{"video_id":"fp_gWeJuk36CF","title":"iPhone 17 Review - Apple is SO close to winning me over","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2025-12-31T17:00:00.069Z","duration_s":558,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":5.0,"text":"Every fall, I find myself hoping that this is going to be the new iPhone or the new iOS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.0,"end_s":11.36,"text":"that's going to inspire me to switch back to Apple. And yet every fall, they seem to autumn short.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.36,"end_s":16.88,"text":"But while it used to be by a lot, this last round of updates has me this close to jumping","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":16.88,"end_s":21.36,"text":"into their walled garden with both feet. So I did it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.36,"end_s":25.96,"text":"I spent most of the last couple of months daily driving this iPhone Air.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":25.96,"end_s":30.72,"text":"The sex appeal of this device is undeniable and it's different enough from their past","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.72,"end_s":34.16,"text":"models that I really wanted to give it a fair shake.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":34.16,"end_s":39.76,"text":"Then I spent the last couple of weeks with the iPhone 17 and the 17 Pro Max to see what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":39.76,"end_s":43.2,"text":"I was missing out on by going with the skinny one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.2,"end_s":48.12,"text":"There ended up being a lot for me to like about all of them actually, but as you would expect,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.12,"end_s":53.44,"text":"I also managed to run into my fair share of, only Linus could break an iPhone this horribly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.44,"end_s":68.88,"text":"issues as well. And as you would expect, this segue to our sponsor.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.88,"end_s":73.48,"text":"Just like last time, my switch from Android got off to a pretty rocky start.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.48,"end_s":77.96,"text":"Apple's move to iOS app is, to put it bluntly, utterly useless.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":77.96,"end_s":82.28,"text":"Almost as useless as Apple's support, whose only advice to fix the issue was, I don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":82.28,"end_s":88.28,"text":"know, just try it again. So after several failed attempts, I settled for what little it managed to copy over for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.28,"end_s":94.4,"text":"me and then I manually set up the rest. These issues might become a thing of the past, by the way, 9to5Mac recently reported that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.4,"end_s":99.6,"text":"Apple and Google are apparently working together on making platform migrations more streamlined.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.6,"end_s":107.04,"text":"But I'll believe it when I see it at this point. Overall, my opinion of iOS hasn't changed much since my iPhone 16 review last year.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":107.04,"end_s":111.6,"text":"The liquid glass interface looks pretty, but it's not what I would have liked Apple to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.6,"end_s":117.2,"text":"be working on, with my main gripe still being iOS's meme-worthy auto-correct and complete","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.2,"end_s":120.88,"text":"ducking lack of meaningful keyboard customization.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.88,"end_s":125.64,"text":"Even with third-party keyboards that work great for me on Android, I type on my phone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.64,"end_s":130.64,"text":"a lot. Text, emails, team chats, editing video titles and updating our tracker sheet.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.64,"end_s":135.08,"text":"And much of what I do requires frequent use of special characters and non-normie vocab.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.08,"end_s":138.8,"text":"And if I can't text efficiently, then I can't operate efficiently.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.8,"end_s":142.84,"text":"But you've heard all that before. Let's talk about new stuff.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.84,"end_s":148.76,"text":"My first impression of the iPhone Air was absolutely outstanding. I mean, it's just so sleek.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":148.76,"end_s":153.56,"text":"It's so light, which I really appreciate now that Apple's flagship phones have gotten","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.56,"end_s":157.4,"text":"so brick-like. But here's the rub.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.4,"end_s":160.96,"text":"No, like right here is the rub.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.96,"end_s":165.32,"text":"Once you actually hold the Air and use it day to day, the narrow frame creates kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":165.32,"end_s":170.16,"text":"a pressure point on the pinky right here, and also because of the camera bump and the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":170.16,"end_s":173.84,"text":"compute being up here, the weight balance is not great.