iPhone 17 Pro I tried to pull the trigger on 17 Pro and couldn't

[tolili alert]

People on here have been shouting for literally years that they would take a thicker phone to get better battery, complaining about Apple's obsession with thinness etc. Now they give us a (very slightly) thicker phone with a better battery and people are complaining about that. Most common work-related injury at Apple engineering must be bruised foreheads from hitting their heads against the wall in frustration.

Now seriously, I don’t care what others complain about.

 

[Herr Podspro]

I don’t understand these posts.

13 pro to 17 pro

Better cellular modem, better camera’s, better WiFi modem, better screen, better battery, USB-C, satellite connectivity, better processor, seemingly stronger screen, Dynamic Island, ray tracing.

If you don’t like the phone. Fine. But the 17 pro is definitely a better phone than the 13 pro.

Yep. USB C and the brighter screen alone are a big plus, connectivity combined with a higher base storage are very good upgrades themselves.
And finally all cameras have good quality, even the ultra wide.

Not to forget the Action button and camera control, which is if not for anything else a nice-to-have to open the camera faster than before.

 

[conmee]

13 Pro holdouts can meet me on 15 Pro island. I'm sticking with 15 Pro for now mainly due to titanium and not yet ready to embrace cosmic colors and camera control button/placement. 15 Pro has a great screen, great camera, USB-C, 8GB RAM, Dynamic Island, Apple Intelligence stuff, action button, and it's currently the lightest Pro phone since 11 Pro, a gram lighter than the 11 Pro. Tend to agree with others, 18 Pro unlikely to wow you if you're not excited about 17 Pro. I'm waiting to see what 20th anniversary brings.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I did, but the lack of the ultra wide camera on the air was a dealbreaker for me….
I did like the feel of the air and it was very light

Not trying to change your mind but if you're willing to not try the Air based on an ultra wide then you're missing out. You stated yourself you wanted a lighter version Pro and you appreciated the Air's design. The battery life of the Air would be way better than the 84% on your current phone and the Air is actually new vs tweaked design of the Pro.

Get you a regular 17 then...

 

[Tozovac]

My 13 Pro, which by the way looks almost brand new with not a single scratch still has 84% battery life.....

A new battery might even restore any mssimg snappiness!

 

[A1423]

Better cellular modem: true, at least if I compare the Air with my old 13 Pro Max. Nice little upgrade. In my area, I would have gotten the same upgrade by switching phone carriers.

Dynamic island as a reason to upgrade?? I think it’s same dog sh** different collar… If this is a reason to change phone, I don't understand anything anymore.

Better wifi modem yes. In practice… same experience for me.

Better screen: very needed upgrade that outdoors peak brightness. One of the weakest points of my 13PM.

Better battery: I just know my old 13 PM was a beast. At least for +2 years. And it was great with a 7,6 mm body.

USB-C: it’s preferable, but.. Just that.

Satellite: it’s good to know that’s exists for sure.

Better chip: it’s a nice update too. It feels a little quicker now. But, my old 13 PM was perfectly fine with a normal use (I don’t play games or edit movies).

Stronger screen: it’s a clear plus. But it’s true that my caseless 4 years old 13 PM was in mint condition. Some few micro scratches on the screen barely noticeable.



But we have to tell everything…

The 17 Pros look tremendously inferior to the 13 Pros. What is objective is to say that the 17 Pros have a more “tool” look. It’s like Apple Watch Ultra, it’s cool wearing it during a outdoor activity or something, but… it’s not for me….

The 17 Pros are 8,8 mm thicker while 13 Pros are 7,6 mm. Better battery? Sure with a chubbyphone. If your phone get chubbier and reach 10 mm body, you will obtain better battery too.

And the most important thing… 13 Pros works perfectly for an average user. You are not going to experience nothing new with a 17 Pro, just a refined better experience. I used my 13PM in the design and construction process of my new home with apps like BIMx and the device worked flawless until this actual year (beyond battery degradation…).

I think it is perfectly reasonable that there are people who find no reason to change.

I was absolutely sure I'd keep my 13 Pro Max for another year, until I saw the Air and fell in love... I thought this device would offer me a different experience, and it has, even though it has its downsides, like the battery.

