September is a month that undoubtedly holds a special place in many Apple fans’ hearts, with a popularity that rivals that of Christmas sometimes. That being said, while past iPhone launch events felt a bit too familiar, it’s safe to say that Apple is looking to shake things up this year with its new iPhones 17 series, which also includes the first-ever iPhone Air. There are some much-welcome upgrades this year, but what exactly do the new phones come with?
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Starting things is the new standard model in this year’s lineup, the iPhone 17. The base model is a bit more appealing this time around, thanks to a larger 6.3-inch display which comes with a peak brightness of 3000 nits, in addition to the much-requested ProMotion feature which finally brings 120Hz to the base iPhone lineup. In terms of overall looks it pretty much resembles the iPhone 16 from last year, right down to the camera bump on the rear panel. New this year is the A19 chip (which Apple claims is 20% faster than the previous A16), along with faster charging speeds, dual 48MP rear cameras (Wide and Ultrawide), an 18MP Center Stage front camera, and a starting storage of 256GB.
Up next we have the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which now come with a pretty interesting redesign—the phone features a wider camera bump that stretches across the top half of the device, in addition to an aluminium frame which dominates the majority of the device’s chassis. The 17 Pro features a new thermal system that uses a dedicated vapour chamber, which should keep the A19 Pro chip inside mostly cool even during intense gaming sessions. The 17 Pro’s camera system also comes with a more versatile setup, consisting of three 48MP rear cameras and an 18MP Center Stage front camera. It also introduces support for ProRes RAW capture and Genlock for professional content creation.
Finally we have the slimmest phone of the bunch, the new iPhone Air, which measures just 6.5mm in terms of thickness. It’s clear that Apple intends to go head-to-head with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and also goes all-in with a premium titanium frame design alongside a large 6.5-inch 120Hz display. Like the 17 Pro, the iPhone Air also comes with the A19 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU, along with Apple’s custom N1 and C1X chips for wireless and cellular performance.
Unlike the other models this year, the iPhone Air only features a single camera with a 48MP resolution, which you could probably say is a recurring theme at this point, which is again accompanied by an 18MP front camera with Center Stage functionality. The battery is pretty small though at just 3,149 mAh, although Apple says that it’s optimized for all-day usage, at least on paper.
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In terms of pricing, the iPhone 17 starts at £799, while the 17 Pro starts at £1,099, and the iPhone Air goes for £999. Pre-orders start on September 12, with in-store availability rolling out on the 19th.
