iPhone 17 Launch Event Recap
- BY MUFARO MHARIWA
- Sep 22
- 2 min read
South Africa was in the first wave of countries to get the new iPhone 17 line-up, and I was at iStore’s Sandton head office on the morning of 19 September 2025 to see it all unfold. While Americans were still asleep, Linda van der Nest, iStore’s chief commercial officer, joked that we journalists were among the very first in the world to handle the phones.
Naturally, everyone’s eyes were on the iPhone Air: the ultra-thin model that’s been hyped as a design feat. Sure enough, it looked and felt every bit as sleek as promised. I was impressed, and so were the many guests gathered around the demo tables.
Linda opened the launch by marking iStore’s 25th anniversary, celebrating a quarter-century of Apple retail in South Africa. She followed that with a reminder of the e-commerce benchmark iStore set last year: one-hour, free delivery on online orders.
She also announced an attractive trade-in programme. Customers can now receive up to R25 000 back when they upgrade to the latest iPhone, with that value locked in for 60 days. Even if you’re not ready to upgrade immediately, you can secure your phone’s trade-in price for two months.
After a brisk spec-sheet presentation covering the iPhone 17 range, the new AirPods Pro 3, and the latest Apple Watches, we moved straight to hands-on time.
I spoke with iStore CEO Chris Dodd, who believes this is “the best year to buy the base iPhones,” citing improved base storage and the same high-end display used in the Pro models.
When asked who she thinks the iPhone Air is really for, Linda said, “Someone coming from a regular 15 or 16? Honestly even 16 customers. But your sweet spot is iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. It’s such a fundamentally different phone you could even come from a 14 Pro or 15 Pro and be happy.”
As stunning as the iPhone Air is, I can’t help wondering how its ultra-thin frame will hold up in day-to-day life. Battery life and durability remain open questions; ones I’ll only be able to answer after living with the phone for a proper review.
South African Pricing