But I wouldn't have bought a 17 Pro Max, not a chance. Not with that thickness, and not with that utilitarian look and aluminum body.

This just simply isn’t true.

I had the 13pm, the 15pm, the 16pm, and now the 17pm(as long as t mobile is going to give me 1000+ for my phone, I’ll likely upgrade yearly). They all were somewhat iterative with various things.

I am feeling a better cellular connection, battery, processing, it’s definitely easier to see my phone screen outside when it’s 95 degrees and sunny, oh and my phone doesn’t seem to overheat like it used to because the sun cooked it while sitting on my lap, while I was sitting in my Air conditioned car. Then we have the cameras.

The Dynamic Island is extremely useful for tracking sports. I’m sure others have different more productive use cases.

 

[zkap]

Better camera - on paper yes, everyday snapshots regular user wont notice much dofference

For me, going from 13 Pro to 15 Pro, the camera quality went down the toilet because of the forced bokeh effect that surrounds the centre of the shot. This severely downgraded the qulity of my scans, and I use my iPhone to scan documents regularly.

USB-C - who cares about the port lol

This may be the biggest difference between the two. For me, it's a huge change to not have to take out my lightning connector for this one device, as I can charge it with any USB-C cable we have. Charging can be a nuissance, which I am seeing as now fewer of my devices are lightning.

Dynamic island - after using any phone for 30 seconds you wont notice the notch no matter what type it is

Another thing I value quite a bit now, whereas before getting the 15 Pro I didn't want to use the Dynamic Island. It's very useful and I have stuff on there quite often. I'd even go so far as to say that when Apple finally removes all hardware obstacles and gives us a clean display, I hope they keep the Dynamic Island as a software option that we can toggle on.

So I generally agree with what you wrote, but there are these details that can matter a lot.

Today, after having used my 15 Pro for 18 months, if I were to go back in time and choose again whether to upgrade, I would do it for two reasons mainly - USB-C and more RAM. But I never stop regretting the loss of stainless steel, that one hurts.

 

[A1423]

Yep. USB C and the brighter screen alone are a big plus, connectivity combined with a higher base storage are very good upgrades themselves.
And finally all cameras have good quality, even the ultra wide.

Not to forget the Action button and camera control, which is if not for anything else a nice-to-have to open the camera faster than before.

You know, I still have yet to really use either. I think, at least for me. Camera control is much more cumbersome to use. But it is very nice to open the camera every now and then. I still catch myself using the lock screen mostly though.

The action button for me is just used to turn off the ringer. I know I should set it up for other things. I just, I don’t have the motivation. lol

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

So I wanted to get my hands on the new 17 Pro with the intention of buying one in the Silver color. I picked one up in the Apple Store and honestly it felt pretty much the same as my 13 Pro (size & weight). If it weighed a little less that would have been a plus. Better camera?... sure but then again I don't take 48 megapixel photos on a day to day basis and probably wouldn't anyway and I don't care about 8X optical zoom vs my 4X which is plenty for me.
All in all I was very under impressed with the new 17 offering, especially now with the scratchgate issues.
My 13 Pro, which by the way looks almost brand new with not a single scratch still has 84% battery life.....
I will look forward to the 18 series next year.....

The 17 Pro is a much better phone, but the 13 Pro is still a very good phone.

 

[A1423]

For me, going from 13 Pro to 15 Pro, the camera quality went down the toilet because of the forced bokeh effect that surrounds the centre of the shot. This severely downgraded the qulity of my scans, and I use my iPhone to scan documents regularly.



This may be the biggest difference between the two. For me, it's a huge change to not have to take out my lightning connector for this one device, as I can charge it with any USB-C cable we have. Charging can be a nuissance, which I am seeing as now fewer of my devices are lightning.



Another thing I value quite a bit now, whereas before getting the 15 Pro I didn't want to use the Dynamic Island. It's very useful and I have stuff on there quite often. I'd even go so far as to say that when Apple finally removes all hardware obstacles and gives us a clean display, I hope they keep the Dynamic Island as a software option that we can toggle on.

So I generally agree with what you wrote, but there are these details that can matter a lot.

Today, after having used my 15 Pro for 18 months, if I were to go back in time and choose again whether to upgrade, I would do it for two reasons mainly - USB-C and more RAM. But I never stop regretting the loss of stainless steel, that one hurts.

