It’s that time of year: it’s the annual iPhone pre-order day! Apple unveiled four new phones, three with iPhone 17 branding, and the all-new ultra-thin iPhone Air.
All four phones come with a minimum of 256GB of storage, and prices have remained mostly static compared to the iPhone 16 series. The exception is the iPhone 17 Pro, although even here, the price is the same as the 256GB storage option for the iPhone 16 Pro, so there’s no notable price hike at all.
Despite the lack of price increase, all four phones may stretch your budget, but thankfully, Apple and its carrier partners have a host of iPhone 17 pre-order deals to help save your dosh! Between Apple direct and retailers like Best Buy and Amazon, as well as carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, here are the best deals for all four new iPhones.
One point to note is that pre-orders just opened at 5 am PDT, 8 am EDT, and 1 pm BST on Friday, September 12, 2025, but the phones are not officially available — and won’t be delivered — until Friday, September 19, 2025.
Let’s kick things off with the most exciting of the four new phones: the iPhone Air. Here’s the key information that you need to know:
If you want to purchase an iPhone Air SIM-free and unlocked, you’ll want to buy it directly from Apple. Here, you can purchase it in cash, split the upfront price into monthly payments with the Apple Card, or even activate a carrier plan with T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T.
If you choose the first two, you’ll still get an unlocked iPhone, but any iPhone purchased from Apple and paid for with an AT&T Next financing plan will remain locked to AT&T. Whether purchased in the US or globally, the iPhone Air is only available with an eSIM.
From the Air to the major upgrade that is the iPhone 17, complete with several new iPhone 17 features that deliver a strong Pro-like experience.
The iPhone 17 is unique as this year, Apple hasn’t increased the price but has increased the base storage amount. This means it offers exceptional value for money at the $799 price tag, and it’s also available at no cost with a qualifying trade-in, or when you switch carriers.
Once again, Apple’s the best place to buy the iPhone 17 unlocked, but it costs an additional $30 to purchase this SIM-free, even from Apple directly. If you want the best trade-in values, you’ll want to buy it with a carrier plan, as most carriers will offer this for free or close to it with a qualifying trade-in.
Then there’s the iPhone 17 Pro range, and even here, Apple has made a few improvements that make all the difference.
The key iPhone 17 Pro features deliver several notable improvements, specifically around the camera, performance, cooling, and battery life. The battery has increased in size, and the eSIM-only model offers two hours more than the physical SIM model at up to 39 hours of video playback battery life.
The camera gets a major upgrade with unified 48MP lenses across the board, including the new telephoto lens that offers 4x optical zoom and 8x ‘optical-like’ hybrid zoom.
The A19 Pro processor delivers the best performance in an iPhone to date, while the switch to aluminum yields vibrant colors and a new vapor chamber that should keep your phone cooler. Overall, this is a sizable update, and in the US, it continues the trend of being sold as eSIM-only.
Last up is the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which offers the iPhone 17 Pro experience in a larger size, complete with the best battery and biggest storage capacity of any iPhone to date.
The absolute best iPhone is usually the Pro Max, and this year, that’s no different. The iPhone 17 Pro Max features the largest battery in an iPhone yet, and also offers 2TB of storage for the first time on an iPhone.
However, the best doesn’t come cheap, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the most expensive iPhone yet, with the 2TB model costing $2,000. That is likely worth it for the same upgrades as the iPhone 17 Pro, except with a larger screen and bigger battery. As with the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s eSIM-only in the US, and comes with a larger battery over the version with a physical SIM card.
The best iPhone 17 Pro Max deals:
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