Bloomberg says iOS 17 will not be just a tuneup release.
The latest iPhone operating system, iOS 16, introduced many new features and visual changes such as a customizable Lock Screen, live activities, skipping CAPTCHAs, and the capability to unsend and edit iMessages. It was quite a buggy release though and Apple had to release several fixes to address issues with it.
s Mark Gurman said iOS 17, which is codenamed Dawn, would have fewer major changes than initially planned. In the latest edition of his, the esteemed journalist says that iOS 17 won't just focus on ironing out bugs and improving performance. Apple has changed its strategy and iOS 17 is now expected to have several new features.
The hope was to avoid the problems of iOS 16, an ambitious update that suffered from missed deadlines and a buggy start. But later in the development process, the strategy changed. The iOS 17 release is now expected to boast several “nice to have” features, even if it lacks a tentpole improvement like last year’s revamped lock screen." Mark Gurman
It's still not going to be as big of an update as iOS 16 though but it could include many user-requested features. Gurman didn't go into the specifics about the features. But, as always, we have rumors to fill in the gaps.