The iPhone 17 series is just a few months away, with the launch expected in September. So far, there have been a multitude of leaks, including ones revolving around alleged renders and dummies of various models, including the vanilla iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Air, and the iPhone 17 Pro models. There have also been leaks about the chipsets, the cameras, and more.
Having said that, here are the top few upgrades I want Apple to deliver with the iPhone 17, things which I feel would make it a much more complete experience compared to the iPhone 16, which, while a reliable experience, certainly misses out on hardware that should have been offered at the price point for which the phone retails. Here are the details.
A larger and more capable screen
The iPhone 16 shipped with a 6.1-inch display at 60Hz. Yes, it is an OLED panel, but in 2025, a 60Hz panel is just not justified. Luckily, there have been leaks that suggest the vanilla iPhone 17 model could get support for 120Hz and also get a much larger display, coming in at 6.3 inches, which would make it similar to the iPhone 16 Pro and perhaps the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro as well. People want bigger displays these days, so this could be a great move for them.
Apple, please continue to offer punchy colourways
With the iPhone 15 series, we saw that they really went the pastel way. All colourways were very muted and did not stand out. Luckily, the iPhone 16 turned this around and introduced various colourways, like the new pink, Ultramarine and the teal, and more. So, with the iPhone 17, I hope Apple continues to offer these vibrant colourways as they do give it a lot of personality.
Recently, tipster Majin Bu reported that Apple might be confused between a shade of purple and green. From the looks of it, this could continue, which is certainly good news for people who like brightly coloured phones.
A better ultrawide
With the iPhone 16, you get a 12-megapixel ultrawide shooter. And while it does the job, it is certainly not as sharp and detailed as what you get on the iPhone 16 Pro, which comes with a 48-megapixel ultrawide lens. Considering it’s going to be a generation newer, the iPhone 17 should definitely feature the same 48-megapixel ultrawide that Apple debuted with the iPhone 16 Pro. And while we are at it, the same is also important because Apple uses the ultrawide lens for macros; having more resolution to play with would also help get sharper macro photos.
It is high time that Apple brought ProRAW to the vanilla models
Apple has notably been skipping ProRAW support from its vanilla models ever since the iPhone 12 Pro series. The iPhone 12 Pro models got it, the iPhone 13 Pro models got it, and this continued until the iPhone 16 Pro models. All of the vanilla models launched during this time notably skipped support for shooting Apple ProRAW images.
While the hardware is certainly capable, and many phones have shared chipsets, this mostly seems like a play to separate the feature sets in order to prevent cannibalising sales of the Pro models. So, I want Apple to bring ProRAW support to the vanilla models as well, so that people buying these vanilla models can also take advantage of the sheer amount of data that Apple lets you capture with ProRAW, especially in RAW Max mode.
