10 reasons to wait for next year’s iPhone 17

Apple is always working on several iPhone models at the same time, and we already know a few things about the company’s smartphone lineup for 2025. If you are excited about the launch of the iPhone 16 this year or just curious about the future, here are ten features expected in its successor, the iPhone 17, which should arrive in September 2025.

The iPhone 17 Pro will probably be the first iPhone to include under-display Face ID technology. The circular cutout for the front camera will likely be the only visible sign of the Face ID system beneath the screen. This should be Apple’s last premium model with a circular front-camera cutout. To deliver a truly “all-screen” look, the company is expected to adopt under-display cameras on the “Pro” models in 2025.

The display sizes of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to increase to 6.27 inches and 6.86 inches respectively. The standard iPhone model is predicted to adopt the larger 6.27-inch size in 2025, while the “iPhone 17 Plus” equivalent may come with completely new display dimensions.

In 2025, Apple plans to bring ProMotion to its standard models, so they reach a 120 Hz refresh rate, which allows smoother video content when needed. In addition, ProMotion may let the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Plus displays drop to an energy-efficient refresh rate as low as 1 Hz. This will enable an always-on display, showing widgets, notifications, the clock and Lock Screen wallpaper even when the device is locked.

The first Wi-Fi 7 chip designed by Apple should power the premium models in 2025. With a Wi-Fi 7-compatible router, the “Pro” models can send and receive data on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, which results in faster Wi-Fi speeds, lower latency and more reliable connectivity. The Wi-Fi chip would also let the company move further away from external suppliers such as Broadcom, which currently provides the combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip for iPhones.

Apple’s largest premium device, the Vision Pro, launched in 2024, has an improved 48-megapixel telephoto lens. (Current iPhone 15 Pro models have a 48-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide and a 12-megapixel telephoto.) This would make the 2025 “Pro Max” the first iPhone with a full 48-megapixel rear-camera system, capable of capturing even more detailed images.

One rumour claims that the iPhone 17 will feature a 24-megapixel front camera with a six-element lens. The 12-megapixel front camera with a five-element plastic lens introduced on the iPhone 14 and 15 is expected to continue on this year’s iPhone 16. The jump to a 24-megapixel camera on the iPhone 17 will allow photos to keep their quality even after cropping or zooming, while the higher pixel count captures finer detail. Image quality should also improve slightly thanks to the upgrade to a six-element lens.

Another rumour suggests that the iPhone 17’s anti-reflective display will be more scratch-resistant than Apple’s Ceramic Shield used on the iPhone 15 models. The outer glass on the iPhone 17 is expected to have an “ultra-hard anti-reflective layer” that is “more scratch-resistant”. It is not clear whether Apple plans to use Corning’s Gorilla Glass Armor, found on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, although the description of Corning’s latest technology matches this rumour.

Jeff Pu from investment firm Haitong claims that next year’s Pro models will come with 12 GB of RAM. By comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro and 16 Pro have 8 GB of RAM. An increase of this kind would allow better multitasking on the iPhone and provide additional headroom for AI features that require large language models in memory.

Jeff Pu from Haitong also says that, due to the use of a smaller “metalens” for the top-end iPhone’s Face ID system in 2025, the Dynamic Island will become significantly narrower. If correct, this will be the first time Apple changes the Dynamic Island since its introduction with the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022.

According to analyst Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the iPhone 17 Plus will feature a 6.55-inch display. Responding to a claim by Jeff Pu that the iPhone 17 Plus will be replaced by an “iPhone 17 Slim”, Young says he expects a size reduction of about 2% compared with previous, current and next-generation models. Based on this logic, a smaller display would help differentiate the larger iPhone 17 model from the iPhone 17 Pro Max, while still keeping it larger than the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro.