For the longest time, every year when Apple launches an iPhone, I am inundated with questions from family and friends, asking if they should get the latest iPhone, and each year, without fail, I have told them to go for the Pro model from the previous year.
Well, Apple changed that script with the iPhone 17.
For the first time in years, the base iPhone, the non-Pro model, truly deserves the flagship title that we associate with iPhones. While Apple finally moving to a 120Hz display plays a major role in this, it's not the only reason why the base iPhone 17 finally feels like a Pro.
The iPhone 17 starts at ₹82,900 for the 256GB variant, with the 512GB model priced at ₹1,02,900. That bump in base storage makes the entry point feel far more reasonable, especially for a phone that is as capable as the iPhone 17
I tested the iPhone 17 for a good 10 days and, having daily driven the iPhone 16 Pro Max for a year, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max the year before that, I can confidently say that for most people looking to buy an iPhone, the iPhone 17 is all they need to consider. Let me explain why.
The iPhone 17 is familiar but really well built
At first, the iPhone 17 doesn’t scream of a radical redesign like the rest of the iPhone 17 series, but living with it for a bit shows how Apple has fine-tuned the minute details. You still get that familiar glass sandwich design, that pill-shaped vertically stacked camera island, and that space-grade aluminium frame, but they all feel a little different.
The phone itself is solidly built, without being heavy. At 177 grams and with a thickness of 7.8mm, I found the balance to be just right. It’s been a while since I’ve used a phone that nails the proportions this perfectly, has the right balance of weight and size, and slips in and out of my pocket without me giving it much thought.
Glass is one area where Apple has genuinely pushed things forward. The iPhone 17 debuts Corning’s new Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, and Apple claims it’s twice as tough as before.
For the back, we get last year’s Ceramic Shield, the same stuff that we see protecting the display of the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, and from my experience, they’ve proven to be remarkably tough and handle scratches pretty well. I’ve carried iPhones with that glass without a screen protector, and while the occasional scratch does show up, it’s nowhere near the scuffs and wear I’ve seen on other flagship devices.
I also absolutely love the colours this year. Black and White are the safe choices, which are also highly demanded. But the Mist Blue, Sage, and Lavender add that hint of character without going over the top. They aren’t as loud as the iPhone 16’s Pink, Teal, Ultramarine, but they are still playful and elegant. I am glad to see how Apple has been experimenting with colours this year, especially with the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max.
The iPhone 17’s cameras are pretty solid
The iPhone 17 keeps things simple on the back with a dual-camera setup, with one 48MP main fusion camera, and the other and a 48MP ultrawide fusion camera. They are stacked vertically inside a neat pill-shaped camera island.
On paper, it may sound like Apple is holding back compared to the Pro models, but after testing it for over a week, I’ve been genuinely impressed by what this setup can do.
The main sensor is rock solid. Photos come out sharp, detailed, and with excellent colour accuracy. White balance is consistent, highlights don’t blow out, and shadows retain plenty of depth. In regular daylight shots, it’s really tough to find fault, and it holds up just as well in low-light. The iPhone 17 delivers the kind of reliable results that make it easy to trust as a daily shooter.
The ultrawide camera is equally dependable. Colours match the main sensor really well, which means your photo set looks consistent across focal lengths. Yes, there are times, when the images may look slightly overprocessed, but they tend to happen only in low-light, that too when you’re pixel peeping. For social media and day-to-day use, they’re still perfect.
Portraits are where I expected the iPhone 17 to struggle, mainly because it did not have a dedicated telephoto lens, but to my surprise, it held up surprisingly well.
Edge detection is clean, and the natural-looking bokeh makes subjects pop.
Video is classic iPhone; crisp visuals 4K at 60 FPS with excellent stabilisation, with great details and colours.
Now, you don’t get some of the extra pro-grade features like 4K 120 FPS or ProRes recording, but honestly, I did not miss them. Even content creators who post most of their stuff on Instagram and YouTube rarely use ProRes or 4K at 120FS.
The iPhone 17 series brings a new trick called dual video recording. It lets you capture footage from the front and rear cameras at the same time, merging them into a single video — similar to what you’d see on a FaceTime or WhatsApp call. I tested it a couple of times and, to be fair, it worked flawlessly. The thing is, I don’t really see a use case for it. Android phones have had this for years, and yet I can’t recall seeing much content online that actually takes advantage of it. It feels more like a novelty than a must-have feature.
Where the iPhone 17 really shines for me is with the selfie camera. Apple has gone with a 24MP square sensor that outputs 18MP shots, and because of this design, you also get Centre Stage on the front. This feature lets you reframe selfies any way you want, no matter how you’re holding the phone. Shooting a wide group selfie in portrait orientation? Easy. Recording a horizontal video while holding the phone vertically? No problem. It might sound trivial, but when you combine the bigger sensor with Centre Stage, the iPhone 17 gives you the best video stabilisation in selfies that’s nothing short of outstanding. No other phone I’ve used even comes close in this area.
For most people, the iPhone 17’s camera system is more than enough. It’s reliable, versatile, and delivers consistently great results without feeling compromised.
The 120Hz ProMotion Display on the iPhone 17 is a pretty big deal
Apple’s given the regular iPhone a 6.3-inch display this year, but the real win is that it finally gets ProMotion. After years of waiting, a non-Pro iPhone can now hit 120Hz, and trust me, the difference is obvious.
