New iPhone 17 Pro

I want to make video recordings of myself while I practice playing my cello, but my current phone, an Apple iPhone 16 Pro, has only 128 GB of storage, and it is usually full since I store many photos, music tracks, and podcasts, among other things. I decided to trade in this phone, which I purchased twenty months ago in December 2024, on an iPhone 17 Pro, for which the base model has 256 GB of storage.

I could wait a few more weeks to buy an iPhone 18 Pro model, which Apple will announce seven days from this post on September 9, 2026, in an event called “Surprise and shine.” But if I recall correctly from what has happened in the past, after the announcement of the new models Apple will immediately stop selling the discontinued iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models. There were will a few days to wait before customers are able to order the iPhone 18 Pro models, and customers will wait a week or more for the new phones to be delivered. Usually the delays grow as early demand exceeds supply.

Furthermore, because of RAMageddon—the shortage of RAM chips caused by the expansion of AI companies—the iPhone 18 Pro models are predicted by many analysts to cost $100 to $300 more than the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro models.

Since feature improvements of new iPhones are now small and incremental, it is more important to me to save a hundred dollars or more on my new phone than to buy the latest iteration. The iPhone 17 Pro costs $1,099; I will trade in my old phone, for which Apple says I should receive a $630 credit.

With all this in mind, I ordered a new iPhone 17 Pro today at about 10:30 a.m., and I picked it up at 3:15 p.m. at the local Apple store in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Instead of a black silicone case like I purchased for my iPhone 16 Pro, I ordered a green TechWoven case for the new phone. I hope the green color will make it easier to find my phone when I set it on dark furniture. The silicone case has been a good case for protecting my phone from occasional drops, but it sometimes makes it difficult to get my phone out of my pants pocket.

As I write, it is now 6:30 p.m., and I have successfully moved into the new phone except for most of the 240 podcast episodes I have in my Overcast queue. Apple makes it very easy to transfer data and passwords from an old phone to a new phone and to activate the new phone with my Verizon account. (Verizon charged $40 for the account transfer to the new phone, because they can.)

So far, with about an hour of use, the new phone feels nearly identical to the old phone. Because of the wide camera plateau, the iPhone 17 Pro does not rock on a hard surface like the iPhone 16 Pro does. But with the TechWoven case, the new phone slides much more easily on a smooth surface than the old phone with the silicone case.

In about fourteen months, after the folding iPhone has been on the market for a year, I might order one. I can wait a year to learn if the folding model is durable and retains its value since it is predicted to be very expensive (upwards of $2,000).

Added September 9, 2026:

After yesterday’s announcements, the base model iPhone 18 Pro lists for $1,199, a $100 increase, and the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max are no longer available from Apple (although places like Best Buy, amazon,com, and the phone carriers still have these models for sale). The iPhone Duo, as Apple has named its folding phone, costs an eye-watering $1,999.