Which iPhone Should I Get?
Top choice
The iPhone 17 now comes with features once reserved for Apple’s Pro models, including a bigger and brighter display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a higher-resolution front-facing camera that takes better selfies, and longer battery life.
Apple continues to make its affordable flagship the best value in the iPhone lineup, as the Apple iPhone 17 comes with improvements across the board. Pro-level features, like the 6.3-inch ProMotion screen that supports a variable 120 Hz refresh rate and an always-on display to view notifications and widgets at a glance, no longer require you to pay the Pro price. The cameras have also been improved: The dual-lens camera setup on the back now has a 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor for high-quality photos, while the front-facing camera has been upgraded to 18 megapixels with support for Center Stage and Dual Capture video mode (more on that later). The iPhone 17 also runs on the new Apple A19 chip, which brings better performance and better battery life. This model is not a necessary upgrade if you are coming from the iPhone 16, but if you have an older iPhone, you may appreciate the new features.
It has a large, bright display with a high refresh rate. The iPhone 17 has a 6.3-inch OLED display, the same size as the iPhone 17 Pro. It’s a step up from the iPhone 16’s 6.1-inch screen; although that’s not a huge difference, we’ve always thought that the standard iPhone model was too compact in this era of large phones. With a maximum external brightness of 3,000 nits, the iPhone 17 screen is also brighter, up from 2,000 nits on its predecessor. This makes it easy to see even in direct sunlight.
Apple’s base model iPhone 17 also offers many of the same features that Apple reserved for the Pro iPhones. With ProMotion, the display’s maximum refresh rate has increased from 60 Hz to 120 Hz for smoother scrolling and graphics. It’s adaptive, meaning it will come on when you’re using the phone and dip to 1 Hz when the phone is idle. iPhone 17 also features an always-on display, so you can easily view the time, notifications, or widgets on your lock screen without having to tap to wake the phone each time.
It has an advanced front-facing camera with some useful selfie features. Apple has upgraded the front camera on the iPhone 17 from a 12-megapixel sensor to an 18-megapixel one, resulting in higher resolution images. In our tests, compared to the photos of previous models, the selfies came out even clearer – we can make out all the details (including the bursts) even in low-light photos. The sensor is also now square and has a wider field of view.
With the Center Stage feature, available on new iPads and now built into the iPhone 17 line, the front-facing camera’s field of view automatically expands to fit more people in the frame while holding the phone vertically. This means you don’t need to rotate your phone to get wide group shots using the front-facing camera. The feature works as advertised, too: I used it during a birthday party, where a lot of selfies were taken, and whenever someone else entered the photo, it quickly zoomed out to match them. However, the muscle memory that people develop after years of swinging their phones around to take selfies with friends can take time to fade.
Center Stage also kicks in video calls so you can stay in the frame while you’re on the go. I found this feature useful when I was FaceTiming a friend from my desk, as I could switch between using the iPhone and typing on my MacBook without manually adjusting the phone each time.
iPhone 17 also introduces Dual Capture video mode, which allows you to use the front and rear cameras simultaneously to capture multiple videos at the same time. This is a feature we’ve been waiting for from Apple for a while – it’s been available on Samsung Galaxy phones for years now – and before the iPhone 17, we’ll use a third-party app like Instagram or Snapchat to switch back and forth between the front and back cameras to capture dual points. Using Dual Capture on the iPhone 17 was fun and easy in our tests. Once you enable the feature, the front camera video is in picture-in-picture mode, and the center of the screen shows what the rear camera is recording.
It has a better wide-angle camera than the iPhone 16. The iPhone 17 has Apple’s new Dual Fusion cameras. The name refers to the ability of the 48-megapixel main camera to double as a 12-megapixel phone camera, and the ability of the 48-megapixel ultrawide camera to double as a large 12-megapixel lens. The main sensor continues to deliver bright, sharp images with strong dynamic range and little or no noise. But the iPhone 16 also has a 48-megapixel main sensor – the upgrade here goes to the ultrawide lens. We compared the two and found little difference: In our tests, the iPhone 17 always delivered the most subdued and natural colors, with low contrast, delivering equally bright, true-to-life images. It also appeared to have better distortion control. The iPhone 16 images, on the other hand, looked fuller and appeared slightly distorted.
Like last year’s version, the iPhone 17 uses a combination of software and hardware to shoot a quality 2x zoom, but still delivers solid results that look almost identical to what we got from the iPhone 17 Pro. It also has support for up to 10x digital zoom, but this time its images weren’t as sharp or clean as those from the Pro model; although the images were somewhat usable, they showed significant loss of detail and blurring.
You also have the option of taking full-resolution 24-megapixel photos (default) or switching to 12-megapixels; the camera system switches to the latter when you take photos in night mode, macro flash, or Portrait Lighting. The 24-megapixel option is better for capturing more details, while the 12-megapixel mode is good for low-light photography. Be aware, however, that photos captured with the 24-megapixel option will take up more space, so if you plan to use the iPhone 17 to take more photos, we recommend that you upgrade to the higher storage configuration.
The A19 chip is fast and very efficient. The iPhone 17 uses Apple’s latest chip, the A19, which includes a 16-core neural engine, a six-core CPU, and a five-core GPU. The A19 is designed to enable features like ProMotion, always-on display, and Apple Intelligence more smoothly. During our time with the iPhone 17, its performance was good. While we didn’t see a huge difference from the iPhone 16, opening apps and switching between them felt great. The high refresh rate also allowed for a very smooth experience while browsing social media and playing a few rounds Alto’s Odyssey.
The iPhone 17 is more robust than previous iPhone models. Apple has introduced Ceramic Shield 2 with the iPhone 17 series. It is the latest version of Apple’s proprietary glass, which the company claims has three times more scratch resistance than the previous version. Unlike the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 does not have a Ceramic Shield attached to the back. But it retains the same IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance as Apple’s most expensive phones.
It has a longer battery life than the iPhone 16. Apple says the iPhone 17 offers eight more hours of video playback compared to the iPhone 16, up to 30 hours. In our testing, the iPhone 17 lasted more than a day and a half of heavy use on a single charge. More battery life can be attributed to the addition of both ProMotion, which has a dynamic refresh rate that fluctuates between 120 Hz and 1 Hz, and the A19 chip, designed to be more energy efficient. And Apple says the iPhone 17 can charge up to 50% in 20 minutes on its 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max. Using the Dynamic Power Adapter, we charged the iPhone 17 from 9% to 53% in about 25 minutes.
The base model has more storage. Having officially abandoned the 128 GB storage configuration, Apple is now starting the base model of the iPhone 17 at 256 GB of storage (without increasing the initial price, as it did on the iPhone 17 Pro). If that’s not enough, you can opt for 512 GB for an extra $100.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The design is a little old. Compared to the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the iPhone 17 seems uninspired these days. It would be nice to see some big changes, like a redesigned camera module similar to that of the iPhone Air.
It does not have a triple camera system. While three cameras are usually reserved for iPhone Pro models, it’s hard not to criticize Apple for including only two cameras in the iPhone 17, especially when you consider the basic models of the Google Pixel 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S26. Those Android smartphones both come with a large sensor, an ultrawide sensor, and a dedicated telephoto sensor. At this point, Apple seems to be falling behind the standard set by its competition.
Stage selfies are not a perfect solution. While it’s a nice feature to have, taking selfies with Center Stage looks and feels awkward. As it zooms out to capture everyone in the frame, it produces a very wide selfie that made our arms and torsos look really long. We prefer to stick to the standard method of rotating our phone and taking a cropped photo.