Swiping through apps feels fast, animations flow naturally, and even gaming has that slick, smooth finish that makes the phone feel truly premium. For the longest time, the 60Hz screen was the deal-breaker that pushed me to recommend the Pro models. Not anymore.
In day-to-day use, the panel delivers everything I expect from an iPhone. Colours are spot on, and are accurate whether I’m scrolling through photos or watching content on Netflix and YouTube. You also get Dolby Vision support, which makes some content look fantastic.
There are some other changes too. The bezels are ridiculously slim, almost as thin as the Pro models, and it gives the phone a sleek, near edge-to-edge feel. That instantly makes the 17 look more modern.
I was particularly impressed with the brightness. The iPhone 17 can crank up to a blistering 3,000 nits of peak brightness. Step outside into direct sunlight, and it’s immediately obvious how much clearer and more legible it is compared to older models.
Audio is solid too. The stereo speakers get nice and loud, with enough bass to give music and videos a bit of punch. I didn’t find them to be as full-bodied as what you get on the Pro models, but still, you really can’t complain.
The iPhone 17 is a beast in performance, but what about AI?
The iPhone 17 runs on Apple’s brand-new A19 chip, and honestly, you can feel how snappy it is from the moment you start using it. Everything is instant: Apps open the second I tap them, switching between heavy tasks feels effortless, and gaming doesn’t just run smoothly, it stays smooth.
Apple’s also finally bumped the base storage to 256GB too, which feels long overdue. With the size of today’s apps, photos, and 4K videos, 128GB just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Using the phone day to day, I never felt like I was waiting on it. Scrolling through feeds, editing photos, and even jumping between a couple of apps all felt seamless.
Benchmarks only confirmed what I was already feeling, and just for fun, I also threw the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro in to the mix, to see just how big of a leap do we get in one and two generations.
In Antutu, the iPhone 17 scored over 2.4 million and handily beat the iPhone 16 Pro score of 2.07 million and absolutely crushed the 15 Pro's 1.79 million.
Geekbench shows the same story, although the difference the A18 Pro and the A19 wasn’t as big. The 17 scored 3600 in single core, and 9078 in multicore, the 16 Pro scored 3443 in single core and 8660 in multicore, and finally, the 15 Pro scored 2938 in single core and 7402 in multicore.
3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme Stress Test was an encore of the same tale. The iPhone had a best loop score of 4783 and a stability of 80.6%, the 16 Pro's best loop score was 4450 with a stability of 75%, and the 15 Pro's best loop score was 3462, but a slightly higher stability of 79.5%
But what really stood out to me wasn’t just raw speed; it was how well the iPhone 17 handled heat.
I played a few graphics-heavy games back-to-back, and while most phones would start to heat up in 20 minutes, the iPhone 17 stayed cooler than expected and never once throttled performance. That should be a good indicator at just how efficient the new A19 is.
On the software side, we now get iOS 26, which sees a major redesign over the previous OS’s. The key highlight is Liquid Glass and compared to all that we saw in the developer’s beta, the final product is much more fluid, smooth and just a joy to use.
As for updates, while there is no official word from Apple on this, we usually see that most iPhones get six to seven years of OS updates, which means iPhone 17 is going to stay relevant for a long time.
Where Apple stumbles a bit is AI. We do get some AI features with Apple Intelligence, like Visual Intelligence, Image Playground, Writing Tools, and some basic photo tools like AI eraser, but they are not as polished as we get in some Android solutions. They’re fun to play around wit,h though, but, none of them feel essential yet.
The iPhone 17’s battery life is simply phenomenal
The iPhone 17 comes with a 3692mAh battery, the largest Apple has put in a base model, but numbers only tell part of the story. What really matters is how it performs day to day, and here the difference is clear.
In my first few days with the phone, the battery life was all over the place. But after it had time to settle in, learn my habits and get done with all its background processes like indexing, it lasted me through a full day of heavy use. On lighter days, I could even push for half a day, without scrambling for a charger.
A big reason behind this endurance is the A19 chip. It’s not just faster, it’s much more efficient, stretching every milliamp-hour further.
Charging speeds have finally improved too. The iPhone 17 now supports up to 40W wired charging, a clear bump over the older 25W limit. In real-world use it doesn’t always hit peak speeds, but the gains are still obvious; 20 minutes on the charger takes it to about 50 per cent, and a full charge wraps up in roughly an hour and a half.
Verdict: Why the iPhone 17 just makes sense
The iPhone 17 is the one to buy right now, and I say that without hesitation. Apple has finally nailed the formula for its base iPhone. The A19 chip delivers serious power, battery life easily keeps up with a full day and often more, and the cameras perform far better than you’d expect from a non-Pro model.
The display is what really seals it. Apple has finally given the standard iPhone the 120Hz ProMotion panel it should have had years ago, and it instantly makes the 17 feel like a far more exciting device.
Add in faster charging and Apple’s trademark long-term support, and you’ve got a phone that’s built to last. Unless you absolutely need pro-grade tools like ProRes, ProRAW, or a telephoto zoom lens, there’s no reason to look anywhere else. For most people, the iPhone 17 is the clear sweet spot in the lineup.
