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The standard iPhone 17 is flanked by the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max with new back designs, as well as an all-new iPhone Air
Updated on: Sep 10, 2025 3:03 AM IST
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As Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook took to the stage to get the tech giant’s most significant product launch underway, he underlined that “design for us goes beyond just look or feel”. It indeed is a factor of design that the iPhone Air joins the iPhone portfolio, and updates to the Watch Ultra and AirPods Pro allow for the addition of a number of new capabilities, without increasing the footprint of either. As has been the case in previous years, Apple has showcased four next-generation iPhones, but that’s where the continuity ends.
The standard iPhone 17 is flanked by the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max with new back designs, as well as an all-new iPhone Air, an ultra-thin design measuring just 5.6 mm that Tim Cook described as Apple’s thinnest smartphone and one that he expected to be “a game changer”.
These iPhones are set to go on sale later this month in most countries, including India. The rejuvenated smartphone portfolio in particular should hold Apple in good stead against increased competition from Samsung, and Chinese brands including Xiaomi and OnePlus.
Pivoting from the portfolio as it used to be, Apple is retaining one screen size for the standard, colourful iPhone, the iPhone 17, but in a larger 6.3-inch screen size (instead of the 6.1-inch size) while adding adaptive refresh rate ProMotion technology and new camera hardware, including versatile selfie orientation. This runs the A19 chip, a 3-nanometer architecture chip, with a promise of better battery stamina, up to 20% faster than an iPhone 16, and a faster neural engine for artificial intelligence (AI) processing.
Prices of the iPhone 17 start at ₹82,900, with 256GB being the minimum storage spec.
The iPhone Air era begins
Apple is replacing the larger screen option (the iPhone 16 Plus, a last of its kind) with a 6.5-inch screen size iPhone Air that should catch your attention with its slim form factor. Think of this as an ode to the original MacBook Air, which Steve Jobs had pulled out of a manila envelope at a keynote in 2008, and something Macs and iPads have held on to in recent years.
A titanium frame with ceramic shield is why Apple calls this their most durable iPhone yet. The ultra slim phone gets a 6.5-inch ProMotion display, a 48-megapixel Fusion camera including 2x telephoto with machine learning as well as a low light mode, and the latest gen A19 Pro chip, underlined by what Apple calls “MacBook Pro levels of compute”, referencing this chip’s performance promise.
iPhone Air is e-SIM only, worldwide. Apple claims an all-day battery life, and prices start at ₹1,19,900 in India.
The iPhone 17 Pro: Powerhouse persona
The iPhone 17 Pro line’s headline changes include new blue and orange colours, a unibody enclosure, what Apple calls the biggest battery in a Pro iPhone, and camera improvements. This is now a 48-megapixel troika, with the new telephoto camera, and even more images in the processing pipeline for better detail and colour accuracy in the final photo.
The iPhone Pro also switches to a proprietary aluminium frame from Titanium, which has been used since 2023. The advantage of switching to aluminium is supposedly two-pronged — it is lighter, and can dissipate heat better.
iPhone 17 Pro is priced at ₹1,34,900 onwards, while the larger iPhone 17 Pro Max will have a sticker price of ₹1,49,900 onwards.
There is parity in terms of the chip in play, an Apple A19 Pro silicon with more memory, and a new cooling architecture underlined by a Vapor chamber. But with that also comes a level of intrigue about how the slimmest iPhone’s battery holds up in terms of stamina and an ability to manage thermals under app load.
Apple had to consider a slimmer iPhone, given the competition from Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge.
Apple’s wearables take a step forward
The third-generation AirPods Pro true wireless earbuds. AirPods Pro 3, which features custom advanced computational audio and custom audio drivers. Apple says the noise cancellation is optimised to be four times more effective than a previous generation, and they say that transparency mode is now marked by more human-like ambient voices filtering through to the ear.
AirPods Pro 3 also add live translation, underlined by intelligence models, residing on the paired iPhone. Health tracking takes a significant step forward, thanks to heart rate sensors, which until now required a smartwatch for data. Prices start at ₹25,900.
There is also the annual Apple Watch refresh, now in its eleventh generation, an updated Apple Watch SE, as well as an Apple Watch Ultra with a larger display.
The Apple Watch, which underwent a significant design change last year, highlighted by a larger display, now receives incremental generational upgrades, including improved native brightness. The Apple Watch 11 gets improved cellular coverage, underlined by improved hardware, heart health tracking, including hypertension detection, and up to 24 hours of battery life. Prices start ₹46,900.
Apple Watch SE, the entry point to Apple’s Watch portfolio, gets new functionality such as sleep apnea and sleep score data, as well as 18-hour battery life with the addition of fast charging. Prices start at ₹25,900.
The most significant Watch update is reserved for the Watch Ultra 3, which didn’t receive a substantial refresh last year. This now gets a larger display and a more versatile satellite connectivity feature set in countries where it is available. It is priced at ₹46,900 onwards.
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