I use my phone to scan documents a lot when on the go, had the 15pm, and didn’t have that issue. Are you sure it wasn’t an issue with your device?

 

[Danorak81]

You can't please all of the people all of the time. I think a large portion (not all) of people have just jumped on the bandwagon. I came from a 15PM, and for me, this has been my favourite and best phone to date. I'm only 6 days in with my 17PM but it's been awesome so far. The only thing I'm a little apprehensive about is scratching it, as, aside from the Apple Store models, it does seem easy to do. My 15PM was naked 50% of the time, and it only had two small marks on when I let it go (one of them was from a drop in a case too), so it was tough. I'll be more careful with this one as a result, but it is a four figure phone, so I'd be looking after it anyway!

 

[conmee]

I use my phone to scan documents a lot when on the go, had the 15pm, and didn’t have that issue. Are you sure it wasn’t an issue with your device?

Agree with A1423. I just scanned a half dozen pages of an invoice yesterday. I used to use TurboScan back in the day but now I just take photos of documents and crop. They look quite sharp.

 

[Mr_Ed]

So I wanted to get my hands on the new 17 Pro with the intention of buying one in the Silver color. I picked one up in the Apple Store and honestly it felt pretty much the same as my 13 Pro (size & weight). If it weighed a little less that would have been a plus. Better camera?... sure but then again I don't take 48 megapixel photos on a day to day basis and probably wouldn't anyway and I don't care about 8X optical zoom vs my 4X which is plenty for me.
All in all I was very under impressed with the new 17 offering, especially now with the scratchgate issues.
My 13 Pro, which by the way looks almost brand new with not a single scratch still has 84% battery life.....
I will look forward to the 18 series next year.....

Sounds like the phone is just another tool to you, and there is nothing wrong with that. Once you realize it is in fact, just a tool to help with specific tasks, the differences between iterations of these devices as highlighted by the marketing become way less important.

Back when I upgraded from the 11 series to the 15 series, I honestly only did it because my young one was of an age where it made sense for him to have a phone, so he got my 11PM as a hand-me-down. There wasn’t anything compelling about the new one for the tasks I actually use it for.

 

[littlepud]

I am returning the 17 Pro and keeping the 17 base after using each for ~3 days.

I used to always be a Pro Max kind of guy, but this year is different. My killer features are screen quality (esp 120 Hz) and battery life. The regular 17 have both. The Pros this year do not have more premium materials, they have the same screen as the base model, and the battery (other than Pro Max) is not significantly better.

I can’t justify the price difference just based on the telephoto camera and an additional 4 GB RAM.

 

[navaira]

13 Pro holdouts can meet me on 15 Pro island. I'm sticking with 15 Pro for now mainly due to titanium and not yet ready to embrace cosmic colors and camera control button/placement. 15 Pro has a great screen, great camera, USB-C, 8GB RAM, Dynamic Island, Apple Intelligence stuff, action button, and it's currently the lightest Pro phone since 11 Pro, a gram lighter than the 11 Pro. Tend to agree with others, 18 Pro unlikely to wow you if you're not excited about 17 Pro. I'm waiting to see what 20th anniversary brings.

Same. I have a two-year contract and got the 15 Pro approximately a week after 16s came out lowering the price on 15 Pro by about 30% (because it suddenly became ancient). I was thinking I’ll update to 17 Pro next year, but there’s nothing about it that excites me. Definitely not the colours, which I checked in real life and unbelievably they’re even worse than on the review photos. I’ll wait to see the 18s, but I’m prepared to wait for the 20th anniversary. (If it’s really all glass, I might stick with the 15 Pro until it’s no longer supported…)

 

[elvisimprsntr]

My normal replacement cycle is when Apple stops supporting new software versions to lower my annual cost of ownership.

Apple was only going to offer me $200 for my 13 Pro, which likely would get rescinded since it has a few faint scratches on the screen from beach sand.

I was completely happy with my 13 Pro when yesterday I received an email offer from ATT (confirmed not SPAM) to upgrade to a 17 Pro for free with a trade in of a 13 or greater regardless of condition, which implies next year the 13 would be dropped from the list of eligible trade in.

