slightly taller at 149.6mm (5.89 inches), though fractionally narrower, if only by 0.5mm, at 71.5mm (2.81 inches).

Importantly, this new screen now offers Pro Motion technology, which means an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz and an always-on display. This lets you fully enjoy all the new lock screen offerings of iOS 26.

On the rear, the Dual Fusion camera system now includes both a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultra-wide camera. This gives you 24MP or 48MP images at 0.5x zoom, and 1x zoom, as well as a 2x zoom at 12MP. Previously, the iPhone 16 only had a 12MP ultra-wide camera, which meant a downgrade in quality for wider shots.

The front ‘selfie’ camera has also had a big upgrade, with a new square-format 18MP Centre Stage camera. This gives you the ability to shoot either landscape or portrait images and crop in to better frame your face.

The chip has had an upgrade too, now offering the A19 Apple Silicon. This is an ARM-based 3nm system-on-a-chip (SoC), with a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine. This year, the A19 chips feature neural accelerators to boost AI operations.

The aluminium frame remains the same on the iPhone 17, though the ceramic shield on the front glass has had an upgrade. This now provides three times the scratch resistance. The glass back is once again colour-infused, with a choice of lavender, sage and mist blue options in addition to white and black. This colour is also matched in the aluminium surround and the camera bump.

This year, the iPhone 17 Pro models also received a ceramic shield on the back of the phone to protect the glass back. Unfortunately, the iPhone 17 doesn’t have this feature, so keeping your phone in a case is perhaps more important for this non-pro model.

iPhone 17 display

The change in display on the iPhone 17 is perhaps the biggest deal here and addresses the long-standing criticism of the base-level iPhone. Android phones of all budgets have featured 120Hz displays for quite some time, so the iPhone 16’s 60Hz display seemed a little behind the times.

The Pro-Motion technology, previously limited to the Pro models, appears here in the standard model for the first time. This provides an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz, but also down to just 1Hz when showing the lock screen. This helps to minimise the battery usage when in standby and only provides high refresh rates when really needed.

Despite being a bigger display than the iPhone 16, this 6.3-inch display has the same resolution as the rest of the iPhone line-up, at 460 pixels per inch. That’s a 2622x1206 display. It also maintains the same two million to one contrast ratio, True Tone and Wide Colour designations that have given the iPhone displays their impressive colour reproduction.

Standard brightness is the same here but for outdoor use, there’s now a 3,000 nit peak brightness, meaning that it’s easy to see even in very bright sunshine. This is the same as on the Pro models, and while not something you’d notice in a British winter, in sunnier climbs, it’s very helpful.

All this means that even watching shows that are incredibly dark, like Apple TV’s Silo, are clear enough to see every detail. I also tried watching a few other shows, such as the epic Slow Horses and brilliant Pluribus. I really love the way even the full 2.39:1 cinematic widescreen almost fills that 6.3-inch display.

Camera and video functions

The new camera setup on the iPhone 17 is really strong. Combining two 48MP cameras means that you have high-quality options across both main focal lengths, and the potential for a closer crop, using the main camera.

The main camera has an f/1.6 aperture and sensor-shift image stabilisation, providing a 26mm equivalent lens at either 24MP or 48MP in JPEG or HEIC formats. The 2x zoom uses the centre of this main camera sensor to provide a 52mm equivalent at 12MP, so while handy, doesn’t offer the same quality as at 1x.

The main camera also provides a maximum digital zoom of 10x, but this is a further crop in on the central area of the sensor, so quality is reduced further.

The Ultra-wide camera has an f/2.2 aperture and delivers a 120-degree field of view, equivalent to 13mm. This doesn’t distort in the way that a fisheye lens would, but does give a more dynamic look to images like portraits, as well as being able to fit more into city shots and landscapes. There’s no image stabilisation on this camera, but it is rarely needed on an ultra-wide camera.

The real talking point, camera-wise, is actually on the front. A new 18MP Centre Stage camera has been added to all iPhone 17 models this year and provides a significant upgrade in the quality of selfie shots and video calls. The sensor is actually square, giving you 4896x4896 resolution. This outputs an 18MP 4:3 image in either portrait or landscape orientation. It will also do a 13MP 16:9 image in either orientation or a square 1:1 image, also at 13MP.

