Apple has officially revealed the iPhone 17, bringing new performance, camera, and battery upgrades without raising the price. While the design looks familiar, the enhancements inside make it one of the best base iPhone models to date.
Key Highlights
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6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display with 120Hz ProMotion
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Peak brightness of 3,000 nits
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Ceramic Shield 2 glass (3x more scratch resistant)
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A19 chip with 6-core CPU & 5-core GPU (3nm)
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48MP main & ultrawide cameras + 18MP Center Stage selfie camera
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Dual Capture: record with front & back cameras at once
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iOS 26 with new Apple Intelligence features
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Up to 30 hours of video playback
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Faster charging: 50% in 20 minutes
Price and Availability
The iPhone 17 starts at $799 for the 256GB model, with a 512GB option also available. Customers can save up to $700 with trade-ins from iPhone 13 or newer.
Colors: Lavender, Mist Blue, Sage, Black, and White.
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Preorders: Friday, September 12
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In stores: Friday, September 19
Display and Design
The 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display now supports a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate with adaptive scaling down to 1Hz when idle. It reaches 3,000 nits peak brightness — a major jump from the iPhone 16.
The phone is also tougher, thanks to Ceramic Shield 2 glass and a seven-layer anti-reflective coating for improved outdoor visibility.
Cameras
Apple has finally given the standard iPhone all-48MP cameras:
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48MP Fusion Main Camera with 2x Telephoto
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48MP Ultrawide with 4x more detail than iPhone 16
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18MP Center Stage selfie camera with AI framing
The front camera now records stabilized 4K HDR video and supports Dual Capture, letting users film with both front and rear cameras at once.
Performance & Software
The A19 chip (3nm) powers the iPhone 17 with:
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90% faster CPU performance vs iPhone 14
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2x faster GPU for gaming and graphics
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Neural accelerators for on-device AI
The phone launches with iOS 26, bringing new Apple Intelligence features like instant text/audio translation, smarter Visual Intelligence, and improved AI capabilities.
Battery & Charging
With the A19 chip and iOS 26 optimizations, the iPhone 17 lasts up to 30 hours of video playback, 8 hours longer than iPhone 16.
Apple also introduced Adaptive Power Mode, which learns your daily usage and adjusts to save energy. Charging is much quicker — 50% in just 20 minutes with a high-wattage USB-C adapter.
Conclusion
The iPhone 17 proves that even without a radical design change, Apple can deliver a huge leap in performance, cameras, battery, and AI features — all at the same $799 starting price.
For users wanting a reliable upgrade, the iPhone 17 could be the best standard iPhone in years.
