iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 17 Pro worth it?

[blufrog]

Hi,

I have an iPhone 14 Pro but had some rather nasty accidents with it and it is in less than great condition. First phone I ever managed to crack a screen on dropping it on concrete from 4 ft height when it fell out of my shirt pocket. I was extremely hacked off to say the least.

Other than the small crack, it still works fine, but debating changing it for the 17 Pro.

Is it worth it? Is it any better for 5G connectivity vs. the 14? On the 14, I find 5G can eat the battery, and it switches a lot between 4G and 5G even though signal is good. I assume this is an attempt to save battery when not using 5G for high speed data? Is the 17 better for 5G battery life?

 

[Macdctr]

You get the 17 Pro you better get a nice case because the aluminum frame will scratch and dent easily especially if you drop this device. Performance wise it will still be a big noticeable upgrade from your 14 Pro so yes it is worth it but be aware of its cosmetic shortfalls.

 

[conmee]

I have a 17 Pro coming from a 14 Pro. I miss the stainless steel and smaller camera bump. It's the same weight, but because of the camera plateau it "felt" heavier or at least top heavy until I got used to it. Overall, I'm happy with the upgrade for these reasons:

1) Now that I have a really good zoom up to 8X, I find myself using telephoto a lot more than I previously did. The 3X on the 14 Pro wasn't bad, but the 4X/8X on the 17 Pro has been really nice especially when taking video of family outdoor activities at a distance or the occasional UFO in the desert night sky. 😉

2) I keep all my songs in ALAC format. So having USB-C fast data transfer speeds is nice. Takes about 15 minutes to transfer my song library (11,000 songs in 2hrs15mins on the 14 Pro). Now I don't use it all that often, but having the faster transfer speed is very nice.

3) I'm not usually one for gimmicks, but the 3D Spatial photos and ability to add Portrait effect to photos after the fact is handy. I don't recall if the 14 Pro did this or if it requires Apple Intelligence. But some photos just for fun I'll add the Portrait effect and sometimes the photo looks better that way than the original. Again, nothing by itself worth upgrading for, but a cool convenience. I think I'll also add all the various little Apple Intelligence things here as well. I don't particularly care for AI but the photo cleanup has actually come in handy once or twice to remove elements from an otherwise nice photo.

4) Battery life! This list isn't in order of importance, but I will say that the battery is phenomenal. Much better than the 14 Pro. Yes, 5G would kill my 14 Pro battery, and even on the 17 Pro, it does eat into it, but because the battery is so much better, even with 5G on the 17 Pro, it's an all day battery. Having said that, 4G/LTE is fast enough for my needs, so I usually keep 5G turned off and I'll easily go two days on the 17 Pro without a charge with 5G off (1 1/2 days with 5G). This will probably be the first/biggest thing you notice. At least I did.

Final thoughts: Aluminum sucks after stainless steel and titanium. As @Macdctr says, get a case (I like the Spigen cases because they cover the entire camera bump). And the overall build/design feels more utilitarian than fashionable. I don't buy phones to be fashion accessories, but I did come to appreciate Apple's previous eye for detail. The 17 Pro feels (to me) like an unfinished experiment (hey, let's just focus on performance and features, and figure out how to smooth it all out later). It's not as elegant, but it still is a great phone. Then again, I'd prefer all this great tech in an iPhone 5S chassis. That would be my ideal phone chassis... with titanium instead of aluminum and flush cameras.

 

[Macdctr]

The 17 Pro feels (to me) like an unfinished experiment (hey, let's just focus on performance and features, and figure out how to smooth it all out later). It's not as elegant, but it still is a great phone. Then again, I'd prefer all this great tech in an iPhone 5S chassis. That would be my ideal phone chassis... with titanium instead of aluminum and flush cameras.

