iOS 17.1 only partially fixed the problem for me. I am using an iPhone 15 pro.
iOS 17.1 (kind of) fixed the problem of a too low volume of the alarm sound in standby mode despite setting preferred volume. The volume starts out fine but then lowers after the first cycle or two of the sound loop. The lowered volume now is still louder than it was before the fix but could still be insufficient for heavy sleepers. I waited 30 seconds to see if the volume ramped up louder but it did not.
My preferred alarm is just vibration however and iOS 17.1 did nothing to fix the lack of vibration. My iPhone still doesn’t alarm with vibration in standby mode with or without an audible alarm sound selected. I’m a light sleeper. The vibration on my nightstand is enough to wake me up without disturbing my wife. I have been using vibration only alarms on iPhone for years. It still works in portrait mode in iOS 17.1.
I have not done snooze troubleshooting that others have described in this thread.
I’m guessing, from Apple’s perspective, the problem has been difficult to fix. But from a customer perspective, it’s pretty simple. If Apple makes a software feature to allow iPhone to behave like a smart, customizable alarm clock, it should at the very least actually be able to alarm to wake its user. I’d prefer a reliable alarm to different time numeral fonts.