The offer was a bit misleading as it required a one time charge for $77, which I was happy to pay. The only downside is I have to wait until October 5th to pick it up from the ATT store since they don’t have any in stock.

Not often you find $1000 lying on the ground. I wasn’t going to simply step over it.

 

[GrandeLatte]

I'm going down in size from 15 ProMax to 17 Pro. So far, I love the Cosmic Orange color. I still need to transfer all data, and play around with the phone to see if smaller screen real estate is something I can live with. Try it fully for 2-3 days. I hope I love it and will keep this phone.

I certainly do love the feel of the iPhone 17 Pro in my hands. It's got a comfortable grip (for me). And man, this orange is bright, but so chic and different! 😍 Will definitely get a clear case to showcase this color.

 

[geta]

I don’t understand these posts.

13 pro to 17 pro

Better cellular modem, better camera’s, better WiFi modem, better screen, better battery, USB-C, satellite connectivity, better processor, seemingly stronger screen, Dynamic Island, ray tracing.

If you don’t like the phone. Fine. But the 17 pro is definitely a better phone than the 13 pro.

On paper it’s a better device, but for day to day usage all of this is meaningless.

 

[A1423]

On paper it’s a better device, but for day to day usage all of this is meaningless.

I notice a lot of those things on a day to day basis. So no, it is not meaningless.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Yeah I'm also not impressed

My camera is worse than 13 pro but it's probably defective and I'm tired of having to return and buy again

Unlike going from a pc to Mac, or MacBook Air to MacBook Pro, the experience feels incredibly similar

I also wanted a lighter phone, the 16 pro feels lighter .. this one , eh, not really. Weight distribution is better but they're both heavy as hell

 

[gigatoaster]

People throw capabilities of phone to justify upgrade, without taking into consideration user’s use-case. This is going nowhere. Listen or read again OP’s statement.

 

[uacd]

Phones in general are very boring these days. 17 Pro could be much better phone if not iOS 26 and that it is in general very bulky, thing is 206 grams, and I cannot justify getting Air due to multiple downsides which are monospeaker, too large display and size for me, ancient USB 2.0 port like on my current 11 Pro, no Pro features at this price point, as well as not even some basic telephoto.

Take a Galaxy or Pixel, they all come with multiple cameras, even Edge. And Apple behaves as if they are smarter than others. If things are going this way I probably would not consider 18, 19 or even 20, unless they release iPhone Mini again, then maybe I will get it

 

[uacd]

People on here have been shouting for literally years that they would take a thicker phone to get better battery, complaining about Apple's obsession with thinness etc. Now they give us a (very slightly) thicker phone with a better battery and people are complaining about that. Most common work-related injury at Apple engineering must be bruised foreheads from hitting their heads against the wall in frustration.

People have been shouting this nonsense in iPhone 6 and 6 Plus era. These phones had pretty bad battery life in general, comparing to older models. With new iOS bells and whistles these phones didn’t have enough juice to hold thru the whole day, so it was kinda natural for people to ask for bigger batteries.

Bigger batteries were basically what Apple used to justify their decision to make smartphones ever-larger and ugly. Not sure if that’s a good compromise, especially considering anything in terms of performance can be optimized. Turn off some effects here, all the AI features in photos there and you got better battery life. I believe sooner people will again start to complain about bad battery life thanks to newer AI features

 

[TracerAnalog]

So I wanted to get my hands on the new 17 Pro with the intention of buying one in the Silver color. I picked one up in the Apple Store and honestly it felt pretty much the same as my 13 Pro (size & weight). If it weighed a little less that would have been a plus. Better camera?... sure but then again I don't take 48 megapixel photos on a day to day basis and probably wouldn't anyway and I don't care about 8X optical zoom vs my 4X which is plenty for me.
All in all I was very under impressed with the new 17 offering, especially now with the scratchgate issues.
My 13 Pro, which by the way looks almost brand new with not a single scratch still has 84% battery life.....
I will look forward to the 18 series next year.....

Well... scratchgate is nonsense and by the sound of it, you don't need a pro for your use case. If your 13 Pro is still fine, just have the battery replaced at some point and keep enjoying it! Check out the regular iPhone 20 in a few years and be blown away! 😃

 

[Moukee]

That's a very dramatic headline for a very minuscule "issue".