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":173.84,"end_s":178.36,"text":"Of course you can fix all that with a case, but I mean, what is the point of the Air at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.36,"end_s":181.56,"text":"that point? It's like ordering a Diet Coke with your Baconator.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.56,"end_s":186.48,"text":"Another ergonomic challenge is picking up or holding the phone without mashing the camera","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.48,"end_s":192.34,"text":"control button here. Now, to be fair, this can be tuned in Apple's favorite hiding place for useful features","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.34,"end_s":196.8,"text":"that should be obvious, the accessibility settings menu, but the default experience","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":196.8,"end_s":200.98,"text":"is noticeably worse than other members of the iPhone 17 family, where there's a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":200.98,"end_s":205.12,"text":"bit of solid ground on either side. The same goes for battery life.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.12,"end_s":211.98,"text":"It's mostly fine simply because Apple's idle battery management is so good, but I did","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.98,"end_s":215.84,"text":"have a couple of days where I was traveling for factory tours and I needed to hotspot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":215.84,"end_s":221.72,"text":"off of my phone. I ended up running out of battery as early as 6 PM, which simply wouldn't happen on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":221.72,"end_s":225.44,"text":"my Pixel 9a or on one of the chunkier iPhones.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.08,"end_s":233.0,"text":"Apple does offer a solution for that, a MagSafe power bank, but Baconator, you get the point.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.0,"end_s":238.68,"text":"And the Air also charges slower than the other 17 models, which I don't want to spend the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.68,"end_s":245.36,"text":"rest of our time together dunking on this thing, so let's get through the rest of this quickly so I can talk about the iPhone that I actually liked.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":245.36,"end_s":248.36,"text":"The mono speaker is atrocious for watching landscape content.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.36,"end_s":252.6,"text":"The single 48 megapixel camera feels extremely limiting, even for someone who only uses it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.6,"end_s":259.6,"text":"casually to snap pictures of his kids and cats. I had on again, off again reception issues, both with Wi-Fi and cellular.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":259.6,"end_s":264.66,"text":"And while I initially appreciated its heroine chic figure, the novelty of the form factor","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.66,"end_s":270.24,"text":"wore off pretty quickly. Now there has been some speculation that the main reason that Apple put the iPhone on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":270.24,"end_s":273.48,"text":"a diet was to aid the development of a future foldable phone.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.48,"end_s":278.4,"text":"I can't speak to that, but what I can say is that like so many of Apple's first generation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.4,"end_s":283.68,"text":"products, the Air feels like an expensive niche device for early adopters.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.68,"end_s":287.32,"text":"And if the reports of slow sales of the Air or anything to go by, I'm not the only one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.32,"end_s":294.34,"text":"who feels this way. And I didn't miss it even a little after switching to the iPhone 17, which resolved pretty much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":294.34,"end_s":299.88,"text":"every issue that I had with the Air. To be clear, there are things that are great about the Air.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":299.88,"end_s":304.92,"text":"It's just that they also happen to be great about the whole iPhone 17 lineup.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":304.92,"end_s":310.12,"text":"Look at the displays. Good lord are these things ever freaking awesome.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.12,"end_s":315.96,"text":"Like seriously, Corning's durable ceramic shield two glass is tough.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":315.96,"end_s":320.44,"text":"Like even in my clumsy hands, I managed to make it through months with these things,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":320.44,"end_s":326.28,"text":"with no scratches. I mean, look, look at this ding in the titanium frame of the Air.