iPhone Air is cool, but I wanted an iPhone 17 Plus
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Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup brings major upgrades across the board, from ProMotion on the base model to a brand-new iPhone Air. But with the Plus variant missing this year, I’m forced into a choice I never asked for.Anmol Dubey 👁 Published 🇩🇪 🇪🇸 ...
Apple iPhone 17 series is finally here. We all saw the presentation, and I think it is safe to say that Cupertino nailed it this year. The iPhone 17 lineup not only includes easily measurable improvements to the Pro series, but it also introduces a brand-new variant in the form of the iPhone Air.
It is an impossibly thin iPhone, just 5.6mm thick, with a 6.5-inch ProMotion display that’s slightly larger than the 6.3-inch panel on the Pro model. It supports a variable refresh rate ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz, an always-on feature, and carries over all the display technologies from the Pro models, along with the A19 Pro chip as well. From the presentation where Apple showed the internals of the iPhone Air, it was pretty impressive. Many of the phone's important components are housed within the camera bump, while the rest of the iPhone Air is occupied by the 3,149 mAh battery.
The iPhone 17 Pro also received upgrades in the form of a new camera, improved battery life, an all-new design, a not-so-new aluminium chassis, new colour options including a bright orange variant, an anti-reflective coating, and a maximum storage capacity of 2TB. All iPhones this year come with 256GB of storage as standard, despite no increase in price.
Why the iPhone 17 feels like the real winner
I’d argue that the iPhone 17 received the best upgrades in the lineup. Its 60Hz display has been upgraded to a 120Hz ProMotion panel, the same one used on the Air and the 17 Pro models. What’s even more interesting is that the base iPhone 17’s display is actually better than last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, thanks to higher brightness that now peaks at 3000 nits and an anti-reflective coating.
And by adding a 48MP ultrawide camera and an 18MP Centre Stage selfie camera, Apple has seemingly upgraded all the cameras across the iPhone 17 series.
All of this really makes me wonder about the potential of an iPhone 17 Plus: a more affordable large-screen iPhone with all the new upgrades and no compromise on battery life, unlike the iPhone Air which does. And this is one of the reasons why I almost finalised an iPhone 16 Plus, but didn’t go through with it, just two days before the Apple iPhone 17 launch.
The missing Plus
My reasoning here is simple. I currently use an iPhone 15 Plus. I love its speakers, battery life, big bright display, and chunky feel. I have a habit of putting on random YouTube videos in the background while doing the dishes, house chores, or even while writing articles like the one you’re reading right now. At the time of writing, I’m listening to a video from the YouTube channel More Perfect Union about an investigation into Tesla Autopilot.
Regardless, what I wanted in my next iPhone was exactly what I want from my current one, but a bit more. Like, equally good or better battery life, speakers, display, and whatever new feature Apple chooses to bestow upon its customers.
But in reality, I am now left with no option but to 'upgrade' to the base iPhone 17, as I am handing my iPhone 15 Plus to one of my family members. I can get a bigger display if I upgrade to the iPhone Air but it only has a single speaker system and a battery life which probably won't be as good as my iPhone 15 Plus or the new base iPhone 17.
My only other potential option for a big iPhone now is the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is simply not within my budget at the moment, as I recently bought a Lenovo LOQ featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and an RTX 4060.
In India, non-Pro iPhones (including base and Plus models) dominate sales with around 86% market share, where base models alone outperform Pro models at 14% and the combined Plus/Pro Max models at just 12.5%, according to Croma’s retail data. Globally, according to CIRP data for 2024, base iPhone models comprised 42% of total sales, followed by Pro Max at 26%, Pro models at 19%, and Plus models at 13%.
Based on these numbers, Apple seems to have concluded that the Plus never found its audience. But for people like me who genuinely enjoyed the balance of a big display, great speakers, and long battery life without Pro Max pricing, the absence of an iPhone 17 Plus feels like a real loss. Instead of the upgrade I was hoping for, I’m left choosing between compromise and overspending.
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