As the dust starts to settle around the launch and subsequent release of the iPhone 17 family and the slim iPhone Air, I’ve had time to ponder what these new phones mean for Apple and the phone arena as a whole, given Cupertino’s ability to set the standard for smartphones.
And I’m coming to the conclusion that we may have hit peak iPhone.
Now I’m not saying that there’s no scope for Apple to improve on its phones, especially as it and the likes of Samsung have been taking very iterative approaches to their recent generations of smartphones. But rather, I think the scope for innovation and obvious upgrades may have plateaued for Apple.
The reason for this, in my opinion, comes from a couple of factors. The first is the standard iPhone 17 now sports a 120Hz high-refresh rate display, something that was missing from the phone's previous generation for some time despite being commonplace in the best Android phones and more affordable handsets.
Add in a rear camera system that can use image processing and sensor fusion to deliver a 4x zoom range that Apple touts as optical quality, and deliver 48MP wide and ultra-wide shots, plus the ability to run the latest Apple Intelligence features and a chipset that I doubt will struggle with much for years, and it’s now hard to imagine what Apple could do next.
I feel the same is broadly true of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, which now have vapor chamber cooling like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, so they aren’t missing features the leading Android rivals have.
And there’s the fact that after multiple generations of Pro phones with a trio of rear cameras, Apple hasn't looked to add in any more or put in radical sensors with massive megapixel counts.
To me, this is an indication that Apple doesn't want to follow Samsung and add more rear cameras to its phones. And given the faster-ish charging on offer, MagSafe and magnetic accessories, plus powerful performance and a huge range of curated apps and games, it now feels like Apple no longer has obvious areas in which it lags behind other phone makers. Apple Intelligence might not yet be a slam-dunk on iPhones, but it’s getting more capable.
Then we have the iPhone Air, which follows the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge in the super-slim phone space, albeit with a few compromises.
Apple will surely do some nips and tucks to these phones for the inevitable next generation of iPhones. I can’t help but feel the scope for improvement and innovations has decidedly narrowed. That’s not a bad thing per se, as Apple still makes some of the best phones, and each generation is inarguably better than the last.
But in general, each generation of iPhone has been more iterative and perhaps lacks the standout features and upgrades that used to excite me and other tech fans back when the iPhone was young.
iPhone plateau
So I reckon the iPhone 17 generation may be the peak for iPhones for some years to come.
And that could slowly mean that the excitement many an Apple event brings starts to wither and fade. On the budget side, the iPhone 16e felt a bit like a swing and a miss for its price, so it joins the new Apple phones on a virtual plateau in my mind.
Now you could say the much-rumored and still long-awaited foldable iPhone could be the smartphone to reignite pure excitement for Apple’s smartphones. And I’d agree, only I’m not totally convinced Apple will either call this an iPhone or even make a folding smartphone – rather, we could see a foldable iPad instead, reinvigorating the form factor of the iPad mini and acting as a testbed for folding screen tech out of Cupertino.
I should say that I don’t think this is the end of phone innovation for Apple, but I do feel it’s hit a point where the next few generations of iPhone might not offer much for people to get excited about, with the design changes brought in by the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro being the aesthetic that'll stick for some time.
Of course, I could be, and very much hope I will be, wrong about all of this and that the new iPhones are simply the first wave of new and interesting phones from Apple that rail against iterative upgrades.
Naturally, time will tell here, but do let me know in the comments below if you think we’ve hit peak iPhone, if there’s more to come, or if iPhones peaked some generation ago.
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