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This photograph of the iPhone 17 Pro Max successful Cosmic Orange was taken with the telephoto lens connected an iPhone 17 Pro Max.
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The thought of "tyranny of choice" says that having a acceptable of bully choices is expected to fto everyone find precisely what makes them astir happy, but the world is that having truthful galore bully choices tin often pb to anxiety, indecisiveness, and discontent. If we use this conception to the iPhone 17 lineup, past Apple is rather the tyrant this year.
After all, the basal exemplary iPhone 17 is much pro than ever and offers the champion value-for-money successful 2025. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max person addressed the 2 biggest anemic spots of past year's Pro models. And the iPhone Air gives you a accidental to usage tomorrow's exertion today.
Also: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max review: I've got 1 large crushed to urge a year-over-year upgrade
I've upgraded my iPhone each twelvemonth since the archetypal iPhone successful 2007, and I've spent hands-on clip with each 4 of this year's iPhone models. And yet, my buying proposal this twelvemonth is wildly antithetic than immoderate different twelvemonth successful the past. And determination are respective reasons why.
Let's unpack it by looking astatine each of the merchandise lines, arsenic good arsenic who I'd urge arsenic the perfect upgrader for each one.
The $799 iPhone 17 suits much radical than ever
Do not slumber connected the basal exemplary iPhone 17 this year.
In caller years I mostly relegated my recommendations of the basal exemplary iPhone to kids, teenagers, first-time iPhone users, and radical who conscionable needed a telephone that would enactment due to the fact that their aged telephone had a cracked surface oregon a artillery that wouldn't clasp a complaint -- and they wanted to bounds however overmuch they spent connected a phone.
Not truthful this year.
The information that Apple poured truthful galore upgrades into the iPhone 17 was the astonishment of the 2025 Apple Event for me. First of all, Apple yet did a large facelift to the iPhone 17's surface technology, kicking it up to 6.3-inches (from 6.1 past year) with thinner bezels, 120Hz ProMotion display, 3000 nits of highest brightness, an anti-reflective coating, and an always-on display.
Apple besides upgraded the cameras connected the iPhone 17, moving to a 48MP dual fusion camera with a 48MP main camera and 48MP ultrawide. Plus, the iPhone 17 gets the aforesaid upgraded selfie camera exertion arsenic the Pros and Air get this year. That's a 24MP quadrate sensor that efficaciously shoots 18MP images successful either representation oregon scenery mode and tin present automatically power betwixt the 2 without forcing you to flip your phone.
Even better, you tin fto the camera usage instrumentality learning to find each the faces successful the changeable and automatically usage representation oregon scenery mode to get the champion photo. Kudos to Apple for not keeping this caller camera tech successful the Pro phones lone this year.
The basal exemplary iPhone 17 compares precise good to past year's iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple besides kept the terms of the iPhone 17 astatine $799 portion raising the basal retention from 128GB to 256GB. Last year, 256GB of retention connected the iPhone 16 would person enactment the terms of the telephone astatine $899. From that perspective, Apple efficaciously gave the iPhone 17 a $100 terms cut. Likewise, the iPhone 17's 2 biggest Android competitors, the Pixel 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 inactive commencement with 128GB of retention connected their basal models and some outgo $799.
From different perspective, this year's iPhone 17 is astir identical to past year's iPhone 16 Pro, but that it lacks the telephoto zoom. However, it does adhd the next-gen selfie camera and the dual-capture camera. And past year's iPhone 16 Pro started astatine $999 for 128GB of retention and $1,099 for 256GB.
As a result, determination are radical I would person antecedently recommended to opt for the iPhone Pro enactment who I'm precise blessed to urge the iPhone 17 basal exemplary to alternatively this year, redeeming them a mates 100 dollars. If you're idiosyncratic who doesn't usage the telephoto zoom precise overmuch and you're coming from an iPhone 14 Pro oregon an iPhone 13 Pro (or earlier), past I'd urge considering the iPhone 17 this year. It's a overmuch much almighty and superior telephone now.
The iPhone Air offers a sensation of the future
The iPhone Air steps into a spot of a cursed spot successful the iPhone lineup betwixt the basal exemplary and Pros -- a spot wherever the iPhone 12-13 Mini and the iPhone 14-16 Plus models each struggled to make overmuch involvement implicit the past fractional decade.
Like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge, the iPhone Air is considered a exertion objection of conscionable however bladed its engineers tin marque a telephone arsenic a precursor to a leap guardant successful foldables -- the Fold 7 successful Samsung's case.
Here's the iPhone Air successful 1 of the caller bumper cases that Apple is making.
So the iPhone Air isn't conscionable haunted by the past, it's besides lasting successful the shadiness of the long-awaited foldable iPhone that's wide expected to motorboat successful the autumn of 2026.
Also: I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro Max with the iPhone Air - here's my buying proposal now
Still, the iPhone Air is undoubtedly the 1 that generated the biggest wow origin erstwhile holding it successful my hands. It's ace awesome however thin, light, and futuristic it feels. I'd promote you to spell into an Apple Store oregon 1 of the wireless bearer stores starting connected Sept. 19 to spot if you get the aforesaid affectional absorption to holding a telephone that is fundamentally the width of a USB-C port.
