I’ve tested every iPhone 17 model, and I’m recommending something different this time

The thought of “tyranny of selection” says that having a set of fine selections is meant to let everybody discover precisely what makes them most joyful, however the actuality is that having so many good selections can typically result in anxiousness, indecisiveness, and discontent. If we apply this idea to the iPhone 17 lineup, then Apple is kind of the tyrant this 12 months.

In spite of everything, the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 is extra professional than ever and provides the most effective value-for-money in 2025. The iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max have addressed the 2 largest weak spots of final 12 months’s Professional fashions. And the iPhone Air provides you an opportunity to make use of tomorrow’s expertise in the present day. 

Additionally: I examined the iPhone 17 for twenty-four hours, and I am already questioning if I would like a Professional

I’ve upgraded my iPhone yearly for the reason that first iPhone in 2007 and I’ve spent hands-on time with all 4 of this 12 months’s iPhone fashions. And but, my shopping for recommendation this 12 months is wildly totally different than some other 12 months prior to now. And there are a number of explanation why.

Let’s unpack it by every of the product strains, in addition to who I might advocate as the best upgrader for every one. 

The $799 iPhone 17 fits extra individuals than ever

Don’t sleep on the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 this 12 months. 

In recent times I principally relegated my suggestions of the bottom mannequin iPhone to youngsters, youngsters, first-time iPhone customers, and individuals who simply wanted a cellphone that will work as a result of their previous cellphone had a cracked display or a battery that would not maintain a cost — they usually needed to restrict how a lot they spent on a cellphone. 

Not so this 12 months.

The truth that Apple poured so many upgrades into the iPhone 17 was the shock of the 2025 Apple Occasion for me. Initially, Apple lastly did a serious facelift to the iPhone 17’s display expertise, kicking it as much as 6.3-inches (from 6.1 final 12 months) with thinner bezels, 120Hz ProMotion show, 3000 nits of peak brightness, an anti-reflective coating, and an always-on show. 

Additionally: Need Meta Ray-Ban Show glasses? You need to ebook a demo first – and they’re going quick

Apple additionally upgraded the cameras on the iPhone 17, transferring to a 48MP twin fusion digicam with a 48MP principal digicam and 48MP ultrawide. Plus, the iPhone 17 will get the identical upgraded selfie digicam expertise because the Professionals and Air get this 12 months. That is a 24MP sq. sensor that successfully shoots 18MP photos in both portrait or panorama mode and might now mechanically change between the 2 with out forcing you to flip your cellphone. 

Even higher, you possibly can let the digicam use machine studying to seek out all of the faces within the shot and mechanically use portrait or panorama mode to get the most effective photograph. Kudos to Apple for not holding this new digicam tech within the Professional telephones solely this 12 months. 

Apple additionally stored the worth of the iPhone 17 at $799 whereas elevating the bottom storage from 128GB to 256GB. Final 12 months, 256GB of storage on the iPhone 16 would have put the worth of the cellphone at $899. From that perspective, Apple successfully gave the iPhone 17 a $100 worth lower. Likewise, the iPhone 17’s two largest Android opponents, the Pixel 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 nonetheless begin with 128GB of storage on their base fashions and each value $799. 

Additionally: I in contrast the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, 17 Professional, and 17 Professional Max: This is who ought to improve

From one other perspective, this 12 months’s iPhone 17 is sort of an identical to final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional, besides that it does not have the telephoto zoom, nevertheless it provides the next-gen selfie digicam and the dual-capture digicam. And final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional began at $999 for 128GB of storage and $1,099 for 256GB.

Because of this, there are individuals I’d have beforehand beneficial to go for the iPhone Professional line who I am very joyful to advocate the iPhone 17 base mannequin to as an alternative this 12 months, saving them a pair hundred {dollars}. If you happen to’re somebody who does not use the telephoto zoom very a lot and also you’re coming from an iPhone 14 Professional or an iPhone 13 Professional (or earlier), then I might advocate contemplating the iPhone 17 this 12 months. It is a way more highly effective and critical cellphone now.

The iPhone Air provides a style of the longer term

The iPhone Air steps right into a little bit of a cursed place within the iPhone lineup between the bottom mannequin and Professionals — a spot the place the iPhone 12-13 Mini and the iPhone 14-16 Plus fashions all struggled to generate a lot curiosity over the previous half decade. 

Like Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, the iPhone Air is taken into account a expertise demonstration of simply how skinny its engineers could make a cellphone as a precursor to a leap ahead in foldables — the Fold 7 in Samsung’s case. 

So the iPhone Air is not simply haunted by the previous, it is also standing within the shadow of the long-awaited foldable iPhone that is broadly anticipated to launch within the fall of 2026. 

Additionally: I changed my iPhone 16 Professional Max with the iPhone Air – this is my shopping for recommendation now

Nonetheless, the iPhone Air is undoubtedly the one which generated the most important wow issue when holding it in my fingers. It is tremendous spectacular how skinny, gentle, and futuristic it feels. I might encourage you to enter an Apple Retailer or one of many wi-fi provider shops beginning on Sept. 19 to see if you happen to get the identical emotional response to holding a cellphone that’s mainly the width of a USB-C port. 

