A new “Air” model, a major redesign, and a beefy A19 chip. The iPhone 17 series will likely come with these neat features and more when it launches next month.
Apple fans worldwide know the drill—September comes with a slew of hot releases from the tech giant, particularly the latest edition of its flagship smartphone. This year sees the launch of the iPhone 17 series and as we get closer to the device’s traditional announcement date, rumors and predictions about the coveted phone are popping up more frequently.
It is, for one, expected to be unveiled on September 9, according to trusted Apple insider and Bloomberg managing editor for tech Mark Gurman. The iPhone 17 series will be up for pre-order on September 12 and is likely to roll out in the United States on September 19. The talk within the global tech community—perhaps a new model, more advanced cameras, and beefier performance—is that its upcoming launch will be an exciting one.
So if you want to get your hands on the newest iPhone, or are just plain curious, here are the cool features that might come with the iPhone 17 series that will urge you to go for that upgrade.
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Make way for the new “Air” model
Apple is changing things up with the launch of its iPhone 17 series and not just the features. We’re talking about a new model, called “Air,” which renowned industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in 2024. In the investor note obtained by publications like Business Today, Kuo predicted that Apple will be releasing an all-new iPhone 17 Air as the Cupertino-based company is doing away with the “Plus” lineup, which has not been popular among customers. According to Kuo, the Plus lineup only accounts for 5% to 10% of iPhone shipments worldwide.
The iPhone 17 Air won’t be a direct replacement for the iPhone 17 Plus, though. It will debut as a new option in the lineup, offering users a “significantly thinner” design than other models in the series. It will only be 5.5mm thick, which is remarkably slimmer than the 8.725-mm iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Kuo predicted that the device will sport a display that’s around 6.6 inches and a narrower Dynamic Island. The slimmed-down iPhone 17 Air will also feature a “major redesign” like the rest of the models in the series.
Designed like never before
Apple will continue to shake things up over at the design department with a major redesign focused on its rear camera module. Several leaks and rumors suggest that Apple is replacing the square camera bump that became a signature of iPhones with a distinctive aluminum bar that runs across the width of the iPhone 17 Pro, and Pro Max.
The new camera bump will have the same color as the rest of the device and is expected to be thicker than previous models because of a new Telephoto lens that expands for continuous optical zoom at various focal lengths. Leaks suggest that the moving lens will be placed between other sensors, the LED flash, microphone, and LiDAR scanner on the refreshed module.
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Bigger camera, better images
Love taking photos? Then the iPhone 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max might just be the phone for you. Apple is taking a dramatic leap forward in improving the camera of its premium models by upgrading its Telephoto lens to 48 megapixels. With the larger sensor, expect to capture images with more photographic detail that remains clear and crisp even when cropped. The upgraded lens also makes the iPhone 17 Pro models the first iPhones to have a rear camera system composed entirely of 48MP shooters and likely capable to record videos at 8K.
Not only that, all models of the iPhone 17 lineup are rumored to feature a 24MP TrueDepth front-facing camera with a six-element lens. That’s twice the size of iPhone 14, 15, and 16’s selfie cameras which only have five plastic lens elements.
More powerful performance
If you think the iPhone 16’s console-level gaming capabilities are already impressive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Apple is stepping up its game by beefing up the iPhone 17 series with the A19 Bionic chip. The base iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air are expected to feature the base A19 chip, while the premium models will come with a more robust A19 Pro chip. According to MacRumors, this next-generation chip is built on a newer3nm process and will focus on smoother multitasking, enhanced AI and gaming performance, as well as increased power efficiency.
This dynamic chip is boosted with 12GB of RAM, which is significantly larger than the iPhone 16 series’ 8G memory. Together with the A19 chip, the boosted RAM provides additional resources for Apple Intelligence features, which utilize large-language models that occupy a significant amount of space in the device’s memory.
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New colors for every personality
As with every release, the color options of the upcoming iPhone 17 series is one of the highly anticipated features of the device. And this year, it looks like Apple will deliver. The base iPhone 17 model is rumored to come in six colors: the existing black and white, plus four new ones—steel gray, green, purple, and light blue. For those eyeing the slimmer iPhone 17 Air, expect to see the device in black, white, light blue, and light gold. As for the premium Pro models, there are the existing black, white, and gray, which will launch alongside the new dark blue and orange options.