There's nary uncertainty that it's 1 of the astir awesome technological achievements of 2025. But should you bargain it?
Korean popular prima Jeong Yunho and Tim Cook look astatine the iPhone Air astatine the September 2025 Apple Event.
For the immense bulk of iPhone upgraders, I'm inactive going to accidental nary -- not erstwhile the basal exemplary iPhone 17 has amended cameras and costs less. And if you're a existent powerfulness user, past you're not going to beryllium satisfied with the artillery beingness oregon the cameras connected the iPhone Air.
But if you're idiosyncratic who loves to unrecorded connected the cutting borderline of tech and tally up of the pack, you're astir apt going to beryllium beauteous giddy erstwhile you enactment your hands connected the iPhone Air. You're astir apt idiosyncratic who would person loved to deterioration Google Glass oregon the Apple Vision Pro and you're 1 of the starring candidates to get the iPhone Fold successful 2026. The iPhone Air volition fto you unrecorded successful that future. Just marque definite you bid the if you regularly usage your telephone for much than astir 4 hours a day.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max solves large problems
The iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Pro Max are 2 phones that I've loved utilizing during the past 2 years. I particularly loved utilizing the main camera connected these phones to instrumentality much photos than immoderate different smartphone camera oregon adjacent my nonrecreational Sony mirrorless camera implicit the past 2 years.
But I besides struggled with the aforesaid 2 problems connected some of those phones.
First, the zoom camera was simply not up to the aforesaid modular of prime arsenic the main camera -- arsenic overmuch I wanted it to beryllium due to the fact that I emotion zoom photography. Shots taken connected the 5x telephoto (first introduced connected the iPhone 15 Pro models) were good for societal media, but the prime would typically autumn isolated erstwhile I started editing them. So I regularly had to scope for my Sony mirrorless whenever I wanted high-quality zoom shots. Meanwhile, I've been printing high-quality photos from the iPhone's main camera for implicit a decade.
The iPhone 17 Pro successful Deep Blue.
The different large occupation I had with the 2 titanium iPhone 15 and 16 Pro Max phones implicit the past 2 years was regular overheating. Whenever I was doing a batch of photograph oregon video shooting, erstwhile I was successful crowded municipality areas with anemic wireless signals, oregon erstwhile I had the telephone retired successful the prima for extended periods, these 2 Pro Max phones would get incredibly hot. And erstwhile they overheated, the artillery would commencement to drain precise quickly.
That's decidedly not the dynamic you privation to spot from an expensive, high-end phone.
I was thrilled that Apple has addressed some problems successful the iPhone 17 Pro Max -- arsenic good arsenic the iPhone 17 Pro, which is the aforesaid nonstop telephone but that it has a 6.3-inch surface alternatively of a 6.9-inch surface and a smaller battery.
Also: Should you upgrade to an iPhone 17 Pro from past year's model? I americium - here's why
Let's speech astir the thermals first. Apple has replaced titanium and gone backmost to aluminum for the casing of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Aluminum tin beryllium up to 5-10 times much effectual astatine conducting and dispersing vigor than titanium. But Apple besides added a vapor enclosure cooling system that uses deionized h2o to chill the phone's A19 Pro spot and let it to tally astatine maximum spot portion not overheating.
I request to bash a batch of investigating implicit weeks and months, but I'm precise encouraged that the iPhone 17 Pro Max addresses the overheating contented head-on successful its design.
When it comes to the telephoto zoom camera, I'm besides encouraged by the mode Apple has addressed this successful the iPhone 17 Pro Max. First, Apple upgraded its tetraprism zoom from a 12MP sensor to a 48MP sensor, matching the 48MP sensor connected the main camera. Then, Apple made this a 4x sensor (rather than 5x), which appeared to beryllium a funny downgrade astatine first.
However, having much pixels enabled an 8x zoom cropped to 12MP, which Apple boldly called an optical prime 8x. Fortunately, I got to effort it out, and I'm impressed by what I've seen truthful far. Below is an illustration of what the 8x zoom lens is susceptible of, and it's higher prime than immoderate zoom changeable I've taken with an iPhone before.
Example of a photograph taken with the 8x zoom of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Of course, I'll request to bash a batch much investigating with the Zoom camera earlier I tin accidental whether it's acceptable to instrumentality connected much of my mundane Zoom photography. I'm besides going to comparison it with the Pixel 10 Pro XL zoom, which I'm besides testing. Like past year, I program to bash a dedicated reappraisal of the caller iPhone 17 Pro camera system, truthful enactment tuned for that.
Also: iPhone Air vs. Samsung S25 Edge: I compared some ultra-thin phones to determine a winner
Nevertheless, I'm present going to marque a proposal that I've ne'er made earlier -- with an asterisk. If you, similar me, experienced overheating and zoom issues with the iPhone 15 Pro Max oregon the iPhone 16 Pro Max, you whitethorn privation to see a much rapid-than-usual upgrade to the iPhone 17 Pro Max this year.
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