I was thinking the same thing regarding the 17 Pro feeling like it was an unfinished experiment. Perfectly said. As for the 5S part I was thinking 13 mini footprint but yeah, wouldn’t it be awesome if Apple could put these pro level performance with a silicone battery into a small device? This is something I would love to see coming from Apple.

Your Texas Instruments TI-99 brings back memories for me . . . I still have my HP-41CX😊

 

[conmee]

I was thinking the same thing regarding the 17 Pro feeling like it was an unfinished experiment. Perfectly said. As for the 5S part I was thinking 13 mini footprint but yeah, wouldn’t it be awesome if Apple could put these pro level performance with a silicone battery into a small device? This is something I would love to see coming from Apple.

Your Texas Instruments TI-99 brings back memories for me . . . I still have my HP-41CX😊

She's still up and running. Was actually in the dining area of my condo many years ago before getting hitched. Sadly, the TI had to retreat to a man cave accommodations once the wife took over. 🙂

 

[conmee]

One final thing I forgot to mention. The camera control button is fairly divisive. I don’t like it. I don’t like where it is located, I just like the smooth sides of the bottom half of the 14 Pro vs always feeling this additional button. I know some people love it but I find it too fidgety so I just turned it completely off so as not to accidentally fire up the camera. I actually like the action button vs the old silence switch. I have tried assigning different things to it such as launching the camera, but in the end I just use it to toggle ringer on/off.

 

[Macdctr]

She's still up and running. Was actually in the dining area of my condo many years ago before getting hitched. Sadly, the TI had to retreat to a man cave accommodations once the wife took over. 🙂

View attachment 2627728

I can appreciate your retro setup. Looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing👍

 

[HouseLannister]

Is it any better for 5G connectivity vs. the 14? On the 14, I find 5G can eat the battery, and it switches a lot between 4G and 5G even though signal is good. I assume this is an attempt to save battery when not using 5G for high speed data? Is the 17 better for 5G battery life?

The 17 Pro will get better battery life because it has a larger battery and the processor shrunk and uses vapor cooling to manage the heat better. Tom's Guide rated the 14 Pro at 10:13 in their testing and the 17 Pro at 15:32, so even vs. a brand new 14 Pro, you are going to see considerably more battery life.

That said, if your 5G is falling back to LTE, it is because you are not close enough to the tower. 5G has a much shorter range. Being on the far end of the 5G reach will use dramatically more battery. A newer modem isn't going to do anything to make the tower's signal reach further. Connect to Wi-Fi or just turn off 5G in your cellular settings if you are needing the extra juice.

 

[blufrog]

Thanks everyone! I'll go take a look!

 

[JM]

I’m debating 17Pro max or wait for 18 pro max. Or hold onto 14pro longer till… who knows forever.

I don’t get any special carrier deals, so it’ll be a full price retail $$$ hit to the wallet, which is making the decision hard.

17Pro and Max feel nice though! And I too really appreciated the 8x zoom when I tried it in the Apple Store.

 

[conmee]

I don’t think Apple will do anything special for the 18 Pro other than the usual processor update, smaller Dynamic Island, and adjustable aperture on the main camera (which many photo enthusiasts say is of limited value given the small sensors in phones). The one downside is according to leaks the camera plateau/lens bumps will get a bit thicker if you can believe that.

So I’d say get the 17 Pro and then expect more significant updates with the 20th anniversary phones in Fall 2027. We also don’t know how all the AI mania with memory and storage will affect the 18 Pro. Maybe the pricing stays consistent with the 17 Pro. Maybe (unlikely) there are some surprising manufacturing or feature compromises across all iPhones because of memory and storage prices and Apple trying to maintain or optimize margins. Lots of unknowns the second half of the year. It’s why I decided to just go and get the 17 Pro and M5 Pro MBP earlier this year than wait on 18 Pro and M6 Pro MBP.

If I was still using my 14 Pro today, I might actually just wait it out until the 20th anniversary. But I will say now that I have 48MP on all cameras and 4x/8x zoom, glad I upgraded when I did.