First review of the iPhone 17 series: This is a typical "Android-style" iPhone.

Every year when evaluating new iPhones, ifanr always asks the same question repeatedly:

What kind of design philosophy does the new iPhone embody?

This year, Apple has provided three extremely clear answers -

The Apple that created the extremely thin and light iPhone Air adheres to the principle of design supremacy. For this purpose, they have made many compromises in the product.

The Apple that created the high - performance beast, the iPhone 17 Pro, is technology - driven. They have created the most Pro iPhone to date in an ingenious way.

And the Apple that created the highly cost - effective iPhone 17 is the inventory slayer. They have utilized their powerful supply - chain integration capabilities and self - developed technological advantages to create a price - killer in the high - end mobile phone market.

This clear positioning is very different from the situation in previous years when consumers were torn between the large Plus and small Pro models based on screen size and processor performance. As an iPhone user, I know exactly which phone I should upgrade to - the more order screenshots posted on WeChat Moments than in previous years also confirm this.

Since the release of the iPhone Air has been postponed, ifanr will focus its evaluation this year on the iPhone 17 series. After more than a week of experience, we have reached an interesting conclusion:

This year's iPhone 17 series is more like an "Android" phone than ever before - and of course, this is a compliment.

iPhone 17: Inventory Slayer

Since the iPhone 11, the "standard" iPhone has always given people the impression of "standard configuration means reduced configuration" - but the iPhone 17 is a pleasant exception.

All discussions about the iPhone 17 revolve around this new screen - if we only look at the hardware parameters, the screen of the iPhone 17 is almost the same as that of last year's iPhone 16 Pro.

This is the first time that the standard iPhone has used a high - refresh - rate screen since the launch of ProMotion, breaking the curse that "ProMotion is only for Pro models".

It has a variable refresh rate of 1 - 120Hz and an LTPO screen that supports always - on display. Even the bezel width is significantly narrower than that of the iPhone 16:

▲ Left: iPhone 17, Right: iPhone 16

The smooth experience brought by the ProMotion high - refresh - rate screen is self - evident. Even though the iPhone's scheduling strategy doesn't lock at 120Hz all the time, it is still a huge improvement compared to the literal "jerky feeling" on the iPhone 16.

More importantly, most of the people who are willing to upgrade to the standard model this year are old users of the 12th and 13th generations. We even saw a friend in the official account's comment section who is still using an iPhone 7 Plus. For them, the iPhone 17 with ProMotion is truly a "super - experience upgrade".

Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone 17's screen has a higher peak outdoor brightness, reaching 3000 nits. It even uses the anti - reflective coating that is used in Samsung's Ultra flagship phones and some foldable phones.

Based on our hands - on experience, the readability of the iPhone 17 in sunny outdoor conditions has been significantly improved compared to the iPhone 16 (even the 16 Pro). Its anti - reflective effect is similar to that of Samsung, manifested as a reduction in the whitening and graying of the glass screen in strong outdoor light.

However, the anti - reflective effect of the iPhone 17's screen is only significantly better than that of the previous generation, but there is still a considerable gap compared to Samsung's "making black blacker" effect. Even the Z Fold7 without an anti - reflective coating but only with an official AR film is a bit more vivid than the iPhone 17:

The iPhone 17 uses second - generation ultra - ceramic crystal glass this year, which feels a bit rough when sliding. And due to the addition of the anti - reflective coating, choosing a film has become more delicate. Whether to improve the feel or to retain the anti - reflective ability, we recommend choosing an AR film first.

Even more surprisingly, Apple has even improved the charging speed of the iPhone 17, with the maximum charging power reaching around 35W.

According to our hands - on test with a 40W charger, the iPhone 17 can charge from 0 to 50% in about 25 minutes, and it takes 80 minutes to fully charge. Sometimes, if you forget to charge your phone before going to bed, a quick charge during your morning wash is enough to get the iPhone through an emergency.

iPhone 17 charging curve graph. The blue line represents charging power, the red line represents current, and the green line represents voltage.

In terms of imaging, the iPhone 17 has been upgraded in two aspects - the ultra - wide - angle lens has been upgraded from 12 million pixels to 48 million pixels, and it uses a new square CMOS front - facing camera.

