Apple announces $799 iPhone 17 with bigger 6.3-inch always-on ProMotion screen, A19 chip

CUPERTINO, Calif.—September means iPhones, and as expected, Apple has taken the wraps off a new iPhone 17 at its event today. The iPhone 17 will start at $799 for a 256GB model. Pre-orders start Friday, and the phones will be available on September 19.

The updated OLED screen is the hero of the iPhone 17, bringing several features to the base iPhone that the iPhone Pro has enjoyed for years. The iPhone 17 steps up from a 6.1-inch to a 6.3-inch display, the same increase that came to the iPhone 16 Pro last year, and Apple has also added 120 Hz ProMotion support to the basic iPhone for the first time.

The refresh rate adjusts dynamically based on what you're doing, and can go as low as 1 Hz in the low-power always-on display mode. Apple has also improved the scratch-resistance of the display with Ceramic Shield 2, which the company says is three times as scratch-resistant as the old screen. The screen can also hit 3,000 nits of peak outdoor brightness.

Helping to power that new screen is an updated Apple A19 chip. It still uses a 6-core CPU with two large cores and four smaller efficiency cores, a 16-core Neural Engine, and a 5-core GPU that Apple says is about 20 percent faster than the one in the Apple A18.