iOS 17 looks worth getting excited about, even if until recently it was considered an iterative update.

According to Mark Gurman in the subscriber edition of Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter, the upcoming iPhone update, which is apparently being called "Dawn" internally, started out as a "tune-up release" but has since ambitious, he said.

Instead of minor improvements, iOS 17 is said to "boast several 'nice to have' features," including "some of the most requested features by users."

Garman does not elaborate on what those features are, but says they are not "eye-candy" like iOS 16's customizable lock screen.

iOS 16 was a huge update, full of new toys like lock screen customization, email and texting stop options, and Live Activities. As a result, many software bugs and quirks were introduced that Apple was hoping to address in iOS 17. Hopefully these issues are now fully addressed if Apple developers feel secure enough to start introducing more features into the mix.

Rumors about iOS 17 features are limited so far. According to sources, Apple has shifted its focus away from new iOS features so that staff could work on the rumored Apple AR/VR headset and new operating system.

The only potential addition that the leak-o-sphere came up with is to allow Apple to use a third-party app store in iOS for the first time.

Since Apple typically announces a new operating system for its products every year at WWDC, WWDC 2023 should be the first time we hear official news of iOS 17. After that, it will probably go through several months of closed and public beta testing, followed by a stable release with the iPhone 15, which should take place in September.

Given the compatibility of previous iOS versions of the iPhone, it is expected that the list of supported devices for iOS 17 will include iPhone X and later models.