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.28,"end_s":331.72,"text":"That's titanium. I dropped this thing on the concrete when I missed my pocket and like, where are the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":331.72,"end_s":337.8,"text":"scratches on the glass, Jerry? The ceramic shield two is definitely a massive improvement this year.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.8,"end_s":345.68,"text":"And that's not even the best part. Apple has finally put 120 Hertz adaptive promotion displays on the entire lineup, rather than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":345.68,"end_s":350.88,"text":"paywalling smooth scrolling behind the pro tax across the lineup.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":350.88,"end_s":355.88,"text":"These displays get incredibly bright, almost hitting their claimed peak of 1600 nits in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":355.88,"end_s":361.28,"text":"a 1% HDR window during Labs testing, not to mention a whopping 3000 nits when auto brightness","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.28,"end_s":364.36,"text":"kicks in. And that's not even the best feature of them.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.36,"end_s":371.04,"text":"I love being able to drop down to just one nit when it is time to relax before bed.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":371.04,"end_s":375.16,"text":"Seriously, it gets so dim that if you forget to turn that feature off, it can be hard to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":375.16,"end_s":378.88,"text":"turn it back off when you're actually in reasonable light.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.88,"end_s":384.2,"text":"Anyway, it's a super cool feature. Of course it's hidden in the accessibility menu, so do yourself a favor and add a shortcut","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":384.2,"end_s":392.44,"text":"to control center. Now let's talk a bit more specifically about my favorite iPhone right now, the iPhone 17.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":392.44,"end_s":397.92,"text":"There's not really much to set it apart, but that's a good thing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":397.92,"end_s":402.84,"text":"It works great as a phone with only marginally lower performance than its bigger, more professional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":402.84,"end_s":408.96,"text":"brother. It's got a solid camera, two in fact, plus the outstanding new square sensor selfie camera","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.96,"end_s":416.56,"text":"that looks great in both portrait and landscape. It's got solid video capabilities, not on par with the pro, but better than pretty much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.56,"end_s":425.52,"text":"anything you'll see on the Android side of the garden wall. And it's got stereo speakers with decent options for storage, 256GB base and a 512GB","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":425.52,"end_s":431.12,"text":"option. All told, I think the iPhone 17 is the best rounded iPhone in years.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":431.12,"end_s":436.0,"text":"It's a hair shy of the pro version in every way that matters, but hundreds of dollars","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":436.0,"end_s":441.04,"text":"cheaper. It's so good that I think it's the reason that Apple dropped their plus model.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.04,"end_s":446.32,"text":"Like, if I could get a bigger screen without spring for the Pro Max, that is 100% the route","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":446.32,"end_s":453.36,"text":"that I would have taken. It isn't perfect, it's got USB 2, it wobbles when it's placed screen up, and like any","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":453.36,"end_s":459.0,"text":"modern iPhone, it uses iOS 26, which has felt uncharacteristically unpolished during my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":459.0,"end_s":464.16,"text":"time with it. Wi-Fi tethering had this weird habit of just kind of turning off.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.16,"end_s":469.4,"text":"And across all the phones I used, I experienced a wide array of just buggy behaviors.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":469.4,"end_s":477.08,"text":"Finally, let's talk about the Pro Max. I didn't really use the 17 Pro, since it didn't offer anything over the 17 for me.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":477.08,"end_s":483.48,"text":"But if you are big into vlogging or doing pocket photography, it's probably worth the extra.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":483.48,"end_s":486.88,"text":"The extra 48MP telephoto lens is a welcome addition.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":486.88,"end_s":491.68,"text":"The Pro gets a nice speed bump with the USB 3 at up to 10GB per second, which you will","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":491.68,"end_s":496.76,"text":"need if you want to record ProRes 4K at 120fps to an external drive.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":496.76,"end_s":501.24,"text":"And our Labs team found that the Pro Max had the best iPhone battery discharge that we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":501.32,"end_s":509.12,"text":"have ever tested. Also, the Pro and the Pro Max can be equipped with up to a terabyte and two terabytes of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":509.12,"end_s":514.96,"text":"storage respectively, if you can stomach the $2,000 price tag.