The wait is over – the new iPhones went on sale this Friday. A lot of places are already running out of units, though thankfully, Amazon still has the new models in stock. We will look at some Android offers too, but we start with Apple’s new designs.
The base iPhone 17 is more capable than any of its predecessors. Apple no longer locks 120Hz ProMotion behind the Pro price tag. It’s a larger 6.3” LTPO panel (up from 6.1”) with an anti-reflective coating to boot. Apple also upgraded the cameras and the battery system. Also note that the base storage for all 2025 models is 256GB. All this for the same price as a 128GB iPhone 16 last year.
The other interesting model is the iPhone Air. We said “interesting”, not “good”. It might be good if you want a thin and light iPhone, though not necessarily a compact one. It comes with a lot of sacrifices like having only a single camera (at least it’s better than the one on the 16e) and a tiny battery. We have the solution for that last part, more on that in a bit.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is shaping up to be the most popular model, like previous Pro Max models were before it. And it’s no surprise, this is the no-compromises model.
The iPhone 17 Pro is exactly the same thing, except the screen size goes from 6.9” to 6.3” and the battery is similarly smaller. The bigger sensor in the main camera and the new 48MP 4x/100mm telephoto lenses are certainly cool, but are they €350 cool? Because that’s the price gap between the Pro and the base model and the Pro no longer has a screen advantage.
The iPhone 16e is the “cheap” model – even with a €100 discount, we had to put this in quotes. This is a lot of money to spend on a 6.1” notched screen and a single 48MP camera with a tiny 1/2.55” sensor (the Air has a 1/1.56” sensor).
You may want to pick up a case, both to protect your new iPhone and to customize its look. There are silicone cases and woven cases, both of which are compatible with MagSafe. They have a €10 discount at the moment.
A case might add too much bulk to the Air, so Apple is offering an alternative – bumpers are back!
And here’s the promised solution to iPhone Air’s battery life – a bespoke MagSafe battery that adds 65% additional charge to the Air. Beauty has its price, as they say.
Check out our post from last week for a look at the new Apple Watch Series 11, Watch SE and Watch Ultra 3 models, plus the new AirPods Pro 3. With that, we move on to Android.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE launched a couple of weeks ago with a free storage upgrade as the early bird perk. Two weeks later and the price of the 256GB model has dropped to the level of the base 128GB variant – it’s the same thing as a free storage upgrade.
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo was a promising phone last year, but we found some flaws in our review. Still, with a 41% discount, this is a fairly compelling offering. You get a portable phone with a stylish look and an IP68 rating, a good quality 6.4” LTPO display and a triple camera with a 10MP 3x/73mm telephoto lens. Also, the battery may be on the small side, but endurance is good and it supports both wired (68W) and wireless charging (15W).
The flaws – more on them in our review – made it a tough sell, but now it’s closer to an entry-level price, so we can look past some imperfections.
The Motorola Edge 60 Fusion is from this year and is the same price as the Neo. It is bigger with a 6.67” OLED display. Note that it’s not an LTPO panel. Also, it’s a year later and Moto is still using the same chipset, the Dimensity 7300 – this chip was one of our complaints about the Edge 50 Neo. And you don’t even get a dedicated telephoto camera with the Fusion.
The Fusion is not a bad phone, mind you (its imperfections are very similar to those of the Neo). It’s just that the Neo discount is quite good.
Here’s an example. The Motorola Moto G86 costs essentially the same as the Fusion and you get much of the same hardware – a similar display (this one is flat, though), the same Dimensity 7300, same IP68/IP69 rating. However, the cameras are worse (50MP 1/1.95” vs. 50MP 1/1.56” main and 8MP vs. 13MP ultra-wide) as is the charging situation for the 5,200mAh battery (68W for the Fusion, 30W for the G86). See? The Fusion is actually pretty good.
The vivo V50 is fairly pricey, even with a €100+ discount. However, it brings a capable camera system consisting of two 50MP modules on the back (wide and ultra-wide) and one 50MP camera on the front. It also has great battery life and it feels quite premium in the hand.
Also from vivo is the X200 FE – the company’s global super mini. It pairs a 6.31” LTPO display with a Dimensity 9300+ chipset. In Germany the battery capacity is only 5,300mAh – we say “only” as the global model is supposed to have 6,500mAh. Anyway, the camera system is better than most phones of this size. It has a 50MP main (1/1.56”, OIS), 50MP 3x/70mm telephoto (f/2.7, 1/1.95”, OIS) and 8MP ultra-wide, plus a 50MP selfie (f/2.0, 20mm, 1/2.76”).
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