Apple Reveals iPhone 17 Lineup, AirPods Pro 3, and More

Reading Time: 5 minutes.

I’ll keep this quick, because, frankly, Apple hasn’t released anything that’s caught my eye in years and I don’t feel like spending hours on every minute detail anymore. Each year of updates is a splash of paint and slightly improved internals. I’ve gotten so bored of them that I actually didn’t even watch the keynote this year. Another slab of glass that’s too big for your pocket, a watch that has looked the same for 11 years (bad), and a generally unimaginative lineup. I used to have people ask me about the new Apple products when they came out. It’s part of the reason I started a blog to begin with! Now? No one cares.

Today, Apple revealed:

• The iPhone 17 series, as well as the new iPhone Air.
• The Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3
• AirPods Pro 3
• Accessories, a Final Cut Camera Update, and release dates

So let’s take a super quick look at some of these, shall we?

iPhone 17 Lineup

The coolest part of the new lineup has got to be the iPhone 17 Pro. It comes in a new “cosmic orange” color.

What, you want more?

It has Apple’s biggest camera bump ever, though, despite spanning the entire top of the device, is still not enough to keep the lenses from protruding, which may still cause the device to rock on a table unless you get a case for it. It also means most cases will expose even more of the device, both for looks and also to make it slightly more vulnerable to damage.

The new unibody construction is cool though. Rather than a seamless back, the back features a smaller amount of glass. This should make it more durable, as well as look more unique. I’ll be honest, the “cosmic orange” iPhone 17 Pro is the coolest looking iPhone since the iPhone 4s. I’m glad they decided to finally get a bit more creative with the iPhone design.

You want specifics? Fine. But you better appreciate it, because these releases are about as boring as watching paint dry, and I’m summarizing it for you out of the goodness of my heart. No AI was tortured in the making of these summaries, this is all raw human pain, baby!

iPhone 17/17 Plus

• New A19 chip offering “higher performance and longevity”, according to Apple
  • 3nm technology, a 6-core CPU, and such a small upgrade that Apple had to compare it to the A15. Seriously!
  • “The 6-core CPU is 1.5x faster than the A15 Bionic chip in iPhone 13, and the 5-core GPU is more than 2x faster than A15 Bionic” – From Apple’s Newsroom
  • It’s such a small improvement they had to compare it to a chip from 4 years ago! This is the chip in the iPhone 13 series!
  • Supposedly 8 hours of additional video playback than the iPhone 16 though
• Center Stage to point your front facing camera at you.
  • Because I’m sure you’ve been struggling with that.
• Two rear 48MP cameras, allowing for “optical-quality” 2x telephoto, wide angle photos, and macro photos
• A new bigger screen, 6.3-inch!
  • Take that, pockets!
  • ProMotion display with up to 120Hz refresh rate
  • Always-on display
• A crossbody lanyard for use with Apple’s silicone cases.
• Preorders open on September 12th, releasing on the 19th. Starts at $799, configurable up to $999.

iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max

• A19 Pro chip
  • No measurement on just how much better it is than the non-“pro” variant of the A19.
  • It seems to have a single core increase over the GPU, with a 6-Core GPU instead of a 5-Core
• Up to 8x “optical quality” zoom
  • “Like having 8 pro lenses in your pocket”
  • (Note, there is one front facing camera and three rear facing cameras)
  • Main rear camera does 1x/2x photos, ultra wide does 0.5x and macro shots, and the telephoto does 4x and 8x shots.
  • It does this in-sensor, the lenses do not optically produce multiple focal lengths.
• All rear cameras feature 48MP sensors
  • Takes 24MP photos
• New “TechWoven” cases, which surely won’t get as dirty as their “FineWoven” cases did.
• Starts at $1,099, configurable up to $1,499 for the iPhone 17 Pro, and $1,999 for the Pro Max. Yeah, really.

iPhone Air

Have you wanted an iPhone with worse battery life? What about fewer cameras? Slower data transfer capabilities from a decade ago? And would you also like it to still cost as much as an iPhone 17 Pro? Then Apple has the answer for you!