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.96,"end_s":518.68,"text":"I don't really need any of that though, so if I was going to stick with iPhone this generation,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.68,"end_s":524.28,"text":"I'd be going for the regular 17. But I don't think I can do it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.28,"end_s":529.92,"text":"No side loading, no keyboard customizations, crappy default screenshot management, including","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":530.0,"end_s":535.48,"text":"walking, scrolling screenshots to only particular apps like… why?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":535.48,"end_s":539.48,"text":"And also that I can have a software experience that is every bit as buggy as Android?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":539.48,"end_s":543.24,"text":"I don't know, Apple. Maybe next year.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":543.24,"end_s":550.72,"text":"Maybe with Apple Hold. Until then, I think it's back to Android for me and back to segwaying to our sponsor.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":550.72,"end_s":554.64,"text":"If you guys liked this video, why not check out the video when the iPhone 17 launched","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":554.64,"end_s":558.56,"text":"in September. It's a good little roundup of all the new features and the new hardware.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Every fall, I find myself hoping that this is going to be the new iPhone or the new iOS that's going to inspire me to switch back to Apple. And yet every fall, they seem to autumn short. But while it used to be by a lot, this last round of updates has me this close to jumping into their walled garden with both feet. So I did it. I spent most of the last couple of months daily driving this iPhone Air. The sex appeal of this device is undeniable and it's different enough from their past models that I really wanted to give it a fair shake. Then I spent the last couple of weeks with the iPhone 17 and the 17 Pro Max to see what I was missing out on by going with the skinny one. There ended up being a lot for me to like about all of them actually, but as you would expect, I also managed to run into my fair share of, only Linus could break an iPhone this horribly issues as well. And as you would expect, this segue to our sponsor. Just like last time, my switch from Android got off to a pretty rocky start. Apple's move to iOS app is, to put it bluntly, utterly useless. Almost as useless as Apple's support, whose only advice to fix the issue was, I don't know, just try it again. So after several failed attempts, I settled for what little it managed to copy over for me and then I manually set up the rest. These issues might become a thing of the past, by the way, 9to5Mac recently reported that Apple and Google are apparently working together on making platform migrations more streamlined. But I'll believe it when I see it at this point. Overall, my opinion of iOS hasn't changed much since my iPhone 16 review last year. The liquid glass interface looks pretty, but it's not what I would have liked Apple to be working on, with my main gripe still being iOS's meme-worthy auto-correct and complete ducking lack of meaningful keyboard customization. Even with third-party keyboards that work great for me on Android, I type on my phone a lot. Text, emails, team chats, editing video titles and updating our tracker sheet. And much of what I do requires frequent use of special characters and non-normie vocab. And if I can't text efficiently, then I can't operate efficiently. But you've heard all that before. Let's talk about new stuff. My first impression of the iPhone Air was absolutely outstanding. I mean, it's just so sleek. It's so light, which I really appreciate now that Apple's flagship phones have gotten so brick-like. But here's the rub. No, like right here is the rub. Once you actually hold the Air and use it day to day, the narrow frame creates kind of a pressure point on the pinky right here, and also because of the camera bump and the compute being up here, the weight balance is not great. Of course you can fix all that with a case, but I mean, what is the point of the Air at that point? It's like ordering a Diet Coke with your Baconator. Another ergonomic challenge is picking up or holding the phone without mashing the camera control button here. Now, to be fair, this can be tuned in Apple's favorite hiding place for useful features that should be obvious, the accessibility settings menu, but the default experience is noticeably worse than other members of the iPhone 17 family, where there's a little bit of solid ground on either side. The same goes for battery life. It's mostly fine simply because Apple's idle battery management is so good, but I did have a couple of days where I was traveling for factory tours and I needed to hotspot off of my phone. I ended up running out of battery as early as 6 PM, which simply wouldn't happen on my Pixel 9a or on one of the chunkier iPhones. Apple does offer a solution for that, a MagSafe power bank, but