(Credit: Eric Zeman)
CUPERTINO—As it has for the last few years, Apple showed off four new iPhones at its "Awe Dropping" event in California. The company gave us the impressively thin iPhone Air, the powerful iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, and an appealing upgrade to the standard iPhone 17.
Lots of specs and features are engineered into the hardware, but it's always good to turn them over in your hands, and I had a chance to look at all four. Here's what I think.
The iPhone Air Is a Featherweight Wonder—But There’s a Catch
The $999 iPhone Air is Apple's "thinnest iPhone ever," measuring 0.22 inches (5.64mm) thick. It doesn't get much thinner than that. Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge is 0.23 inches (5.8mm) thick, so Apple takes the lead for the moment. The Air is also light, at 5.82 ounces.
What I like most about the phone is how smooth it is and how easy it is to hold. The titanium frame that forms the outer edges is rounded in shape, polished to a smooth shine, and merged seamlessly with the Apple Ceramic Shield glass front and back panels. Not only is it comfortable to use, but it also completely disappears in your pocket. I like that.
But sacrifices are apparent. Apple hasn't revealed how big the battery is, for example, but it recovered some internal space for more battery capacity by deleting the physical SIM card from all models around the globe. The iPhone Air is eSIM only. It wouldn't have done that if it didn't need to. Further, Apple made a MagSafe wireless battery accessory specific to the iPhone Air.
Then there's the single camera. Although the camera module, which Apple calls a "plateau," is rather large, only one camera is in there. It's also packed with vital components to make more room for the battery.
The screen looks fantastic. It's a 6.5-inch panel with LPTO 3 for a 1Hz to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It's bright and sharp.
Oh, and the phone is limited to sub-6GHz and C-band 5G; no mmWave is on board, despite the upgraded C1x modem providing connections.
Worried about it breaking in half? Don't be, at least for now. Apple showed us a break test where it applied about 175 pounds of pressure to the center of the phone. The phone definitely bent, but it did not break, and returned to its original shape after the torture test.
The iPhone 17 Pro Is a Heat-Dissipating Beast With a Whole New Body
Yes, one of the new colors for the Apple iPhone 17 Pro is bright orange. Apple calls it Cosmic Orange. The phone also comes in Deep Blue, which looks fantastic, and Silver. For the first time in years, no black iPhone Pro will be available.
The metal frame now extends to the camera plateau, which is quite large and takes up about one-quarter of the rear panel. An Apple Ceramic plate is fitted into the frame. Apple says Ceramic Shield 2 is 3x more scratch-resistant than the original Ceramic Shield. The glass inserts are a different shade from the frame, providing some contrast.
Beauty is more than a layer of paint thick. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max have a whole new design. Apple ditched the titanium frame in favor of aluminum. The official reason is that the latter is 20x more efficient at dissipating heat than titanium, but cost might be the real reason. Apple rearranged the logic board, developed its first-ever vapor chamber, and repackaged the battery to make it as large as possible. So the iPhone 17 Pros look new on the outside and the inside.
They are relatively thick and heavy. Both phones measure 0.34 inches (8.75mm) thick and weigh 7.27 and 8.22 ounces, respectively, for the 17 Pro and Pro Max. The smaller iPhone 17 Pro feels like a super-dense brick in your hand. The Pro Max is approximately the same size and weight as the 16 Pro Max, so if you like 'em big, you won't be disappointed with the new Pro Max.
Apple says this is the most it has changed the Pro iPhones in years, and it's plainly evident when you hold and use them. Despite the updates, plenty is familiar. For example, Apple carried over the basic screens from the 16 Pros, and the button and port placement are the same. The Camera Control button feels better, though, and requires less of a deep press than before. This is a good change.
I had a chance to use the camera app for a few moments, and it has a handful of new controls. You'll see several buttons that let you quickly choose the aspect ratio and orientation of the Selfie camera and set the file type (HEIC, JPEG, or RAW) and resolution. Using the double-take feature, which lets you use the front and rear cameras simultaneously, is a snap to enable and use.
The Pro phones' specs are almost all improved, and that should be plain once we have a chance to test them. Apple did raise the starting price, though, to $1,099 for the 17 Pro and $1,199 for the Pro Max (both with 256GB of storage).
The iPhone 17 Gets a Glow-Up in Pastel—and a Bigger Screen
The standard iPhone 17 doesn't appear to be too different from the iPhone 16, but appearances are deceiving. Apple gives the iPhone 17 a respectable upgrade, making it a better buy at its $799 starting price.
You can get an iPhone 17 in black, white, blue, sage, or lavender. The latter three shades have a soft, almost pastel look. Most everything else about the design is recycled. The phone has an aluminum frame, Apple Ceramic Shield front and back, a brighter screen with ProMotion adaptive refresh and more nits, and a boosted base storage of 256GB.
The phone's screen is larger than before at 6.3 inches (compared with 6.1 inches), but the footprint is just about the same at 5.89 by 2.81 by 0.31 inches and 6.24 ounces. It's a quarter of an ounce heavier, which Apple says is due to the larger battery inside. The phone still feels light and compact, and it's a cinch to hold and use.
Preorders Start Sept. 12
You can preorder all four new iPhones starting on Sept. 12, with an in-store date of Sept. 19. I plan to put all four new phones through their paces for full reviews, so be sure to check back soon.