God, we got this instead of an iPhone that fits in a hand or pocket better? P.T. Barnum allegedly never said that there was a sucker born every minute, but if you’re thinking of buying a worse but more expensive iPhone because it’s 3.11mm thinner than the far better iPhone 17 Pro, I might say that about you.

• 5.6mm thin
• 6.5-inch display, with ProMotion and always-on features
• A titanium frame
• Action button
• Camera control
• A single 48MP camera
  • 1x and 2x zoom, the latter through pixel doubling in-sensor, for optical-like zoom
• Still just USB 2 over USB-C, instead of the USB 3 speed and charging capabilities of the pro iPhone
  • Transferring videos off my old iPhone 11 was so tedious when I used it for more videography. Six years later, this is still no faster.
• “Up to 27 hours video playback”
  • Apple still will not provide more accurate battery life estimates that include other usages, or just the battery size. Only third party testing will reveal if it can live up to the battery life of the iPhone 17
  • The A19 seems to push battery life more than performance, so perhaps those optimizations have made it something that won’t be awful with battery life?
  • It’s 3 hours less than the battery life of the iPhone 17

I have no idea who this is for. Who wants a thinner phone? It’s not useful in any way. It doesn’t feel better in the hand, it has less battery life, fewer cameras than even the iPhone 17, and is likely quite fragile compared to the iPhone 17 Pro, which this costs as much as. Know what would be better? an iPhone 17 Pro mini that’s so thick it doesn’t need a camera bump with over 30 hours of battery life. Now that’s a cool proposition.

AirPods Pro 3

These may be the coolest things Apple introduced. They’ll look just about identical to the AirPods Pro 2, but supposedly will have better sound quality, better fit, and better active noise cancellation. Apple says they have the best ANC out of any in-ear headphone. They also will have live language translation powered by Apple Intelligence, which, if it works, could be a cool new feature. They also have heart rate sensors now, so your earbuds can collect information on your heart during workouts. It doesn’t seem that it will track your heart rate outside of workouts, likely to preserve battery life. Also, you’ll need Apple’s Fitness+ subscription to see real-time performance metrics on a screen during workouts.

Live translation will quiet voices around you, feeding you the translated phrases. You can also speak your native language and have your phone display translations, allowing you to communicate anywhere. If it works as well as Apple says it does, it could be the most exciting thing Apple introduced for travelers. We’re just a bit closer to being able to understand each other just a little better.

Apple Watch Updates

Out of all of Apple’s devices, I cannot think of something I find more boring than the Apple Watch. It just has not been interesting to me. The design is ugly, boring, and dated. It’s basically the same watch it has been since the first model. I need the information it provides so rarely that usually when I go to use my own the battery is dead from sitting idle and off for too long and needs a charge.

At least they can do blood oxygen sensing again.

Apple Watch Series 11

• Introduces hypertension detection, that’s chronic high blood pressure
  • This could actually be wonderful for people looking to monitor their heart health, and is a significant update.
  • Takes 30 days of measurements to see how your blood vessels respond to your individual heart beats. This can reveal potentially high blood pressure
  • I could see this potentially saving lives, and, to Apple’s credit, is a pretty great feature. Consider getting one of these for your parents!
• 5G cellular connection
• Sleep score
  • Many apps offer something like this, now the Apple Watch does too
• And more smaller updates here
• Starts at $399, up to $1,049

Apple Watch Ultra 3

• Apple’s most ultra watch yet… probably
• 5G and satellite communications
• 42 hours of battery life, up to 7 2hours in low power mode
• Starts at $799, up to $899 with titanium Milanese loop

Apple Watch SE 3

• Adds fast charging
• Adds always-on display
• 5G cellular
• Starts at $249, up to $629, depending on setup

Another Year!

And that just about wraps up the most notable features of everything Apple revealed today. Back to bed for me, reading through all this made me tired. Wake me up when I can fold one in half like my two year old Motorola phone. Or better yet, when there’s finally one worthy of replacing my iPhone 13 mini.