Apple's "Glowtime" event on Sept. 9 came and went, and now we know everything we need to know about the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. But what about next year?
If the iPhone 16 announcement didn't do much for you, or you don't need to upgrade for another year, there's always the iPhone 17 to look forward to. Of course, Apple hasn't officially said anything about the iPhone 17 yet. All we have to go on are rumors, leaks, and news reports.
Thankfully, a handful of those are already out there regarding the next iPhone. Let's dig in. Here's what we know so far about iPhone 17.
Easily the biggest potential iPhone 17 development that we've heard about so far involves a new addition to the iPhone family. According to multiple sources, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and The Information, Apple plans to get rid of the Plus model and put a new, thinner iPhone in its place. Folks have called it "iPhone 17 Slim" or "iPhone 17 Air," though we don't know what its official name will be just yet.
This new slim iPhone would reportedly be much thinner than existing iPhones and feature a display somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.5 or 6.6-inches in size. There's not much else to say about it yet, however, as different sources disagree on what this phone actually is. The Information says it will be the most expensive and high-end phone in the new lineup, while Kuo says that won't be the case.
We'll have to wait for a while to find out more.
One thing Apple typically does when there's a new generation of iPhones is add features that used to be exclusive to the Pro models to the new base models. It seems that ProMotion is next.
According to MacRumors, all four iPhone 17 models will feature 120Hz refresh rates thanks to ProMotion display technology. This is a godsend that is not quite on the same level as Apple finally adding USB-C ports to iPhones, but it's not far off, either. Apple's base-level iPhones have been stuck on 60Hz displays for years, while competitors like Google have bumped even their budget handsets up past 90hz or more.
It's one of the main ways in which base model iPhones have felt outdated for a while, so ideally, Apple will fix this soon.
There isn't much info about this yet, but Apple always includes newer and faster chips in at least its Pro iPhone models every year. The iPhone 16 Pro models feature an A18 Pro chip, for example, which is new for this year.
As such, we can reasonably expect to see some kind of A19 chip in the new iPhones. If precedent matters at all, it might only be in the iPhone 17 Pro models, while the regular iPhone 17 gets a slightly older chip. However, Apple does weird things all the time, so who knows what will happen when it comes to chips next year.
While selfies taken on iPhones never look bad, necessarily, they could always be better. Rumors indicate the iPhone 17 will help out with that.
According to Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors), all four new iPhone 17s will have a 24MP front-facing camera, up from 12MP on the iPhone 16 models. Who knows yet how much this will actually improve things, but that's a hefty increase.
In another report by Kuo, the prominent Apple prognosticator said that the iPhone 17 Pro Max (at least) will have a trio of 48MP camera lenses on the rear for the first time. The wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses will all be 48MP next year, in comparison to the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, both of which only have 12MP telephoto lenses.
Hopefully, that means even deeper levels of zoom, too.
