Toothpaste Tube Burst, Shame the OS Is a Letdown. How's the iPhone 17's Value for Money Amid Industry-Wide Phone Price Hikes?

Preface

This year has really been over the top. The AI boom ate up chip and memory production capacity, causing every electronics product to go up in price.

I originally wasn't planning to buy a phone, but seeing that next year's iPhone 18 is going to get more expensive, I got anxious and picked up the toothpaste-burst iPhone 17 standard model in early July 😄

As for why it's a toothpaste burst, please watch the VCR—oh wait, the pictures.

Packaging

Not doing an unboxing this time. Items from Pinduoduo's 100-billion subsidy have to be unboxed, activated, and photographed; I recorded that process on video. After activation the phone was already out and in use, so putting it back for an unboxing ritual—forget it.

I won't photograph the packaging, but I can still take a picture of the accessories.

Which is just this cable 😂

The Phone Itself

I bought the black version this time.

I miss the wow of using an iPhone 4 for the first time, but this black is way too light—kind of looks gray 😂

The front. The fronts of different colors actually all look the same?

Phone Case

Bought on Pinduoduo for 3.9 yuan. Looks great. The character is Feiying from Honkai: Star Rail.

I like this kind of clear case. Feels nice in the hand, and the artwork can look pretty good, even if it yellows after a few months.

Anyway it's cheap—I can swap it anytime if needed.

After taking it out, it looks like this. The actual colors are pretty nice.

How it looks with the case on. Not bad, right~

Screen Protector

This film isn't expensive either, still bought on Pinduoduo: 10 yuan for 3 tempered glass protectors.

I noticed that phone screen protectors have evolved—they all come with a dust-free chamber now.

The so-called dust-free chamber is really just a plastic shell. After covering the phone, you pull once; when you pull out the top adhesive sheet it takes the little bits of dust on the screen with it.

I tested it myself—this design really does greatly improve the success rate of applying the protector~

This generation of iPhone 17 is said to have an anti-reflective coating that can reduce screen glare. I looked at the effect and it's not very noticeable. Not sure if the standard model got a cut-down spec, or if that's just how the effect is.

Before buying a screen protector, a friend recommended a tempered glass film with anti-reflective coating, but it costs over a hundred yuan.

Forget it, I'll just buy this budget one. How much did this phone even cost? Can't bring myself to spend that much on accessories, hahaha 😄

Charging

As everyone knows, for the sake of the environment (saving money), Cook couldn't even bear to include a charger.

So the CukTech 10 Ultra charger I introduced in my previous article came in handy.

Actual testing showed charging is pretty fast—can fully charge in a bit over an hour, basically the same level as the mate30 I bought in 2019 😄

PS: This charging speed isn't easy for Apple either. After all, Apple has always loved the environment—charging this fast, generating this much heat, not environmentally friendly at all 🤪

Extra

I originally planned to buy a Hong Kong version to play with Apple AI, but looking on JD and Taobao, Hong Kong version prices were all ridiculous. Even the regular model was 6,700+, almost 2,000 more expensive than the mainland version!

That's just not worth it. Used to buy gray-market imports to save money; now they're more expensive instead. Might as well go with the mainland version—peace of mind, no hassle…… Some netizens say the mainland version is stripped of a lot of features, but at this price, what more do you want~

In the end I got this iPhone 17 on Pinduoduo for 5,099. Actually on JD there's a China Mobile contract plan that can get it down to 4,799 I think, and my plan happens to be a bit over 100 a month, which meets that minimum-spend requirement. But that JD deal couldn't issue an invoice, so I still went with Pinduoduo.

After inspecting the phone, I got off safely~

The OS

This unit shipped with system 26.4.1, which is said to be a really terrible system.

A new version of the OS has already been released; I'll find time to update later.

iOS used to be synonymous with stable and smooth. Who'd have thought it would become trash now? Pretty funny when you think about it 😂

Usage Experience

As a developer, I have quite a few devices on hand, phones of all brands too.

I've bought every iPhone from the 15 through the 17. I've talked plenty about the pros and cons; you can check previous posts:

• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16

Starting with the iPhone 16, after I used the standard model for the first time, I felt this kind of small-screen phone really feels great in the hand. By comparison the Pro Max is just too hard to use—screen that big, and still no unified back gesture, clearly not meant for one-handed use, right?

This iPhone 17 still keeps the excellent small-screen feel and solid overall quality, especially video recording—very stable. But what holds it back the most is this iOS 26, truly a letdown. Compared with previous versions, it's buggy and laggy. iPhone users used to love mocking Android for being unstable; now the boomerang has come back 😂

Another thing: when I was using the iPhone 16, I found the heating situation had improved a lot. In theory the new chip on the iPhone 17 should be even better, but iOS 26 sent it right back to square one—heating is more common than before.

Even though it's been almost a month since I bought it, I haven't used it much. After all the screen is an OLED that's way too harsh on the eyes; I still use LCD devices more day to day.

Also because I use it little, battery life feels pretty decent. Currently charging every two or three days. iOS 26 standby drain isn't great and needs optimization. Supposedly iOS 27 improved a lot; I'll try updating when that's released.

That's it for now. I'll update the article if I have other thoughts later.