Which iPhone 17 Model Should You Buy?

Apple’s 2025 iPhones are here, and things are quite different for nan first clip successful a while. The guidelines iPhone 17 will still consciousness familiar, but nan iPhone 17 Pro models person a wholly caller look, and there's a brand-new exemplary called nan iPhone Air. The “Air” branding has been somewhat diluted of late—the current-gen iPad Pro models are lighter than nan iPad Air—but nan iPhone Air brings meaning backmost to nan original idea: a super-thin and ultra-lightweight device.

Preorders are live, and charismatic income commencement September 19. If you're considering an upgrade, what exemplary should you get? I'll break down nan cardinal differences and similarities among nan iPhone 17 lineup, truthful you tin hopefully make a much informed prime connected your next iPhone.

You Don’t Need to Upgrade

If you person an iPhone from conscionable a fewer years ago, you astir apt don't request to upgrade to Apple's latest, unless your instrumentality has issues. Even then, location are things you tin do to fix your iPhone, for illustration getting a artillery replacement, aliases you tin effort some of these troubleshooting steps. The constituent is, you shouldn't consciousness nan request to upgrade conscionable because Apple has a caller model.

If you're group connected buying an iPhone 17 model, we person a guideline connected how to waste your iPhone truthful that it doesn't conscionable cod particulate successful a drawer. When your caller instrumentality arrives, back up your aged iPhone earlier switching to nan caller one, past travel our guideline connected factory resetting your device earlier trading aliases giving it away. We besides person tips connected how to group up your caller iPhone and what settings to change to get nan astir retired of it.

Which iPhone 17 Is Right for You?

Let's quickly talk astir nan similarities crossed each nan iPhone 17 models this year, and yes, that includes nan iPhone Air, moreover if it doesn't person “17” successful nan name.

The Display

Although iPhones disagree successful surface size, they each characteristic an OLED surface (Apple refers to it arsenic a Super Retina XDR display) and employment ProMotion technology. This is nan first clip nan non-Pro models person ProMotion, which is fundamentally a 120-Hz refresh rate.

This has been a communal characteristic connected Android phones for a while, but it intends your show refreshes 120 times per 2nd alternatively than 60, for illustration connected nan iPhone 16, truthful everything you do will consciousness smoother. (We person a broader explainer here.) These are adaptive refresh rates that tin driblet arsenic debased arsenic 1 Hz erstwhile there's small activity connected nan screen, which is why nan caller iPhone 17 and iPhone Air now support nan always-on display.

Apple besides says there's a caller Ceramic Shield 2 beforehand solid that's 3X much scratch-resistant than before, and a caller antireflective coating to trim glare. All of these screens tin besides deed up to 3,000 nits of highest brightness, meaning it'll beryllium easier to publication your iPhone surface connected sunny days.

The Camera

The front-facing selfie camera is identical connected each nan iPhone 17 models. It's a caller square-shaped 18-megapixel sensor, and that intends you tin expect much item retired of your selfies. However, nan quadrate sensor besides introduces a smarter measurement to seizure group selfies. You tin support holding your telephone successful image predisposition for nan champion grip, and it will automatically zoom retired to make judge everyone fits successful nan frame, while besides switching to a scenery predisposition for nan widest view. All of these models besides support Dual Capture, which lets you sprout pinch some nan beforehand and rear cameras astatine nan aforesaid time. You tin publication more astir these features here.

The Usual Specs

All of nan iPhones are IP68 water- and dust-resistant and person Face ID, nan Camera Control button, Action Button, USB-C, and Qi2 magnetic wireless charging (MagSafe). All devices commencement astatine 256 GB of storage. There's Apple Intelligence connected these devices, nan aforesaid Emergency SOS via Satellite and Crash Detection capabilities, and they utilize Apple's caller N1 wireless networking spot for Bluetooth 6, Wi-Fi 7, and Thread support.

The Differences

Now, here's wherever they diverge, which will thief you amended understand what exemplary to buy.