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Your iPhone will ‘never be the same again’ after huge upcoming iOS 17.4 upgrade

Your iPhone will ‘never be the same again’ after huge upcoming iOS 17.4 upgrade

iPhones are set to get a major new upgrade with lots of tweaks.

The iPhone constantly gets new software features and settings through updates to iOS.

And while iOS version 17.3 has only just arrived, people are already looking forward to what will come with 17.4.

It'll most likely drop sometime in March this year and is set to be a big one, making a whole host of changes that Apple has practically been forced into by the EU.

NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty

That jurisdiction has decided that Apple was operating too much of a closed shop on its phone platform, making it hard for other services to thrive, and has demanded a bunch of changes.

While many of these changes will only apply to users in EU countries at first, there's quite a lot of optimism that Apple will potentially adopt them globally sometime in the future.

These changes include things like making it even easier to change your default internet browser when you first set your iPhone up, allowing apps to offer third-party subscriptions without taking quite such a big cut of the money, and more.

Some experts are saying that this will likely lead to some pretty massive changes to the iPhone and how we think about it, potentially making way for a platform that's a lot easier to customize and make your own.

Early iPhones became known for how little you could change about them beyond the wallpaper you picked, and that standardization has been a big part of why they've become so incredibly recognizable.

Now, things might become a little more fluid - although the last couple of years have already seen plenty of new customization options arrive, including the possibility of custom icons and themed backgrounds, plus widgets.

NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty

Apple is set to bring in other changes, too. They won't necessarily affect normal users, but could have major ramifications - it'll charge successful apps €0.50 ($0.54) for every new download they get over their first million.

That might not sound like much, but it'll also apply to free apps, meaning that hugely successful ones like Facebook, TikTok and YouTube might all suddenly start to become big moneymakers for Apple.

As we said, though, this will only come into force for EU citizens at first, so don't expect Facebook to become a paid app or anything drastic like that anytime soon - the iPhone landscape might be changing, but it's set to do so pretty gradually.

Featured Image Credit: Nurphoto/ Getty