Although smartphone manufacturers have been focusing on telephoto lenses in the past two years, the ultra - wide - angle lens, as the most visually impactful perspective, is still quite irreplaceable. The upgrade of the iPhone 17 to the same ultra - wide - angle lens as last year's 16 Pro makes it possible to take usable pictures like this:

The new front - facing camera standard across the entire series - what Apple calls the Center Stage front - facing camera - is a very sophisticated feature because it achieves something similar to the Hasselblad X2D II 100C:

It uses more precise hardware and more complex functions to simplify the shooting process.

On the iPhone 17, the iPhone can now automatically determine the number of people in your selfie, and then automatically adjust the zoom and frame of the front - facing camera based on the number of detected faces, achieving a more seamless operation with more complex functions.

According to ifanr's test, the iPhone 17 will maintain a normal vertical composition when there is only one person, switch to a wide - angle but still maintain a vertical composition when there are two people, and switch to a horizontal composition when a third person enters the frame and the faces are relatively scattered - during this process, you don't need to twist your hand at all, let alone press any buttons.

Thanks to the new 24 - megapixel square sensor, the resolution of the selfies taken in both horizontal and vertical compositions can reach 18 million pixels, which is a noticeable improvement compared to the previous 12 - megapixel front - facing camera.

In addition, the front - and - rear simultaneous recording function that Apple added this time follows the same logic of "complex mechanism, simplified photography". Although this function itself is not new, don't forget - it is based on the iPhone's industry - leading video recording ability and iOS's unparalleled software ecosystem.

Aside from the major screen upgrade and minor improvements in imaging capabilities, the iPhone 17 basically maintains the same dimensions and weight as the iPhone 16 (the 17 is about 2mm taller and 7 grams heavier than the 16). The screen has been upgraded from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, mainly thanks to the significantly narrower bezels.

At least before the official release of the iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 remains the lightest - feeling phone in the entire 17 series. More importantly, the minimum storage capacity of the iPhone 17 has been upgraded to 256GB, with no price increase.

It's more appropriate to say that this is an iPhone 16 Pro without a telephoto lens. Especially with the obvious Pro - level features, you can even consider it as the "youth version" of the 16 Pro.

The iPhone 17 is also the model we most recommend upgrading to this year. If you are a user of an iPhone before the 15th generation, this is a good time to upgrade.

iPhone 17 Pro: Technology - Driven

Compared to the "overwhelmingly positive" standard iPhone 17, the reviews of the iPhone 17 Pro are mixed, with the main divergence focusing on the appearance design.

After using titanium alloy in the 15 Pro and 16 Pro for two generations, Apple abandoned titanium alloy on the iPhone 17 Pro and returned to the most traditional aluminum alloy. However, this is not a sign of conservatism or regression, but rather Apple's attempt at something even bigger -

On the new aluminum alloy body, Apple tried a new processing technology: Heat - forged aluminum unibody. This is a processing technology that is not common in the mobile phone industry but has been widely used in the automotive industry.

The unibody shown at Apple's press conference | Apple

Compared to the CNC process, which can only process finished aluminum blocks, the heat - forged unibody process is carried out above the "recrystallization temperature" of the metal, which can avoid the formation of irregular crystal regions, loose structures, and pores inside the metal during the processing, thus maximizing the strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance of the aluminum alloy.

The advantages of this unibody process are obvious once you hold the phone -

The previous two generations of Pro models did greatly improve the "uncomfortable - to - hold" reputation, and the larger bezel curvature of the iPhone 17 Pro has once again left the iPhone 16 Pro far behind. It can even be called the "iPhone with the best - feeling straight screen".

In addition to the significant improvement in feel, switching from titanium alloy to aluminum alloy also brings two other material advantages - since aluminum alloy is easier to color than titanium alloy, this year's iPhone 17 Pro has an eye - catching "Stellar Orange" color, which is much brighter than the "ascetic - style" colors of previous years.

Whether it looks good or not is a matter of personal opinion, but it's guaranteed that your new phone will be recognizable at a glance.

Moreover, although titanium alloy has advantages in weight and strength, its thermal conductivity is not excellent