iPhone 17 to be an underwhelming upgrade

A few hours ago a rumor claimed the iPhone 17 would grow its screen size to 6.3″ (from 6.1″ in the iPhone 16), matching the Pro model. With this rather significant upgrade in tow, you may have expected the phone to come with other substantial upgrades in other areas as well.

But apparently not. According to a new research note by GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu, the iPhone 17 will be powered by the A18 chip, and will have 8GB of RAM. Those are not typos – that’s the exact same chipset and RAM amount that its predecessor has.

iPhone 16

So, in this regard, the iPhone 17 will just be an ever so slightly larger iPhone 16. This is despite the fact that all three other members of its family will get the A19 chip as well as 12GB of RAM. The iPhone 17 was at one point said to be considered for a memory upgrade, but that was apparently decided against after all.

As for the chip staying the same as in the iPhone 16, that’s a more baffling decision that clearly won’t make it a best-seller. But maybe that’s the point – Apple trying to nudge people towards the more expensive and more profitable Air, Pro, and Pro Max models.