The days of yearly smartphone upgrades are long gone, with most people waiting two to three years to trade in their devices. With fewer big leaps in features between models and the cost of devices climbing higher, people are hanging on to get more for their money. Companies are also supporting their products for longer, meaning you won’t feel pushed into upgrading a perfectly usable smartphone simply because it no longer gets the newest software.
So there are good reasons to keep your existing phone. However, there comes a time when it is inevitable. If that time has arrived, you might be interested in Apple’s latest devices, which began shipping today.
But which device suits you best?
iPhone 17
The basic iPhone 17 has almost everything you need. A 6.3-inch display that is not only bigger than the iPhone 16’s 6.1-inch display, but it is also brighter and supports some of the technology that was exclusive to the iPhone Pro in the past. That includes the always-on display and the ProMotion display technology that gives you a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.
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It is made to run Apple Intelligence, as the company adds to its various features, and runs on the A19 chip, which has a six-core CPU and five-core GPU with Neural Accelerators. It is more power efficient too, so you get a little longer out of the battery.
On the camera front, the front facing camera has been updated to 18 megapixels, and now has Centre Stage for video calls and photos. The rear camera, meanwhile, has been upgraded to 48MP for both the main camera and ultra wide.
Buy it if: You want the best of all worlds. You don’t sacrifice too much on the Pro, but at €979, it is almost €400 cheaper.
iPhone 17 Pro
The smaller of the two Pro models, the iPhone 17 Pro comes with a 6.3-inch display, with the new aluminium unibody design. It has Apple’s latest Ceramic Shield 2 technology on the front and back of the phone, making it more durable than its predecessors.
It has the additional camera, with up to 8x optical zoom, and it is a 48MP Fusion camera system across the board, with the main camera, ultrawide and telephoto lens all at 48MP.
Powered by the A19 Pro, it is a cut above the iPhone 17 with six CPU and six GPU cores, and with the Neural Accelerators that can run powerful generative AI models on the device. Battery life has been bumped up to 31 hours of video playback, from 27 hours previously. Wireless charging via MagSafe has been increased to 25W too.
Buy it if: You like power, but in a more compact form.
iPhone 17 Pro Max
The Pro Max model has always been the biggest of the bunch, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max is no exception. It is almost identical to the 17 Pro in looks and features, but there are a couple of exceptions. The display is 6.9 inches, giving you some valuable extra space, and the battery is also larger, providing up to six hours extra of video playback.
The Pro Max also comes with an additional capacity option, with a 2TB option.
Buy it if: You want the most space and power. That extra display area can come in handy for video and photo editing, or just for increasing the text size to “readable without glasses”.
iPhone Air
The newest addition to the iPhone line-up, the Air is the slimmest of the lot. It ditches the physical sim in favour of e-sim, saving a bit of space on the inside. It comes with a titanium frame and a 6.5 inch display that has all the technology – ProMotion, always on display – of the remaining iPhone models.
The lack of a physical sim means you have to be with a network that supports the virtual sims, but the main networks appear to be on board.
There has to be some trade-offs though. It has the lowest battery life of the line-up, at 27 hours, for example. It also has a single 48MP Fusion camera system, which Apple says functions like multiple advanced cameras in one.
Buy it if: Size matters. The barely there phone almost disappears, though there are trade-offs.
