iPhone 17 Reviews: Choosing the Base Model 'No Longer Means Missing Out'

The first set of reviews are out for the new 6.3-inch base iPhone 17 model ahead of the full ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup launching on Friday.

As noted in our buyer's guide, the ‌iPhone 17‌ features Apple's biggest display upgrade to a non-Pro model in years, with a larger 6.3-inch display (up from 6.1 inches) and a 120Hz ProMotion display for refresh rates up to 120Hz. There are also some major camera improvements, faster performance, and big battery life gains. So what do these enhancements mean for users in real terms?

According to The Verge's Jacob Kastrenakes, the new display is a game changer:

In size, resolution, and specs, the iPhone 17's display is the same as what you’ll find on this year's Pro. And the most notable thing about the change is that the iPhone 17 finally has an always-on display. The feature works exactly the same as it does on the Pro phones, too. When you set the iPhone 17 down, the screen dims, showing a faint version of your wallpaper, widgets, clock, and notifications.

Being able to quickly glance at your phone for information is extremely handy and instantly makes the device a whole lot more useful.

TechRadar's Jacob Krol also had only positive things to say about the new 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display, calling it "the star of the show."

Yes, the iPhone 17's 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display now supports ProMotion, meaning it delivers a buttery-smooth experience for scrolling, swiping, gaming, streaming, and even general navigation, as it will adjust on the fly from 1Hz all the way up to 120Hz depending on what you're doing. The iPhone 16, 15, and 14 before it were all locked at 60Hz, which wasn't a big deal if you weren’t coming from a 120Hz device, but this is a really nice upgrade.

The iPhone 17's display story is really about the sum of its parts. ProMotion, Always-On, and a slightly larger screen make for a great experience, and there's a serious amount of value to be found through this display alone. Oh, and it's also coated in Ceramic Shield 2, which makes it three times as scratch-resistant as the screen on the iPhone 16 – that's a win, especially if you're prone to dropping your iPhone.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ features two rear cameras consisting of a 48-megapixel Wide camera and a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide – an upgrade over the 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens on the iPhone 16.

CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti particularly welcomed the camera upgrades and noted how the new features allow the ‌iPhone 17‌ to punch above the iPhone Air:

It's interesting to have more photo-taking flexibility on a less expensive iPhone model, since the iPhone Air can't take 0.5x photos or Cinematic mode videos. It's another way this baseline device makes a case for itself. Like the iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 takes 12-megapixel 2x telephoto images, which maintain a solid level of detail as you punch in. Photos default to 24 megapixels, but you can switch to 48 megapixels to capture a bit more detail.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ features 8GB of RAM – the least of all new iPhones – and Apple's base A19 processor, including a six-core CPU, a five-core GPU, and Apple's Neural Engine. The GPU cores also each have their own Neural Accelerator, which Apple says boosts the chip's ability to process AI calculations.

PC Mag's Eric Zeman put the phone through its paces and came away impressed:

I ran the phone through the typical battery of benchmark tests to see how it fares against the competition. Surprisingly, it runs a bit faster than the iPhone Air, which becomes much hotter than the 17 under load. Meanwhile, the Pro iPhones are about 10% faster, which isn't as big a difference as I expected.

The iPhone 17 buries the Pixel 10's Tensor G5 processor in testing, though Google tells us it designs its chips to run AI calculations, not perform well on benchmarks. The iPhone 17's A19 also bested the Galaxy S25's Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip in CPU performance, though it fell behind in GPU calculations.

Ultimately, the iPhone 17 and its combination of memory and A19 power are more than enough to handle all your apps, daily tasks, and Apple Intelligence requests. In my tests, the phone had no trouble generating AI images, conjuring up new Genmoji, and powering Apple Photos' editing tools.

Apple claims that the ‌iPhone 17‌ offers an additional 8 hours of video playback compared to the ‌iPhone 16‌. But how does that translate to real world gains? Tom's Guide's John Velasco reported a subtle improvement in his tests:

Our battery drain test reveals an improvement, albeit a small one. It reaches a time of 12 hours and 47 minutes, an improvement of 34 minutes over the iPhone 16. That might not sound like a whole lot, but it's worth remembering that the iPhone 17 has a larger 6.3-inch display this time.

I can affirm that I'm getting all-day battery life with a full charge. Roughly speaking, I'm seeing 15% battery life right before bed time. Most of my time was spent on checking emails, watching a few videos on my break at work, and looking through all of my social feeds. It's undoubtedly nowhere as close to offering the endurance I’ve been having with my iPhone 16 Pro Max for just about the last year, but most people will suffice getting through a work day.

I'm excited to report that Apple also upgrades the iPhone 17's charging speeds, with its 35W wired charging getting its battery to 39% in 15 minutes — and then to 71% in 30 minutes. That's a marked improvement over the iPhone 16, but Apple didn't stop there as it also adds 25W Qi 2.2 charging support.

Like the ‌iPhone Air‌ and iPhone 17 Pro models, the base ‌iPhone 17‌ can be pre-ordered now, starting at $799.

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