More value than ever before

This is the first year where Apple has five different phones to choose between, from the iPhone 16e to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air. While the new Air and Pro series are stealing the headlines, the 17 has more value packed into each inch of it than ever before. While it may be positioned as an average phone in the lineup, I think it’s more than ‘Pro’ enough for most.

This year’s key upgrades are a stronger front glass that is supposedly more scratch-resistant and a new 120Hz display that complements Liquid Glass. The ultra-wide camera has been improved this year to match the 48-megapixel main lens, which unlocks much better ultra-wides, especially in lower light and boosts the macro performance substantially.

Without getting into the weeds, these are the other iPhone 17 upgrades you should care about:

• Superpowered phone chip that benchmarks like an M1 iPad.
• The new selfie camera is really nice for group shots and creators on the go.
• A larger battery combined with better software and more efficient hardware = more battery life for you.
• Stronger cover glass that Apple says is 3x more scratch-resistant.
• The same slightly larger 120Hz display from the iPhone 17 Pro, which unlocks an Always on-display and a 3,000 nit peak brightness outdoors.
• The base model starts at 256GB without a price increase.
• eSIM only in Canada.

If you’re looking for the best Apple has to offer and you don’t want to spend a fortune, this is the phone for you.

Canadian iPhones now only accept eSIM cards

eSIM cards have been around since 2016 and are widely available at most Canadian carriers. Most even let you transfer your physical SIM card to an eSIM as long as you have two iPhones. When I set mine up, I was able to convert my physical Freedom Mobile SIM card into an eSIM during the setup flow.

My fiancée Alex, on the other hand, had some issues with hers, but after a quick trip to the Freedom store near us, she was up and running. I suspect others might have issues, but ours likely happened because she was hotspotting from the SIM card she was trying to transfer. When you set up, make sure to do it on Wi-Fi.

Apple’s support page says both your iPhones should be on iOS 18.4 to make the transfer go smoothly. If you have a phone running Android 16, you can also transfer eSIM cards to iOS.

While this might be a daunting upgrade since this is a new form of SIM card, it shouldn’t be, and I suspect many people are already running eSIMs in their current iPhones since carriers have been giving them out by default for a few years now.

The iPhone 17 can store up to eight eSIM cards, so you can still have your main Canadian eSIM and a few travel eSIM cards stored on your device. You can also run two simultaneously.

Not much of a visual change

The (white) iPhone 17 has the same camera layout as the 16, but they do feel a little different in the hand.

From a few feet away, the iPhone 17 looks identical to the 16, but in the hand, the aluminum band that wraps around the phone feels more like the 16e from last spring. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a little more squared off than the 16 and most won’t notice a difference, especially if you plan to put it in a case. Which I will note, unsurprisingly, the iPhone 16 cases don’t fit the 17.

If you want to go without a case, this might finally be the year since Apple improved the scratch resistance of the front glass. This is an extremely welcome upgrade because I found the iPhone 16 screens prone to abrasions. This new scratch-resistant coating is only on the front of the phone, the back has only received the upgrade to the previous Ceramic Shield, which is great for drop protection, but less scratch-resistant.

On the front, the bezels have been shrunk down, giving it a modern look and allowing for a screen about 5mm larger than the previous generations. The more important screen change is the updated refresh rate that makes all the new Liquid Glass animations really pop. It also unlocks the iPhone’s Always-on display (AOD). This is a great feature, but I usually go into the settings and turn off the part that shows a dim version of your wallpaper. I prefer to just see the clock, widgets and recent notifications on a black screen. If you find the AOD annoying, I’d recommend scaling back to just the clock to see if that helps stop your brain from thinking your phone is still on.

Inside the phone, Apple’s modern repairable design flourishes, including the ability to remove the front or rear glass panels and the unique battery adhesive that you can shock with electricity to debond it from the iPhone chassis. This was only on the Pro phones last year, so it’s nice to see it make its way to the full lineup. Apple screen replacements are a little more expensive this year, going from $365 to $429 in Canada.

Three cameras, six angles

This year’s main camera improvement is the new selfie camera, which unlocks a wider field of view without needing to flip the phone 90 degrees. If you’re coming from something older than an iPhone 16, it’s sharper and has a broader focus range. If you take a lot of pictures with this camera, you’re going to be extremely impressed, especially if you combine it with the new ‘Bright’ Photographic Style, which really makes photos pop. I’ve just been loving the more expansive field of view on the front camera, and it’s actually led to me using it more than I have in the past.

The other new lens is the ultra-wide-angle option I mentioned above. As you can see in the samples, it now captures a ton of detail, and while that’s great, especially for video shooters, my favourite part is that it makes the macro shots even better than last year. Not only can you get super close to your subject, but since you can now crop in further if you shoot in the 48-megapixel mode, you can get extreme, almost microscopic closeups. It’s just super fun to shoot with.

You can check out these full-resolution sample photos on my Google Drive. 

This is an excellent camera system and the main thing that separates it from the Pro iPhone line is access to Apple Log for professional video colour grading and ProRAW for more latitude when editing photos in apps like Lightroom and Pixelmator. You can still take RAW images with third-party apps like Halide, and you can shoot in ProRes using third-party apps, which can be a nice middle ground between the default camera and using Apple Log. So, while not a Pro, you can get professional results from the iPhone 17 with a bit of help from the App Store.

When it comes to video, the iPhone 17 sits on the throne with Apple’s other cameras. It looks great, and the plethora of options from Action mode to the new Dual Capture that lets you shoot with the front and back camera at the same time. However, this new feature is more for sharing or recording memories since both videos are baked into one file. Like last year, the iPhone 17 has really excellent microphones for video, and you can use Apple’s impressive audio editing tools directly in the Photos app to tweak things quickly on the go.

Who is the iPhone 17 for?

If you’ve got a vowel in your name, you’ll probably be pretty happy with an iPhone 17 ($1,129). It’s a small-ish phone that can be used comfortably in one hand, takes great pictures and even has the same screen as the Pro models.

If you really don’t care about specs at all, you can also get the iPhone 16e from last year, which will offer similar performance in the long run but has fewer features for a reduced price.

Photographers will likely gravitate to the iPhone 17 Pro for its larger sensors and telephoto lens, but if you already have another camera that you like to use, the regular 17 can be a great secondary shooter, and with a little elbow grease, you can get amazing shots out of it.

Canadians who used to own the Plus-sized iPhone model, like the 14 or 15 Plus and are looking for something with a bigger screen will need to step up to the ultra-thin Air and lose access to the ultra-wide lens, or step over to the iPhone 17 Pro Max that costs $1,749 (roughly $600 more than the standard 17).