iPhone 17 Is Junk

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Sep 11, 12:09PM EDT · Published Sep 11, 9:45AM EDT

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The iPhone 17 launch failed to impress, with too little upgrade and too many smartphone alternatives out there for buyers.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock took a hit.

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Steve Jobs used to take the stage once a year to introduce the new iPhone. The events were standing room only. There were predictions for months about what the new features would be. After the iPhone was first released in 2007, each year people would line up at Apple stores after the presentation. People slept outside these locations to be among the first to get the new version.

The iPhone 17 was launched with a yawn. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “But I don’t think it’s the right upgrade for most people.” It also called the smartphone “lackluster.” AT&T CEO John Stankey said, “I would intuitively say that we’re at a point … that I don’t see super cycles as being kind of the dynamic around it.” He added that without an artificial intelligence (AI) upgrade, hardware changes were not a winner. AT&T is one of the largest iPhone sellers in the United States.

Truth is that a faster chip, a better screen, and a camera upgrade will not make it. Too many view the iPhone 17 as no more than a way for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) to make more money, at least for the next year. And, in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, the iPhone 17 will struggle to compete with huge local companies that have advanced phones with AI features.

Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone company, has an AI system and a new foldable phone, the Galaxy Z F7. It also has a camera upgrade and a faster chip than its predecessor.

Even the Google Pixel has earned praise for its AI features, which come from Google’s Gemini software product. It has a great camera, too, as well as a lightning-fast chip.

All of this is to say the iPhone 17 is a paperweight compared to the iPhone 16.

By the way, Apple’s stock dropped over 3% yesterday and is down almost 10% for the year.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.