Apple announced its latest event this week, signalling the official countdown to one of the biggest nights in the tech calendar.
While Apple doesn’t announce products before an event, all signs point to the ‘Awe dropping’ show being the place where the next wave of iPhones get their grand reveal. And if the rumours are to be believed, this is going to be a bumper year with a few notable differences.
Of course, the biggest rumour points to the existence of the iPhone 17 Air – a super-thin device that will replace the ‘Plus’ model in the line and offer a different proposition to buyers. I can see the iPhone 17 Air being marketed as more of a fashion piece than a powerhouse phone, and it’ll be for those people who are happy to sacrifice features for an eye-catching, slim phone.
It has been suggested that the Air could have a small battery (perhaps even with a battery accessory to extend endurance) and a single rear camera similar to the iPhone 16e.
There will, of course, be updates to the rest of the range too. The iPhone 17 Pro could come in a very fetching orange hue, a nice change from the usual array of muted tones on the higher-end models, and the base iPhone should hopefully get a fast refresh rate screen that even the best mid-range phones have had for years.
Whether you’re interested in these updates or not, with Apple’s next event now pencilled in the diary, this really is the worst time to buy a new iPhone and I would recommend holding off for a couple of weeks to see where the dust settles post September 9.
Thing is, even if you have no intention of picking up an iPhone 17 in any of its guises, and you’re more than happy with what the iPhone 16 offers, then waiting could save you money. Apple typically reduces the prices of its outgoing devices to keep them around for another year and retailers will be trying to clear space for the new phones.
We’re also in the run-up to Black Friday, a great time to pick up a budget phone either on contract or without.
When will the iPhone 17 come out?
Until September 9 rolls around, there’s no confirmed iPhone 17 release date yet – but it’s easy enough to make a very educated guess.
If Apple does announce the iPhone 17 series in a few weeks, it’ll likely go up for pre-order on the Friday following the Tuesday event. That means the series should be up for order from September 12. And if the previous years are anything to go by, the actual release date will likely fall on September 19. That’s the following Friday.
Now, this isn’t a given, and there’s always the chance that certain models could arrive later. But there have so far been no rumblings of this. Hopefully we’ll see the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Air arrive at the same time.
Now the big question is, which model to go for?
