iPhone 17 Series: 5 Features Borrowed from Android Phones

The iPhone 17’s “New” Tricks: A Celebration of Android-Inspired Evolution?

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery, or simply the reality of a converging smartphone market? While Apple’s new iPhone 17 series generated predictable buzz with its flagship iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and especially the ultra-slim iPhone Air, a closer look reveals a fascinating, slightly ironic truth: many of the headline-grabbing iPhone 17 features feel distinctly familiar to anyone entrenched in the Android ecosystem. Apple undoubtedly delivers polished experiences, but this year’s advancements highlight how deeply the tech giants now draw inspiration from each other, with several “innovations” mirroring paths already paved by Samsung and Google. This convergence shapes the modern mobile landscape, prompting us to examine what drives real progress and why certain features finally make the leap to Cupertino. The iPhone 17 family is compelling, yes, but its shine often reflects pioneering work done elsewhere.

The Pixel’s Signature Look Goes Mainstream: The iPhone Camera Bar Revolution

Perhaps the most immediately noticeable iPhone 17 Pro redesign is the departure from the familiar square camera island. In its place, a sleek, horizontal camera bar now stretches nearly the full width of the phone’s back, lending a clean, integrated aesthetic. The new iPhone Air follows suit with a similar elongated oval housing its single lens. While undeniably a fresh visual language for Apple, it’s impossible to ignore the design lineage tracing back to Mountain View.

• The Pixel Legacy: Google introduced the distinctive rear camera bar definitively with the Pixel 6 series in late 2021.
• Enduring Icon: This design element became an instantly recognizable signature for Google’s flagship Pixel line, persisting through subsequent models right up to the current Pixel 10. Its purpose was functional (housing larger sensors) and aesthetic (providing visual balance and continuity).
• Apple’s Interpretation: While Apple’s bar isn’t an identical replica (the specific curve, finish, and lens arrangement differ), the core concept – a horizontal expanse for the camera system – is undeniably similar. It’s significant that Apple, a brand historically known for setting design trends on iOS, is adopting a form popularized by its key rival in the premium Android space. This move not only validates Google’s design choice but signals a potential new standard emerging across the industry. As noted on platforms like GSMArena, the visual similarity is striking.

Zooming In: The 48MP Telephoto – Measured Steps Towards Android’s Lead

Apple made significant strides in the telephoto capabilities of the iPhone 17 Pro, ditching the legacy 12MP sensor for a new 48MP telephotoremium

Previews related to camera capabilities of Pixel and Samsung phones.o camera. While optical zoom decreased slightly to 4x (from the iPhone 16 Pro’s 5x), Apple leverages the higher resolution to offer “up to 8x optical-quality zoom” through intelligent cropping and processing. Yet again, the spec sheet tells a story of catching up.

• Pixel’s High-Res Periscope: Google’s Pixel 10 Pro (and its predecessor, the Pixel 9 Pro) already featured a main 48MP telephotoremium

Previews related to camera capabilities of Pixel and Samsung phones.o lens.

• Capability Gap Persists: Google maintains an advantage with a base 5x optical zoom and reaches a claimed 10x “optical image quality,” utilizing similar high-res sensor cropping techniques. More crucially, the Pixel 10 Pro extends its digital zoom capabilities significantly further – up to a headline-grabbing 100x compared to the iPhone 17 Pro’s 40x limit. This highlights that matching the sensor resolution doesn’t automatically equate to matching the overall zoom system design and computational prowess Android brands like Google and Samsung (Samsung’s Space Zoom) have invested heavily in.
• The Resolution Question: While finally moving past the 12MP barrier is noteworthy for Apple, high-resolution telephoto sensors in flagship Android phones have been standard practice for multiple generations.

Telephoto Showdown: iPhone 17 Pro vs. Pixel 10 Pro

Scrolling Nirvana: How the Base iPhone Finally Matches the Android Baseline

For years, the chasm between the “Pro” and standard iPhone displays remained starkly visible every time a user scrolled: the base model languished at a 60Hz refresh rate while Pro models (since the iPhone 13 Pro in 2021) offered the fluidity of 120Hz. The iPhone 17 finally, mercifully, shatters this barrier. While a major step forward for iPhone users, Android fans can only raise an eyebrow at the timing.

