iPhone 17
Apple (video, Hacker News, MacRumors):
Apple today announced iPhone 17, featuring the new Center Stage front camera that takes selfies to the next level; a powerful 48MP Fusion Main camera with an optical-quality 2x Telephoto; and a new 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera that captures expansive scenes and macro photography in more detail. The 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion is bigger and brighter, enabling supersmooth scrolling, immersive gaming, and improved efficiency. And with the new Ceramic Shield 2, the front cover is tougher than any smartphone glass or glass-ceramic, with 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation and reduced glare. It is all powered by the latest-generation A19 chip for higher performance and longevity.
iPhone 17 will now be available starting with 256GB of storage — double the entry storage from the previous generation — and a 512GB option, in five beautiful colors: black, lavender, mist blue, sage, and white.
[…]
iPhone 17 introduces N1, a new Apple-designed wireless networking chip that enables Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread.
It looks like they’re getting rid of the Plus.
Previously:
Update (2025-09-10): See also: Hacker News.
Update (2025-10-08): Juli Clover:
Apple is planning to release a fix for an iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro camera bug that causes black boxes to appear in photos. CNN Underscored’s Henry Casey discovered the issue in an iPhone Air review when snapping photos at a concert.
Got my new iPhone yesterday!
Spent the entire evening trying to log in to nearly every single app again.
My annual reminder that no team ever actually cares about the onboarding experience, since they rarely have to do it themselves.
This year, ProMotion finally comes to the regular-old iPhone 17, years after midrange and even lower-end Android phones made the swap to 90 or 120 Hz display panels. And it sounds like a small thing, but the screen upgrade—together with a doubling of base storage from 128GB to 256GB—makes the gap between this year’s iPhone and iPhone Pro feel narrower than it’s been in a long time. If you jumped on the Pro train a few years back and don’t want to spend that much again, this might be a good year to switch back. If you’ve ever been tempted by the Pro but never made the upgrade, you can continue not doing that and miss out on relatively little.
With the iPhone 17, Apple announced that they’ll be capable of charging even faster than previous iPhone models: up to 50% in just 20 minutes.
In its tech specs for the iPhone 17 models, Apple says:
- Up to 50% charge in 20 minutes with 40W adapter or higher (available separately) paired with USB‑C charging cable
- Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes with 30W adapter or higher paired with MagSafe Charger (both available separately)
The first set of reviews are out for the new 6.3-inch base iPhone 17 model ahead of the full iPhone 17 lineup launching on Friday.
In PassMark’s single-threaded benchmark, the A19 produced the best numbers of any chip available, including fully-fledged desktop SKUs. It did that while consuming significantly less power and being passively cooled. At least in this hyper-specific case, Apple’s A19 has become the fastest CPU available.
Both the A19 and A19 Pro benchmarked within the margin of error of each other; however, officially, it was the regular A19 that posted 5,149 points to claim the single-thread performance crown.
Update (2025-12-15): Ryan Christoffel:
In theory, Ceramic Shield 2 should give iPhone 17 users more confidence in going without a screen protector.
[…]
But a study published today by Astropad offers another reason to skip standard screen protectors.
Per the company’s testing, the iPhone 17’s new anti-reflective upgrades are completely lost—and then some—with the average screen protector.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
"In theory, Ceramic Shield 2 should give iPhone 17 users more confidence in going without a screen protector."
AFAIK, Ceramic Shield 2 only offers better scratch resistance, which hasn't been a huge issue for probably a decade. The real reason people use screen protectors is that they reduce the risk of the glass shattering when the phone falls screen-down onto something sharp or protruding, like a rock.
After using foldable screens for a while now, I've reached the conclusion that glass screens are a bad idea. My Huawei Mate XT Ultimate has part of its foldable screen exposed, and I haven't been careful at all, and I see zero scratches on it. I also tend to drop my phone at least once a month, and it's completely fine (but the glass cover on the camera cracked once — that was a cheap fix, fortunately).
My previous phone was a Z Fold. I managed to shatter its glass screen, but the foldable screen never had any issues.
Foldable screens are often dismissed as fragile, but in my experience, they are much more durable than glass screens. Eventually, the factory-installed screen protector may start to come off, but replacing it costs like 20 bucks.
@Plume My take is that Apple has been overly focused on shatter resistance. My phones always get scratched even though I take good care of them (nothing else in bag or pocket). So I can see why someone would use a protector to prevent scratches, even though I don’t do that myself.
That's interesting. I just drop my phones in my pocket or put them face down on tables, and I can't remember seeing a noticeable scratch in a long time. Subjectively, my Mate XT's screen feels soft and plasticky, but I have to look really closely when the screen is off and the light is just right to see a few tiny scratches and dents.
I was at a big band rehearsal recently, and of the roughly twenty musicians, at least three had iPhones with broken screens.
(The only reason I remember is that people using phones with broken screens make me feel uncomfortable, because I can't help but imagine using them and cutting my finger.)
