When it comes to rumors about this year's iPhone releases, the iPhone 17 Air is the belle of the ball. And it's easy to understand why — the rumored ultra-thin model would mark a departure for an iPhone lineup that's been set in stone for several years now. Naturally, people want to hear about what an entirely new iPhone will be like, and rumor mongers are eager to fill in the blanks.
But all the excitement over the iPhone 17 Air threatens to overshadow the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup. And that would be a mistake as this year's iPhones figure to deliver some key changes to Apple's phones, even if they're not as headline-grabbing as an ultra-thin frame that is rumored to be slimmer than even the 5.8mm-thin Galaxy S25 Edge.
We're keeping tabs on all the iPhone 17 rumors here — not just the latest on the iPhone 17 Air, but what's going to happen to all the models Apple is likely to introduce later this year. So in case you only have eyes for the Air, here's a look at the most exciting rumors we've heard so far about the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Finally, a fast refreshing display
The entry-level iPhone has stood out for years when compared to the best phones you can buy — and not for a good reason. Rather, it's because the iPhone 16 is one of the few flagship models currently available where you're still stuck with a 60Hz display.
In recent years, smartphone makers have shifted to displays with adaptive refresh rates, which can ramp up to 120Hz when there's a lot of on-screen activity. A faster refresh rate means smoother scrolling and more immersive graphics on games that can take advantage of fast-refreshing displays. It's a dramatically better experience when you see a phone with a fast-refreshing display next to one with the screen locked at 60Hz.
Apple's been releasing iPhone Pro models with fast refreshing displays since the iPhone 13 Pro came out in 2021, but it's kept giving the standard iPhone a 60Hz display for the three iPhone launches since then. In the meantime, not only do phones that share the iPhone 16's $799 starting price offer fast-refreshing displays of their own, so do many of the best cheap phones under $500. The iPhone is way behind the curve here.
Things should change this fall. Multiple reports claim that Apple is switching to an LTPO display for its entry-level flagship — that's the kind of panel that supports faster refresh rates. The Pro models may still have a wider refresh rate range — the current iPhone 16 Pro offerings can scale all the way down to 1Hz when the on-screen action is static, for example — but it seems nailed on that the iPhone 17 will offer a much more capable screen than its predecessor.
A telephoto lens upgrade on the iPhone 17 Pro
The last couple iPhone upgrade cycles have seen a number of improvements to the cameras on Apple's Pro models. The iPhone 15 Pro Max added a longer optical zoom — a feature adopted by the iPhone 16 Pro last fall. And both Pro models saw their ultrawide camera sensors boosted to 48MP.
Apparently, Apple isn't done with the camera array upgrades. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are both in line to get a 48MP telephoto lens this fall. And yes, that would mean three 48MP sensors making up the rear cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro.
The improved telephoto lens could come at a cost. Currently, the iPhone 16 Pro models support a 5x optical zoom, wile one rumor suggests the higher resolution sensor will reduce zoom capabilities to 3.5x. Nevertheless, the higher resolution camera could mean more detailed images even if longer zooms may not look as sharp as before.
Lots of memory
Apple is all about AI these days, and you'd imagine a whole new batch of Apple Intelligence tools are in the works with this fall's phone release in mind. And there's still the matter of the AI-based Siri improvements Apple promised with iOS 18 before pushing them back to a later update.
All this AI requires a lot of memory. The current iPhone lineup comes with 8GB of RAM, based on teardowns. (Memory and battery size are two iPhone specs Apple doesn't officially reveal.) But reports claim that the new iPhones could bump that number to 12GB with an eye toward future-proofing the phones for future AI enhancements.
It's worth noting that some of the rumors suggest that only the iPhone 17 Pro models are in line to see an increase in memory, with the iPhone 17 potentially sticking at 8GB. Still, if you're excited about the prospect of better Apple Intelligence performance, you'll want Apple to add as much memory as possible to whatever models it can.
New iPhone 17 Pro design
It doesn't sound like a major redesign, and not everyone's going to love the rumored look, but from the renders that have emerged so far, the iPhone 17 Pro models should have a different look from their predecessors. So if you think Apple's designs have gone stale, you'll want to at least take a look at what this fall's releases could bring.
Specifically, Apple sounds like it's taking a page out of Google's design manual and extending the camera array for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The triangular setup of the main, ultrawide and zoom lenses will remain in place, but the flash, LiDAR depth sensor and microphone will move to the other side of the phone.
There could be a change up front on the iPhone 17 Pro models, too. Reports suggest Apple is going to shrink the Dynamic Island for the Pro and Pro Max, which will free up a little screen real estate.
The tweaks don't appear to be as prominent on the iPhone 17 renders we've seen. Leaked iPhone 17 designs show a pair of vertically stacked lenses housed in a rectangular camera bump rather than the oval array Apple used for the iPhone 16.
Battery life improvements
it doesn't seem like any of the iPhone 17 models are due big boosts to battery size, though we might see some increased capacity here and there. The bigger advance could be a vapor cooling chamber in the iPhone 17 Pro models aimed at keeping the phones from overheating and suffering dips in performance. And as always, advances in power management from the new A19 silicon expected to power this year's phones could improve battery life over the current models.
Really, the battery capacity of the conventional iPhones could wind up contrasting with that of the iPhone 17 Air, which could have a 2,800 mAh power pack — a decidedly smaller power pack than the 3,561 mAh cell in the 6.1-inch iPhone 16. Even with a report that claims Apple could turn to a new generation of silicon-anode battery from TDK for the iPhone 17 Air, that thin phone could struggle to last a long time on a charge, making the endurance of the other iPhone 17 models seem even better by comparison.
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