Apple announces $799 iPhone 17 with bigger 6.3-inch always-on ProMotion screen, A19 chip

This is the first time the regular iPhone has gotten the high-refresh screen.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—September means iPhones, and as expected, Apple has taken the wraps off a new iPhone 17 at its event today. The iPhone 17 will start at $799 for a 256GB model. Pre-orders start Friday, and the phones will be available on September 19.

The updated OLED screen is the hero of the iPhone 17, bringing several features to the base iPhone that the iPhone Pro has enjoyed for years. The iPhone 17 steps up from a 6.1-inch to a 6.3-inch display, the same increase that came to the iPhone 16 Pro last year, and Apple has also added 120 Hz ProMotion support to the basic iPhone for the first time.

A 6.3-inch 120 Hz screen is the headlining feature of the new iPhone.

Apple

 

The iPhone 17 is powered by the Apple A19 chip.

Apple

 

The refresh rate adjusts dynamically based on what you're doing, and can go as low as 1 Hz in the low-power always-on display mode. Apple has also improved the scratch-resistance of the display with Ceramic Shield 2, which the company says is three times as scratch-resistant as the old screen. The screen can also hit 3,000 nits of peak outdoor brightness.

Helping to power that new screen is an updated Apple A19 chip. It still uses a 6-core CPU with two large cores and four smaller efficiency cores, a 16-core Neural Engine, and a 5-core GPU that Apple says is about 20 percent faster than the one in the Apple A18.

The camera system also gets a fairly substantial upgrade, though it's still short of what Apple ships in its Pro phones. The two-lens camera system includes a 48MP main sensor that's also capable of 2x telephoto shots thanks to the Fusion Camera feature, as well as a 48MP wide-angle camera. The front-facing camera has also been given a new 18MP Center Stage sensor that's nearly twice as large as the old one, and it's square instead of rectangular, so Apple can offer the same framing options regardless of whether you're shooting in portrait or landscape mode.

Apple says the new iPhone should also deliver better battery life, at least in some cases—up to eight additional hours of video playback compared to the iPhone 16.

As predicted, Apple has discontinued the large-sized iPhone Plus, leaving the iPhone available in just one 6.3-inch size. Its body comes in five colors: lavender, blue, white, black, and sage.

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Posted Wednesday 10 September 2025 at 12:53 pm AEST (my time).

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