Baconator, you get the point. And the Air also charges slower than the other 17 models, which I don't want to spend the rest of our time together dunking on this thing, so let's get through the rest of this quickly so I can talk about the iPhone that I actually liked. The mono speaker is atrocious for watching landscape content. The single 48 megapixel camera feels extremely limiting, even for someone who only uses it casually to snap pictures of his kids and cats. I had on again, off again reception issues, both with Wi-Fi and cellular. And while I initially appreciated its heroine chic figure, the novelty of the form factor wore off pretty quickly. Now there has been some speculation that the main reason that Apple put the iPhone on a diet was to aid the development of a future foldable phone. I can't speak to that, but what I can say is that like so many of Apple's first generation products, the Air feels like an expensive niche device for early adopters. And if the reports of slow sales of the Air or anything to go by, I'm not the only one who feels this way. And I didn't miss it even a little after switching to the iPhone 17, which resolved pretty much every issue that I had with the Air. To be clear, there are things that are great about the Air. It's just that they also happen to be great about the whole iPhone 17 lineup. Look at the displays. Good lord are these things ever freaking awesome. Like seriously, Corning's durable ceramic shield two glass is tough. Like even in my clumsy hands, I managed to make it through months with these things, with no scratches. I mean, look, look at this ding in the titanium frame of the Air. That's titanium. I dropped this thing on the concrete when I missed my pocket and like, where are the scratches on the glass, Jerry? The ceramic shield two is definitely a massive improvement this year. And that's not even the best part. Apple has finally put 120 Hertz adaptive promotion displays on the entire lineup, rather than paywalling smooth scrolling behind the pro tax across the lineup. These displays get incredibly bright, almost hitting their claimed peak of 1600 nits in a 1% HDR window during Labs testing, not to mention a whopping 3000 nits when auto brightness kicks in. And that's not even the best feature of them. I love being able to drop down to just one nit when it is time to relax before bed. Seriously, it gets so dim that if you forget to turn that feature off, it can be hard to turn it back off when you're actually in reasonable light. Anyway, it's a super cool feature. Of course it's hidden in the accessibility menu, so do yourself a favor and add a shortcut to control center. Now let's talk a bit more specifically about my favorite iPhone right now, the iPhone 17. There's not really much to set it apart, but that's a good thing. It works great as a phone with only marginally lower performance than its bigger, more professional brother. It's got a solid camera, two in fact, plus the outstanding new square sensor selfie camera that looks great in both portrait and landscape. It's got solid video capabilities, not on par with the pro, but better than pretty much anything you'll see on the Android side of the garden wall. And it's got stereo speakers with decent options for storage, 256GB base and a 512GB option. All told, I think the iPhone 17 is the best rounded iPhone in years. It's a hair shy of the pro version in every way that matters, but hundreds of dollars cheaper. It's so good that I think it's the reason that Apple dropped their plus model. Like, if I could get a bigger screen without spring for the Pro Max, that is 100% the route that I would have taken. It isn't perfect, it's got USB 2, it wobbles when it's placed screen up, and like any modern iPhone, it uses iOS 26, which has felt uncharacteristically unpolished during my time with it. Wi-Fi tethering had this weird habit of just kind of turning off. And across all the phones I used, I experienced a wide array of just buggy behaviors. Finally, let's talk about the Pro Max. I didn't really use the 17 Pro, since it didn't offer anything over the 17 for me. But if you are big into vlogging or doing pocket photography, it's probably worth the extra. The extra 48MP telephoto lens is a welcome addition. The Pro gets a nice speed bump with the USB 3 at up to 10GB per second, which you will need if you want to record ProRes 4K at 120fps to an external drive. And our Labs team found that the Pro Max had the best iPhone battery discharge that we have ever tested. Also, the Pro and the Pro Max can be equipped with up to a terabyte and two terabytes of storage respectively, if you can stomach the $2,000 price tag. I don't really need any of that though, so if I was going to stick with iPhone this generation, I'd be going for the regular 17. But I don't think I can do it. No side loading, no keyboard customizations, crappy default screenshot management, including walking, scrolling screenshots to only particular apps like… why? And also that I can have a software experience that is every bit as buggy as Android? I don't know, Apple. Maybe next year. Maybe with Apple Hold. Until then, I think it's back to Android for me and back to segwaying to our sponsor. If you guys liked this video, why not check out the video when the iPhone 17 launched in September. It's a good little roundup of all the new features and the new hardware."}