A new lineup of iPhones will almost certainly land on September 9, and if you’re an iPhone 16 owner, you might be wondering if it’ll be worth upgrading to the iPhone 17.
At this point in time, we’re only dealing with rumors, but they’ve given us a pretty solid idea of what to expect from Apple’s next base model. There’s talk of an improved display, a superior front-facing camera, better Wi-Fi technology, and more. There’s also talk of a new “Air” model that will replace the iPhone Plus.
In this guide, then, we’ve rounded up five of the most significant rumored upgrades for the standard iPhone 17 when compared to the iPhone 16.
1. ProMotion display
The iPhone 13 Pro introduced a game-changing ProMotion display for Apple’s best iPhones, offering a fast 120Hz refresh rate and always-on display functionality.
ProMotion has continued to set Apple’s Pro models apart from the base models in every iPhone line since (including the iPhone 16 line), but based on a number of rumors, we’re expecting to see this display feature brought to the standard iPhone 17.
The move from 60Hz to 120Hz would bring a significantly smoother scrolling to the base model, and, like the Pro models, the iPhone 17 might also utilize a more advanced LTPO (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) OLED panel that allows for dynamic refresh rate adjustments between 1Hz to 120Hz.
2. Improved front-facing camera
The iPhone 16 sports a 12MP front-facing camera. This is comparable to a lot of the competition, including the Google Pixel 10, but if the rumors are true, then Apple is upping its selfie-snapping game this year.
Speculation states that the front-facing sensor on the iPhone 16 will be replaced with a new 24MP sensor on the iPhone 17. It’s hard to overstate how significant this improvement would be, especially considering that the 12MP sensor was introduced way back on the iPhone 11.
The new camera might also feature a six-element lens (6P) instead of the five-element lens (5P) used on the iPhone 16. This would produce sharper images and better overall clarity for selfies and video calls.
3. A redesign with a bigger display
The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 17 is rumored to be bumped up to 6.3 inches. The actual footprint of the phone is unlikely to change significantly thanks to new “metalens” technology that can shrink the size of the Face ID sensor and the Dynamic Island.
Design changes might go further with the introduction of a slimmer aluminum frame. This is expected to result in a thinner frame and a reduction in the overall weight of the phone.
Additionally, there are a number of rumors that the camera bump will be updated to something resembling that of the Google Pixel 10. It’ll likely still have a vertical arrangement, but it’ll reportedly be refashioned to accommodate the new sensors.
4. A new Apple Wi-Fi 7 chip
The iPhone 16 was the first iPhone to support the new Wi-Fi 7 standard. This resulted in faster connection speeds and lower latency. Apple is expected to go one step further by introducing an in-house, custom-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip on the iPhone 17, which will supposedly replace the Broadcom chip found in the iPhone 16.
This might seem like a minimal upgrade, but in reality, it’ll likely provide better performance, superior power efficiency, and a more seamless connection between the iPhone and other Apple devices.
5. More power & faster charging
One reputable leak suggests that the iPhone 17 will have a new A19 chipset, although some state that Apple will stick with the A18 on the base model instead.
I’m personally expecting it to be the A19 because, otherwise, performance improvements between the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 will be relatively limited. I would also like to see an increase in RAM, but that’s likely to remain at 8GB.
In terms of charging, the iPhone 17 is rumored to move to supporting 50W wireless charging. This is double the speed of the iPhone 16 and would allow users to rapidly charge the iPhone with wireless methods. Maybe the most impressive thing is that this speed would be significantly faster than the 15W wireless charging capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S25.
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