There is no doubt that it is one of the spectacular technological achievements of 2025. However must you purchase it? 

For the overwhelming majority of iPhone upgraders, I am nonetheless going to say no — not when the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 has higher cameras and prices much less. And if you happen to’re a real energy consumer, you then’re not going to be happy with the battery life or the cameras on the iPhone Air. 

However if you happen to’re somebody who likes to dwell on the slicing fringe of tech and run forward of the pack, you are in all probability going to be fairly giddy if you put your fingers on the iPhone Air. You are in all probability somebody who would have cherished to put on Google Glass or the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and also you’re one of many main candidates to get the iPhone Fold in 2026. The iPhone Air will allow you to dwell in that future. Simply be sure to order the if you happen to recurrently use your cellphone for greater than about 4 hours a day. 

The iPhone 17 Professional Max solves huge issues

The iPhone 16 Professional Max and the iPhone 15 Professional Max are two telephones that I’ve cherished utilizing in the course of the previous two years. I particularly cherished utilizing the primary digicam on these telephones to take extra images than some other smartphone digicam and even my skilled Sony mirrorless digicam over the previous two years. 

However I additionally struggled with the identical two issues on each of these telephones. 

Additionally: I attempted Apple’s 2 huge AI options introduced on the iPhone 17 occasion – and each are recreation changers

First, the zoom digicam was merely lower than the identical customary of high quality as the primary digicam — as a lot I needed it to be as a result of I really like zoom images. Photographs taken on the 5x telephoto (first launched on the iPhone 15 Professional fashions) had been okay for social media, however the high quality would sometimes disintegrate once I began modifying them. So I recurrently needed to attain for my Sony mirrorless each time I needed high-quality zoom photographs. In the meantime, I have been printing high-quality images from the iPhone’s principal digicam for over a decade.

The opposite huge downside I had with the 2 titanium iPhone 15 and 16 Professional Max telephones over the previous two years was common overheating. Each time I used to be doing loads of photograph or video taking pictures, once I was in crowded city areas with weak wi-fi alerts, or once I had the cellphone out within the solar for prolonged intervals, these two Professional Max telephones would get extremely sizzling. And after they overheated, the battery would begin to drain in a short time. 

That is positively not the dynamic you wish to see from an costly, high-end cellphone.  

I used to be thrilled that Apple has addressed each issues within the iPhone 17 Professional Max — in addition to the iPhone 17 Professional, which is identical actual cellphone besides that it has a 6.3-inch display as an alternative of a 6.9-inch display and a smaller battery. 

Additionally: Do you have to improve to an iPhone 17 Professional from final 12 months’s mannequin? I’m – this is why

Let’s speak concerning the thermals first. Apple has changed titanium and gone again to aluminum for the casing of the iPhone 17 Professional Max. Aluminum could be as much as 5-10 occasions simpler at conducting and dispersing warmth than titanium. However Apple additionally added a vapor chamber cooling system that makes use of deionized water to chill the cellphone’s A19 Professional chip and permit it to run at most energy whereas not overheating. 

I have to do loads of testing over weeks and months, however I am very inspired that the iPhone 17 Professional Max addresses the overheating problem head-on in its design.

In the case of the telephoto zoom digicam, I am additionally inspired by the best way Apple has addressed this within the iPhone 17 Professional Max. First, Apple upgraded its tetraprism zoom from a 12MP sensor to a 48MP sensor, matching the 48MP sensor on the primary digicam. Then, Apple made this a 4x sensor (slightly than 5x), which seemed to be a curious downgrade at first. 

Nevertheless, having extra pixels enabled an 8x zoom cropped to 12MP, which Apple boldly known as an optical high quality 8x. Happily, I obtained to strive it out, and I am impressed by what I’ve seen to this point. Under is an instance of what the 8x zoom lens is able to, and it is increased high quality than any zoom shot I’ve taken with an iPhone earlier than. 

In fact, I am going to have to do much more testing with the zoom digicam earlier than I can say whether or not it is able to tackle extra of my on a regular basis zoom images. I am additionally going to check it with the Pixel 10 Professional XL zoom, which I am additionally testing. Like final 12 months, I plan to do a devoted evaluate of the brand new iPhone 17 Professional digicam system. So preserve a watch out for that in early October. 

Additionally: iPhone Air vs. Samsung S25 Edge: I in contrast each ultra-thin telephones to determine a winner

However, I am now going to make a suggestion that I’ve by no means made earlier than — with an asterisk. If you happen to had been like me and bumped into plenty of overheating and zoom issues with the iPhone 15 Professional Max and even the iPhone 16 Professional Max, I believe it’s possible you’ll wish to take into account the potential of a more-rapid-than-usual improve to the iPhone 17 Professional Max this 12 months. 

Once more, I will do extra testing earlier than I definitively make that suggestion, however I wish to put it in your radar. I will be doing extra rigorous testing over the approaching weeks and I am going to report again. I am going to additionally preserve a watch out for some good trade-in offers that may ease the blow of a fast improve.