5 things the iPhone 17 series copied from Android phones

Unless you were living under an iPhone 17 Pro Max-sized rock this past week, you probably heard something about Apple’s latest iPhone lineup. Apple’s latest batch of handsets includes the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the all-new iPhone Air.

While they’re ultimately still iPhones, I think it’s safe to say that there’s plenty to like about the iPhone 17 family. Apple made a surprising number of upgrades this time around, and for iPhone shoppers, this looks like a good lineup.

However, it’s worth pointing out that so many of the features that make the iPhone 17 series so promising are things we’ve previously seen on Android phones.

The iPhone 17 Pro received a pretty dramatic redesign with its camera bump. Specifically, the small, square camera housing has been replaced by a long camera bar that spans almost the full length of the phone. Apple uses a similar design on the iPhone Air, with its single camera also placed in a long oval that stretches across the phone’s backside.

Although this is a significant new design for the iPhone, the camera bar itself is something we’ve seen before, specifically from Google’s Pixel phones. Google introduced its now-iconic camera bar design on the Pixel 6 series, and it’s continued to be a staple of Pixel phones all the way up to the current Pixel 10.

Even though Apple’s approach isn’t a 1:1 copy of what we’ve seen from Google, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between the two. We haven’t seen another major smartphone brand try to replicate the Pixel’s camera bar up until now, and it’s mighty interesting to see Apple be the first to do so.

In addition to the new camera bar design, the iPhone 17 Pro also introduces an upgraded telephoto camera. Gone is the iPhone 16 Pro’s 12MP telephoto camera, and in its place is a new 48MP telephoto sensor for the iPhone 17 Pro. The optical zoom range is slightly downgraded this year (4x vs. 5x from last year), but thanks to the increased resolution, Apple is claiming “up to 8x optical-quality zoom.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s almost identical to the telephoto camera setup on the Google Pixel 10 Pro. The Pixel 10 Pro also has a 48MP telephoto camera, though its zoom ranges are slightly better, with a 5x optical zoom and 10x “optical image quality.” I’m happy that Apple’s Pro iPhone is getting a better zoom sensor, but if you’re an Android user, this isn’t anything new.

However, even with a similar telephoto sensor, the iPhone 17 Pro doesn’t come close to matching the Pixel 10 Pro’s maximum zoom length. Where the iPhone uses digital zoom to go up to 40x, the Pixel can go all the way to 100x — and the results can be pretty darn impressive.

The base model iPhone 17 may not look like a dramatic upgrade compared to the iPhone 16, but it features a spec we’ve been waiting years for: a 120Hz display. Pro model iPhones have had 120Hz refresh rates since the iPhone 13 Pro launched in 2021, but year after year, the non-Pro iPhone has continued to ship with a 60Hz screen.

For several years now, almost every major Android phone has shipped with a 120Hz (or at least 90Hz) refresh rate — and not just pricey flagships. Google’s base model Pixel phones have had 120Hz screens since the Pixel 8. Samsung’s entry-level Galaxy S models have had 120Hz panels since the Galaxy S20. Hell, even sub-$300 Android phones have had 120Hz refresh rates for a minute at this point.

To be clear, I’m very glad to see the iPhone 17 get a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s just a bit silly how long it’s taken, especially compared to how prevalent the spec has been in the Android world.

Speaking of displays, the entire iPhone 17 lineup received a display upgrade that largely went unnoticed: a new anti-reflective coating that’s supposed to help minimize glare and make the screens more visible under harsh lighting conditions.

This may not be as big a deal as the base model iPhone going from 60Hz to 120Hz, but it’s still an impressive and very helpful upgrade — and we know this because Samsung has been using something similar since the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Ultra both feature their own anti-reflective screens, and they really do make a big difference in reducing screen glare. Apple did go a step further by extending its anti-reflective coating to the base model iPhone 17, and hopefully, we’ll see Samsung follow suit with the Galaxy S26 series next year.

One of the most significant announcements from the Apple event was the iPhone Air. This is Apple’s first ultra-slim iPhone, and measuring 5.6mm thick, it sure does look impressive. The iPhone Air is also unbelievably light, weighing just 165 grams. That’s almost 20 grams less than the iPhone 17 despite having a larger 6.5-inch display.

However, as visually stunning as the iPhone Air may be, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an ultra-thin smartphone like this. Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 Edge in May, which is similarly slim at just 5.8mm. Both the Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air have flagship chipsets and quality displays, though Samsung found a way to include two rear cameras (a 200MP primary and 12MP ultrawide sensor) compared to the single 48MP camera on the iPhone Air.

While Apple was obviously working on the iPhone Air long before the Galaxy S25 Edge was released, it’s still a bit funny that Apple’s first super-thin iPhone was announced just a few months after the Galaxy S25 Edge.