iOS 770: 2025 iPhones: Which Should You Buy? - iPhone 17 vs. Air vs. 17 Pro & Pro Max
iOS Today (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.1 • 616 Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Apple shook up its 2025 iPhone lineup and Mikah and Rosemary break down which model actually fits your life, budget, and hands! Plus, the under-the-radar launch day surprises that could change your pre-order strategy.
• iPhone 17 lineup explained: 17, 17 Pro, Pro Max, and Air
• iPhone preorder experiences, successes, and snags
• Choosing between iPhone 17, Air, and Pro: key differences and who should buy
• iPhone 17: colors, display, aluminum build, and dual cameras overview
• Who should skip the iPhone 17 for screen size or accessibility needs
• iPhone Air: larger, thinner, titanium, single camera, and new MagSafe battery
• Trade-offs of Air's lightweight design vs. camera features and battery life
• Pro and Pro Max: aluminum unibody, thermal improvements, and triple lenses
• Updated camera system, optical zoom, and thermal management in Pro models
• Carrier SIM slot impacts battery life on non-US iPhones
• Tips for iPhone declutter, storage management, and accessory costs
• Shortcuts Corner: iOS 26 Home app adaptive temperature and thermostat updates
• App Caps: Art of Fauna app and $15 JETech slim iPhone case recommendation
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on iOS today, Rosemary Orchard and I, Micah Sargent, help you figure out which iPhone is for you. |
| 0:08.1 | Stay tuned. |
| 0:12.0 | Podcasts you love. |
| 0:13.7 | From people you trust. |
| 0:16.2 | This is Twitter. |
| 0:20.4 | This is iOS Today, episode 770, with Rosemary Orchard and me, Micah Sargent, recorded Tuesday, September 16th, 2025, for Thursday, September 18th, 2025. |
| 0:34.0 | 2025 iPhones, which is for you. |
| 0:38.5 | Hello and welcome to iOS today, the show where we talk all things iOS, iPad OS, watchOS, |
| 0:43.2 | HomePod OS, and all the OSS that Apple has to offer you, although today things will be a little |
| 0:48.4 | different because we're talking about the iPhone. I am one of your hosts. My name is Micah Sargent. And my name is Rosemary Hortat. |
| 0:57.4 | And while it may not be seasonally appropriate, I'm ready to look at walking on air with the new iPhones. |
| 1:04.1 | I'm looking at walking on sunshine. So in this episode, look, we know by now, surely you as an iOS today listener have read a little bit about the iPhones. |
| 1:18.0 | Or perhaps you watched the event or perhaps you watched, if you were a member of Club Twit, the coverage with Leoport and yours truly, where we had kind of live commentary for the event going on. |
| 1:30.6 | So you know about the iPhone, you know Apple announced new iPhones at the awe-dropping event. |
| 1:36.9 | Now it's time to kind of understand what exactly Apple has announced. |
| 1:43.3 | And that, of course, starts with understanding the models that are available. |
| 1:49.0 | There's the iPhone 17. There's the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. And there's the iPhone Air. |
| 1:57.6 | So when it comes to kind of understanding the difference between those, that's what we |
| 2:02.7 | aim to do today and talk about the screen sizes, the sort of materials that it's made up with, |
| 2:12.7 | the chip inside, and then kind of think about what might be the right choice for you. Before we do that, |
| 2:19.4 | though, Rosemary, I would love to know what iPhone is going to be making its way to you and tell us |
| 2:28.5 | about your pre-order process. How did things go? How did they not go? Etcetera, et cetera. |
... |
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