This photograph of the iPhone 17 Professional Max in Cosmic Orange was taken with the telephoto lens on an iPhone 17 Professional Max.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
The concept of “tyranny of choice” says that having a set of excellent selections is meant to let everybody discover precisely what makes them most pleased, however the actuality is that having so many good selections can usually result in nervousness, indecisiveness, and discontent. If we apply this idea to the iPhone 17 lineup, then Apple is kind of the tyrant this 12 months.
In any case, the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 is extra professional than ever and provides one of the best value-for-money in 2025. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have addressed the 2 greatest weak spots of final 12 months’s Professional fashions. And the iPhone Air provides you an opportunity to make use of tomorrow’s know-how right now.
Additionally: I tried Apple’s 2 big AI features announced at the iPhone 17 event – and both are game changers
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 another 12 months prior to now. And there are a number of the reason why.
Let’s unpack it by every of the product strains, in addition to who I would suggest as the perfect upgrader for each.
The $799 iPhone 17 fits extra folks 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first-time iPhone customers, and individuals who simply wanted a telephone that might work as a result of their outdated telephone had a cracked display or a battery that would not maintain a cost — and so they wished to restrict how a lot they spent on a telephone.
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. To start with, Apple lastly did a significant facelift to the iPhone 17’s display know-how, 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.
Apple additionally upgraded the cameras on the iPhone 17, shifting 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 know-how because the Execs and Air get this 12 months. That is a 24MP sq. sensor that successfully shoots 18MP pictures in both portrait or panorama mode and may now mechanically change between the 2 with out forcing you to flip your telephone. Even higher, you’ll be able to 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 one of the best photograph. Kudos to Apple for not retaining this new digicam tech within the Professional telephones solely this 12 months.
The bottom mannequin iPhone 17 compares very effectively to final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional.
Nina Raemont/ZDNET
Apple additionally saved 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 telephone at $899. From that perspective, Apple successfully gave the iPhone 17 a $100 worth minimize. Likewise, the iPhone 17’s two greatest Android rivals, the Pixel 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 nonetheless begin with 128GB of storage on their base fashions and each price $799.
Additionally: I compared the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max: Here’s who should upgrade
From one other perspective, this 12 months’s iPhone 17 is almost an identical to final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional, besides that it would not have the telephoto zoom, however it provides the next-gen selfie digicam and the twin seize digicam. And final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional began at $999 for 128GB of storage and $1,099 for 256GB.
Consequently, there are folks I might have beforehand really useful to go for the iPhone Professional line that I am very pleased to suggest the iPhone 17 base mannequin this 12 months and save a pair hundred {dollars}. When you’re somebody that 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 would suggest contemplating the iPhone 17 this 12 months. It is a way more highly effective and severe telephone 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 Execs — 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 know-how demonstration of simply how skinny its engineers could make a telephone as a precursor to a leap ahead in foldables — the Fold 7 in Samsung’s case.
Here is the iPhone Air in one of many new bumper instances that Apple is making.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
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 extensively anticipated to launch within the fall of 2026.
Additionally: iPhone Air vs. Samsung S25 Edge: I compared both ultra-thin phones to decide a winner
Nonetheless, the iPhone Air is undoubtedly the one which generated the largest wow issue when holding it in my palms. It is tremendous spectacular how skinny, gentle, and futuristic it feels. I would encourage you to enter an Apple Retailer or one of many wi-fi provider shops beginning on September 19 to see in case you get the identical emotional response to holding a telephone that’s principally the width of a USB-C port.
There is not any doubt that it is some of the spectacular technological achievements of 2025. However must you purchase it?
Korean pop star Jeong Yunho and Tim Cook dinner have a look at the iPhone Air on the September 2025 Apple Occasion.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
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 in case you’re a real energy person, then you definately’re not going to be glad with the battery life or the cameras on the iPhone Air.
However in case you’re somebody who likes to dwell on the reducing fringe of tech and run forward of the pack, you are in all probability going to be fairly giddy if you put your palms on the iPhone Air. You are in all probability somebody who would have beloved 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 in case you often use your telephone 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 beloved utilizing throughout the previous two years. I particularly beloved utilizing the principle digicam on these telephones to take extra photographs than another 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.
First, the zoom digicam was merely lower than the identical customary of high quality as the principle digicam — as a lot I wished it to be as a result of I like zoom images. Pictures taken on the 5x telephoto (first launched on the iPhone 15 Professional fashions) have been okay for social media, however the high quality would usually crumble once I began enhancing them. So I often needed to attain for my Sony mirrorless at any time when I wished top quality zoom photographs. In the meantime, I have been printing top quality photographs from the iPhone’s principal digicam for over a decade.
The iPhone 17 Professional Max in Deep Blue.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
The opposite huge drawback 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 lots of photograph or video capturing, once I was in crowded city areas with weak wi-fi indicators, or once I had the telephone out within the solar for prolonged intervals, these two Professional Max telephones would get extremely sizzling. And once 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 telephone.
I used to be thrilled that Apple has addressed each issues within the iPhone 17 Pro Max — in addition to the iPhone 17 Professional, which is similar precise telephone besides that it has a 6.3-inch display as a substitute of a 6.9-inch display in addition to a smaller battery.
Additionally: Should you upgrade to an iPhone 17 Pro from last year’s model? I am – here’s why
Let’s discuss in regards to 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 instances more practical 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 telephone’s A19 Professional chip and permit it to run at most energy whereas not overheating. I must do lots of testing of this over a interval of weeks and months, however I am very inspired that the iPhone 17 Professional Max addresses the overheating concern head on in its design.
On the subject of the telephoto zoom digicam, I am additionally inspired by the way in which Apple has addressed this within the iPhone 17 Professional Max. First, Apple upgraded its teraprism zoom from a 12MP sensor to a 48MP sensor, matching the 48MP sensor on the principle digicam. Then, Apple made this a 4x sensor (slightly than 5x), which gave the impression to be a curious downgrade at first. Nonetheless, by having extra pixels this enabled an 8x zoom cropped to 12MP and Apple boldly referred to as this an optical high quality 8x. Luckily, I obtained to attempt it out and I am impressed by what I’ve seen up to now. Under is an instance of what the 8x zoom lens is able to, and it is greater high quality then any zoom shot I’ve taken with an iPhone earlier than.
Instance of a photograph taken with the 8x zoom of the iPhone 17 Professional Max.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
After all, I will must 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 match it with the Pixel 10 Professional XL zoom, which I am additionally testing. Like final 12 months, I plan to do a devoted overview of the brand new iPhone 17 Professional digicam system. So maintain a watch out for that in early October.
However, I am now going to make a suggestion that I’ve by no means made earlier than — with an asterisk. When you have 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 feel you could wish to contemplate the potential of a more-rapid-than-usual improve to the iPhone 17 Pro 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 will report again. I will additionally maintain a watch out for some good trade-in offers that may ease the blow of a speedy improve.
