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Despite having the same design, Apple appears to have addressed all the issues that were highlighted last year. Really all of them? To give you a clearer picture, I’m presenting an article in a series of hits and misses! Ready to dive in?
Design: Hit or Miss?
The appearance of the non-Pro iPhones hasn’t changed much over the years. Besides a few different colors or sensor placements, there hasn’t been much excitement.
This year, the casing remains exactly the same – yes, even the much-criticized camera button is still there – but at least you can reuse your old cases. However, Apple has moved away from the bright colors of 2024 to more muted, pastel shades… which might even seem a bit dull. Our dear Sylwia preferred to stick with her iPhone 16 rather than upgrade to the 17… can you believe it?
There’s always the option of cases, like this girly Beats model, which also features a strap for horizontal viewing, perfect for watching videos. In the office, Anaïs absolutely loves it!
But design isn’t just about looks, Apple still uses a 100% aluminum chassis, which helps minimize overheating and keeps the device very light—it’s only 10 grams heavier than the iPhone Air! Well, that’s the theory, at least…
Indeed, just a few minutes into gaming, the temperature at a specific spot on the casing can easily reach 46 or even 47 degrees Celsius!
A Screen Worthy of the iPhone 17 Pro!
The iPhone 17’s screen is groundbreaking! After years of complaining about the lack of ProMotion, the display finally moves to 120Hz! The animations and scrolling appear much smoother. Just like the Retina display back in the day, once you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to go back!
Another significant improvement, like all iPhones of 2025, it offers up to 3000 nits of brightness. Apple really didn’t have to do this, but it makes the screen readable even in bright sunlight during our tests, it didn’t dim, but then, the hot days are behind us now…
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Finally, the AlwaysOn mode keeps the OLED screen lit when laid on a desk, handy for discreetly checking the time.
But the feature you can’t live without is definitely the wake mode: place the device on a wireless charger (links below) and you can have the time displayed all night!
• Buy the 2-in-1 Charger
• Buy the 3-in-1 Charger
Ancient Connectivity
One of the most frequent criticisms in recent years from Mac4Ever about non-Pro iPhones is definitely the whole USB 2.0 saga.
The switch to USB-C was a hit with everyone, but Apple insists on limiting the port to 480Mbps instead of 10Gbps (USB 3.0). So, a 1GB video will take about 20 seconds to transfer to a Mac or an external SSD, compared to just one second with USB 3. Restoring a local backup or transferring photos via cable could take hours here, whereas it would be a matter of minutes on an iPhone 17 Pro.
Frankly, in 2025, we shouldn’t still be seeing USB 2 on products that cost around €1000! And as long as Apple uses USB to segment its products, we will continue to loudly criticize this practice.
It’s less serious with WiFi, as the day-to-day impact is negligible, but still: Apple has been promoting the arrival of WiFi 7 for a year, and the promise hasn’t been fulfilled. Instead of the 4 to 5Gbps we could achieve if the chip managed the 320Mhz channel, we’re stuck with a WiFi 7 limited to 1.5Gbps… identical to WiFi 6E! At this price, we didn’t expect to have a connection two to three times slower than a mid-priced Android model.
Photography: Little Change, So What?
The main camera sensor on the iPhone 17 hasn’t changed this year, but that’s not necessarily a problem.
It’s the same sensor found in the iPhone Air, namely a 48MP model measuring 1/1.56″ equipped with a 26mm f/1.6 lens. It’s so good that it’s hard to tell the shots from an iPhone 17 Pro apart:
It’s worth noting that the aperture is better on the 17 (f/1.6 vs f/1.78) and the optics are slightly zoomed (26mm vs 24mm). From the same distance to the subject, the framing is a bit tighter (it’s subtle) and you might even gain a bit in detail, which is surprising:
The 17 Pro also features a significantly larger sensor (1/1.28″ vs 1/1.56) but even in low light, as here in a medieval building in Aigues-Mortes, it’s hard to give it a real advantage over the 17:
In this night photo, again, it’s surprising not to see a real difference between the images, even though they’re zoomed in 700%
Anyway, night photos, like these taken in Montmartre last weekend, are really top-notch. Not just for social media, these are genuinely good shots!
Obviously, the iPhone 17 still has a macro mode, a crop that offers a 2x zoom equivalent. Only the ultra-wide angle evolves, moving from 12 to 48MP this year, adopting the same sensor as on the 17 Pro! However, it’s hard to really tell them apart, even though the new model theoretically offers four times more pixels (but the aperture remains at f/2.2).
The only thing I miss a bit on the 17 is a real powerful optical zoom, like the 4x/8x on the iPhone 17 Pro. But the 2x is still sufficient most of the time. I did miss the ultra-wide angle on the iPhone Air a bit when doing tourism—you often lack the perspective in front of buildings or in large rooms. Luckily here, the dual sensor offers enough versatility not to feel too frustrated.
Video: Almost as Good as a Pro!
As you saw in our video, the iPhone 17 still offers excellent video quality!
It can shoot in 4K HDR 10 bit, with excellent stabilization, and even a natural bokeh, even without cinematic mode (which is still available).
At night, the dynamic range is impressive, again, despite the size of the sensor, we see very little digital noise in the images, the footage remains perfectly usable.
Among the new features this year, the dual-capture mode, found across the range, allows you to film yourself while using the main sensor. Ideal for content creators, it can also be useful during a video call or to show something without doing a “voiceover”. However, it is limited to 30FPS and the two images are merged onto the same video track. This system even works with the action mode activated, handy if you’re running, for example
Finally, the selfie camera is now square, again, it’s the same as on the 17 Pro and the iPhone Air. This allows you to take landscape-format photos without turning the iPhone, which is convenient when there are several people in the frame.
Still, the quality of the selfies remains very average, with a very flat image, forced contrasts… Without a filter, it tends to age you a bit.
Performance: Almost Pro!
The iPhone 17 features an A19 chip with 8GB of RAM and 5 GPU cores compared to 6 GPU cores on the A19 Pro and 12GB of RAM.
But in benchmarks, our A19 isn’t far off from the iPhone 17 Pro’s chip. It’s worth noting that these tests don’t really utilize the extra RAM.
On the GPU side, the A19 is understandably slightly behind, with one fewer core, and the RAM also plays a more significant role in 2D/3D (for loading textures, etc.).
Ultimately, it’s on 3DMark where our iPhone 17 impresses the most, surpassing the A19 Pro from the iPhone Air (which overheats):
Clearly, with this device, all the current AAA games and those coming in the next few years will run without any issues here. With enough power, you could even imagine surpassing 60FPS thanks to the ProMotion display.
Fast Charging: Promises Kept?
This year, Apple announces improvements in fast charging across all models.
On paper, the iPhone 17 can charge 50% of its battery in 20 minutes, but according to our tests, it’s more like 24-25 minutes. We’re not quite sure where Cupertino got its figure from, but even with very powerful chargers (100W), nothing changes!
Still, it’s a very good figure, you still gain 5 minutes over the iPhone 16!
As for fast charging, there’s also improvement, provided you