• Android’s Longstanding Advantage: High refresh rates (typically 90Hz or 120Hz) ceased being exclusive to Android flagships several generations ago.
  • Google’s standard Pixel models adopted 90Hz displays (Pixel 4) and then 120Hz displays starting with the Pixel 8.
  • Samsung’s entire Galaxy S series flagship line (entry-level models included, like the standard S series) has featured 120Hz displays since the Galaxy S20 launched in 2020.
  • Crucially, this technology also trickled down into affordable segments years ago, with numerous brands offering 90Hz or even 120Hz screens on capable phones well below $300. Organizations like the Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) have documented this rapid adoption curve.
• Apple’s Catch-Up: Yes, the iPhone 17’s inclusion of a 120Hz ProMotion display is a victory for consumers, guaranteeing smoother interactions and animations across the base model. However, arriving just shy of seven years after Android flagships embraced it universally, and four years after the Pro iPhones had it, highlights an area where Apple prioritization differed significantly from competition-based innovation pressure elsewhere. This wasn’t a technological barrier; it was a strategic choice finally yielding to consumer expectations.

Seeing Clearly: Borrowing a Page from Galaxy on Display Reflection

A quieter yet impactful upgrade across all iPhone 17 models is the introduction of a new anti-reflective screen coating, designed to significantly reduce glare under bright sunlight or harsh indoor lighting. This directly addresses a long-standing user pain point.

• Samsung’s Anti-Glare Leadership: Samsung pioneered integrated anti-reflective technology in its flagship ultra-device, debuting it on the Galaxy S24 Ultra in early 2024. It proved highly effective, making screens drastically more usable outdoors. The feature carried over to the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
• Apple’s Refined Approach: Apple acknowledges the validity of Samsung’s solution by adopting a similar coating technology. Impressively, they extended it beyond just their “Ultra” equivalent (the Pro Max) to include the base iPhone 17. This democratization ensures a broader user base benefits from reduced glare. It’s a case of Apple recognizing the value of an Android innovation and potentially refining its implementation for wider inclusion, one hopes prompting Samsung to mirror this broader model inclusion (Galaxy S26 base models?) in the future.

Thin is In: When Apple Air Feels Like Deja Vu – The Galaxy Edge Hangover

The undisputed star of Apple’s show was the iPhone Air, a radical departure into ultra-slim territory at an astonishing 5.6mm thickness and a featherlight weight of 165g (despite a 6.5-inch screen). It represents a remarkable engineering feat focused on portability and aesthetics.

• Samsung Strikes First: However, the path towards extreme thinness was already being explored. Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 Edge in May, several months before Apple’s September unveiling. While slightly thicker at 5.8mm, the S25 Edge established the viability of a premium-tier ultra-slim phone.
• Function vs. Form Trade-offs: Both prioritize thinness and lightness. The telling difference lies in implementation:
  • iPhone Air: Sacrifices camera versatility for minimalism, sporting a single (though high-quality 48MP) rear camera.
  • Galaxy S25 Edge: Manages to retain dual rear cameras (a main 200MP sensor plus a 12MP ultrawide), demonstrating a different engineering priority within the same thinness paradigm.
• Innovation Parallels? While undoubtedly developed independently over multiple years, the incredibly close timing of these launches leaving Samsung firmly holding the “first to consumer market” status makes the iPhone Air feel less like a groundbreaking Apple invention and more like an inevitable industry trend finally embraced by Cupertino – one brilliantly executed, but not originated, there.

The iPhone 17 series, particularly the Pro Max and the captivating Air, showcase Apple’s undeniable strengths: seamless integration, top-tier build quality, and the powerful iOS ecosystem. Each highlighted feature – the sleek camera bar, the enhanced telephoto, the long-overdue 120Hz base screen, the anti-reflective coating, and the ultra-slim profile – genuinely elevates the user experience. Yet, the narrative surrounding these “advancements” requires nuance.

The story of the iPhone 17 features is largely one of Apple thoughtfully assimilating technologies and designs proven successful by its primary Android competitors, namely Samsung and Google. The camera bar evolved from Pixel lineage, high-resolution telephoto and extreme zoom capabilities are well-established Android territory, high refresh rates became mainstream on Android years ago, anti-reflective screens debuted on Samsung’s Ultra models, and the ultra-slim flagship concept recently materialized with the Galaxy S25 Edge. This isn’t plagiarism, but a reflection of the intense cross-pollination defining the modern tech world. Android often serves as the bold proving ground, pushing boundaries and experimenting on features consumer demand drives Apple to eventually adopt, refine, and integrate flawlessly. The iPhone 17 lineup is excellent, offering compelling refinements – but its greatest strength lies not just in novelty, but in learning from others. What borrowed feature convinces you most? Jump to the comments and share your take on tech’s echo chamber!