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The images from the rear cameras on the iPhone 17 look incredible, with great detail and colour, even in low light conditions. I was even really impressed with the 12MP shots at 2x zoom. Viewing on a 27-inch screen, these still held up to inspection, showing no sign of noise or fringing. AS there’s no RAW option on the iPhone 17, it’s hard to see how much of this is down to processing, but the result is impressive either way.

iOS 26

Apple’s latest operating system for the iPhone, known as iOS 26, makes the most of the features and performance of the latest iPhone 17 models. The liquid glass design language is clean and distinctive, and while there have been a few grumbles from iOS 18 users, recent updates have now fixed most of these.

Built into iOS 26 are Apple’s Intelligence features, such as Visual Intelligence, which is a quick way to ask questions about what’s on your screen, from websites to camera views. There are writing aides to help you reword or summarise text, and Image Playground to help you create images and emojis from text prompts or existing images.

Another big feature in iOS 26 is live translation. This works across various apps, from Messages to phone calls and even FaceTime. Combined with a pair of AirPods Pro or AirPods 4, it can also put the live translation in your ear for face-to-face chats.

One favourite feature of mine is the call screening. This will answer any call from a number you don’t have saved in your phone and ask the caller for their name and reason for calling, allowing you to then decide whether to take the call. It’s like your own personal assistant, and it has saved me from many spam calls since turning the feature on.

Performance and battery

The A19 chip inside the iPhone 17 is what has allowed many of the upgrades we see to this phone. Apple only gives direct comparisons to the iPhone 15, which is a huge 40% faster CPU and 80% faster GPU, but I believe the step up from the 16 is also impressive.

To get a rough idea of how much better, I ran the Geekbench 6 software, and it scored 9087 for the CPU multicore test, which is higher than even the A18 Pro chip on the iPhone 16 Pro models. Results were similar for the GPU metal test, which saw the iPhone 17 score 37,142 – higher than both the iPhone 16 Pro and even the 3rd gen iPad Pro with an M1 chip.

Where this new chip really excels, though, is in its AI operations, or Apple Intelligence features. This includes visual intelligence, live translation, writing tools and image clean-up functionality. Most of this now runs on device, only accessing Apple’s private servers or ChatGPT for bigger tasks.

Thanks to the A19 chip the battery performance is more efficient, giving significant increases in playback times. It is quoted as offering up to 30 hours of video playback (compared to 22 hours in the iPhone 16) and 27 hours streamed (18 hours on the iPhone 16). It also appears that the battery is slightly larger than before, listing in the EU a capacity of 3692mAh, which is 3.7% more than the iPhone 16’s battery.

Should I buy the iPhone 17?

In previous generations of iPhones, the Pro model – though not necessarily the Pro Max – would have been my recommendation for anyone seeking a more capable phone. While the iPhone 17 Pro is still a superior phone to the iPhone 17, the difference isn’t quite as stark.

Yes, the iPhone 17 lacks a telephoto lens, and so if you regularly take zoomed-in pictures, this might not be the phone for you, but for the majority of images, the combination of 0.5x, 1x and 2x is plenty, and it does an exceptional job here, even at the reduced 12MP setting of the 2x.

The other big difference with the Pro models is the professional photo and video formats, such as RAW images, ProRes video, Log 2 video and Genlock support. Anyone not shooting professionally is unlikely to need these, especially as Apple’s on-device processing does such a great job.

Now the iPhone 17 has a larger, 120Hz always-on display and a powerful new chip, it’s no longer a compromise for any upgrading buyer. It’s a significant upgrade on almost any older model, including Pro versions. Considering the price difference, many buyers would be better off with the iPhone 17 than the Pro models – and either putting the difference towards the larger storage or keeping it in your pocket. For that £400 / $400 you could get yourself a new Apple Watch Series 11, or a pair of AirPods Pro 3, and still have change.

Also consider

While there is no Plus edition of the iPhone 17 this year, there is the iPhone Air. This provides a slightly larger 6.5-inch display and the faster A19 Pro chip. It’s also exceptionally thin at just 5.64mm (0.22 inches) and weighs less than the iPhone 17, at 165 grams (5.82 oz).

If the iPhone 17 doesn’t offer all the features you’re looking for, though, the iPhone 17 Pro still offers the upgrade of an additional camera, in the form of a 4x telephoto. This also gives you an 8x zoom at 12MP, making it superb for capturing from a distance. Outside of the Pro video features, it’s the main reason to choose this model.