Apple officially announced the iPhone 17 launch event. Could there be so many hidden details in the invitation?
Not Just the iPhone
It's heating up!
Early this morning, Apple finally officially announced that the iPhone 17 launch event will be held at 1 a.m. Beijing time on September 10th. The Chinese slogan is "Get Ready for the Heat".
This launch event will bring a wide variety of new products. In addition to the phones, it is expected that multiple new products such as AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple TV will also be released.
Summary:
- The iPhone 17 will feature a high - refresh - rate screen.
- The iPhone 17 Air will have a body thickness of 5.5 mm.
- The iPhone 17 Pro will come with a vapor chamber and 8x telephoto zoom.
- The Apple Watch Ultra 3 will have a larger screen.
- The AirPods Pro 3 will be able to measure heart rate.
- The Apple TV 4K will be able to play AAA games.
The Invitation is Full of Spoilers
As usual, let's first take a look at this year's invitation: an apple resembling a thermal imaging picture, with orange and blue glows flowing on it.
(A little Easter egg: Click on the large apple logo on the Apple official website with your finger or mouse, and you'll make some new discoveries.)
Combined with previous leaks, this invitation is likely to imply two major updates for the iPhone 17 series.
Firstly, it's about the color. Bloomberg reported that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will get a new "orange" color scheme, which is a bit brighter than the current "Desert Gold" and is quite close to bronze.
In addition to the new orange, black, and white, the iPhone 17 Pro series will also have a "dark blue" color option, similar to the sea - blue of the iPhone 12 Pro and the titanium - blue of the iPhone 15 Pro.
The all - new iPhone 17 Air, which succeeds the iPhone 16 Plus, will exclusively feature a new color called "sky blue", the same as the M4 MacBook Air released this year. It is the lightest shade of blue on the color scale and mostly looks a bit like silver - gray.
Image source: 9to5Mac
Besides the blue + orange color scheme, this thermal - imaging apple logo also seems to imply that "heat dissipation" will be a key focus for the iPhone 17 series this time.
Famous leaker Majin Bu revealed that the iPhone 17 Pro series will be the first to feature the VC vapor chamber heat dissipation system that has become popular in the Android camp. He also shared a suspected copper heat sink component, believing that it is specially designed for large - area heat dissipation, covering the motherboard and adjacent modules, and will replace the graphene heat sink currently used in iPhones.
Image source: Majin Bu
Different from traditional graphite pads, the vapor chamber uses a phase - change mechanism: the liquid evaporates at high temperatures, moves on the plate, and then condenses back into a liquid, thus redistributing heat more effectively. The goal is to maintain stable performance under high - workload tasks (including gaming, video rendering, and AI inference tasks).
The overheating problem of iPhones under high - workload situations has long been criticized. It seems that Apple is determined to solve this issue.
Four New iPhones, the Highlights Aren't on the Pro Models
Although Apple hasn't released the phones yet, the specific information about the four models of the iPhone 17 series has been mostly leaked online. We're just waiting for Apple to officially confirm them on September 10th.
Let's get to the point: This might be the toughest sell for the Pro models in recent years (though they will still be the best - selling models, of course).
iPhone 17 Air: The Thinnest iPhone Ever
With a thickness of 5.5 mm, the all - new iPhone 17 Air becomes the thinnest iPhone ever.
IFanr has previously reported in detail about this phone. Its biggest highlight is its thinness, but it also makes some sacrifices for that:
- A single rear - facing camera
- A single speaker located at the top of the phone
- A 2900mAh battery
The C1 baseband, which performed unexpectedly well on the iPhone 16e but still lags behind Qualcomm chips.
Moreover, under the guise of thinness, Apple has finally decided to remove the SIM card slot from the iPhone 17 Air and fully promote eSIM.
However, the iPhone 17 Air, which is positioned between the standard and Pro models, also has some "transcendent" configurations. To improve its limited battery life, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be equipped with a ProMotion high - refresh - rate screen, supporting a variable refresh rate of 1 - 120Hz.
Not only is it ultra - thin, but the iPhone 17 Air also has a slightly larger screen: 6.55 inches, which is between the Pro (6.3 inches) and Pro Max (6.9 inches), achieving a balance between a large screen and body strength.
The iPhone 17 Air will be equipped with the A19 Pro processor instead of the same A19 as the standard model, but it will have one less GPU core compared to the iPhone 17 Pro version.
In terms of pricing, the iPhone 17 Air is likely to maintain the starting price of the Plus version at $899 (or 6999 RMB). However, due to its more high - end positioning, it might cost $50 more.
In addition to sky blue, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to come in three other colors: black, white, and starlight.
iPhone 17: The Standard Model Fills a Major Shortcoming
The standard iPhone will finally get a high - refresh - rate screen this time: Multiple sources have revealed that the entire iPhone 17 series will be equipped with an LTPO screen with a variable refresh rate.
However, Apple might limit the variable refresh rate range. After all, 1 - 120Hz is still called "ProMotion". The iPhone 17 might only support a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz to maintain a difference from the Pro models.
Anyway, the biggest shortcoming of the iPhone is filled. It can finally enjoy a smoother display effect and better support the liquid glass effect of iOS 26.
In addition, the screen of the iPhone 17 will also follow the Pro models and increase slightly from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches.
Left: 6.1 - inch iPhone 16, Right: 6.3 - inch iPhone 16 Pro. Image source: Simon Cocks
In terms of the processor, the iPhone 17 will be equipped with the all - new A19 processor this year, which is manufactured using TSMC's third - generation 3nm process N3P. It has a higher transistor density, and its performance and power consumption will be significantly improved compared to the previous generation.
The rear - facing camera won't have a major update, but the front - facing camera will be upgraded from 12 megapixels to 24 megapixels. What the iPhone 17 lacks the most is a telephoto lens.
The appearance will continue the design of the iPhone 16. Although there won't be the new orange and sky blue colors, the iPhone 17 series will have more color options. In addition to the classic black and white, the classic gray tone of the iPhone 6 will make a comeback. The other two colors are bright lemon green and light purple/pink.
