iPhone 17 Pro Please help me decide - 16 Pro vs 17 Pro

[dj95]

I can’t decide between getting an iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro, as an upgrade from a 13 Pro.

Both 256gb, all things equal.

The 16 Pro is used but has 100% battery health still. It’s for sale for £659.99. Whereas the iPhone 17 Pro is new for £1099. I can afford both but I don’t know if it makes sense to buy the 17 Pro when the 16 Pro is much cheaper and the overall differences between them are fairly minimal. As you can see I don’t hold much stock in having the absolute latest model. It’s a substantial difference in price which I could put towards another tech purchase.

I always use a case so the titanium vs aluminium doesn’t concern me too much. I’d get a silver 17 Pro too.

Questions:
Is the battery runtime really that substantial in practice? Battery tests on YouTube say yes, but do I need that extra time when the 16 Pro would last all day?

Is the telephoto update from 12mp to 48mp noticeable in use? I do use the telephoto fairly often, when walking to take nature shots or on holiday exploring a city. If you zoom in far on both lenses, is it a night and day difference? I notice images on the 13 pro lose detail quickly when zooming but these lenses are all 12mp which makes me think the 16 Pro won’t be any better for telephoto images.


Any help/similar upgrades appreciated!

 

[mathiasinthe314]

My opinion is if battery life and telephoto quality are your priorties, the 17 Pro is the better device. I came from a 16 Pro Max to a 17 Pro (I downsized). The battery life on my 17 Pro is the same or better as the 16 Pro Max (Same video playback according to Apple). Therefore, it will be noticeably better than a 16 Pro. I notice a difference with the telephoto for sure. I have zoomed in 40x on some photos when I first got it and was thoroughly impressed and my 16PM never came close to that.

 

[snipr125]

Genuinely a tough one to call because the £450 difference is a lot. 17 Pro is the better phone in all aspects apart from aesthetics as the 15/16 Pro with brushed titanium is honestly almost flawless.

 

[User #07242024]

17 has best telephoto so far. Plus it’s new you get warranty.

 

[svish]

Have the 17 Pro Max. I cannot directly compare with the 16 Pro Max. Also have the 15 Pro Max. The telephoto on the 17 Pro Max is much better. Overall I would recommend going for the 17 Pro Max.

 

[jntdroid]

That's a pretty big price difference...

How long do you keep your phones? If you plan to keep it as long as you've kept the 13 Pro, then it might be worth it to go with the 17 Pro, as long as that extra cost is ok for you right now (which is completely up to you to decide).

The camera has some improvements, but isn't all sunshine and rainbows (check out this thread, which I think is overly negative, but has some good info). The telephoto improvements are pretty solid, but not in every scenario. But generally speaking it's an improvement.

The battery bump is pretty good. I had solid battery life on the 16 Pro, so I didn't need much better. But for my usage, the 17 Pro has been a nice improvement - some nights I don't even worry about plugging it in (I don't game, though).

But also, the battery is physically larger, so all else being equal, you'll wear it down slower than the 16 Pro. There's 50% more RAM, so it will be more future proof than the 16 Pro. Vapor cooling might not be as impactful as Apple wants to advertise it, but it can't hurt either, and might also help with longevity.

At the end of the day you could easily make a 16 Pro with 100% battery health last a few years as well, and in some scenarios I believe the 16 Pro's camera is better than the 17 Pro's due to different focal length. But you’ll be more future proofed with the 17 Pro and generally speaking, if battery and camera are important to you, it’s better.

 

[max2]

iPhone 17 Pro it is a lot easier now.

Guess it depends on location too.

 

[Tsepz]

I can’t decide between getting an iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro, as an upgrade from a 13 Pro.

Both 256gb, all things equal.

The 16 Pro is used but has 100% battery health still. It’s for sale for £659.99. Whereas the iPhone 17 Pro is new for £1099. I can afford both but I don’t know if it makes sense to buy the 17 Pro when the 16 Pro is much cheaper and the overall differences between them are fairly minimal. As you can see I don’t hold much stock in having the absolute latest model. It’s a substantial difference in price which I could put towards another tech purchase.

I always use a case so the titanium vs aluminium doesn’t concern me too much. I’d get a silver 17 Pro too.

Questions:
Is the battery runtime really that substantial in practice? Battery tests on YouTube say yes, but do I need that extra time when the 16 Pro would last all day?

Is the telephoto update from 12mp to 48mp noticeable in use? I do use the telephoto fairly often, when walking to take nature shots or on holiday exploring a city. If you zoom in far on both lenses, is it a night and day difference? I notice images on the 13 pro lose detail quickly when zooming but these lenses are all 12mp which makes me think the 16 Pro won’t be any better for telephoto images.


Any help/similar upgrades appreciated!

The 17 Pro is a significant upgrade internally but if you don’t really care about things like the thermal management (thanks to Vapour Chamber and Aluminium build) it brings, the upgrade to 12GB RAM or benefits of the A19 Pro, then the 16 Pro should be perfectly fine.

Anything from 15 Pro up should be good for many years to come. The Camera improvements in the 17 Pro are not huge as it mostly still uses the same Cameras (Main and Ultra Wide) as 16 Pro, main difference being the Telephoto which is now a new 48MP with larger sensor but the results are not that different to 16 Pro.

What I have enjoyed with the 17 PM is how it doesn’t throttle when taking a lot of pictures and videos the way my 15 PM would sometimes. It feels as though Apple have prepared the 17 Pro range for a lot, possibly for Apple Intelligence…again if AI doesn’t matter much to you then go 16.

If you do go with 17 Pro I would say get the 512GB at least, it comes with a significantly faster memory chip than the 256GB.

 

[techspin]

Get the 17 Pro or Pro maximus. After using the Air for a while, the regular pros are noticeably smaller. You have a 13 pro, which seems to indicate you’re fairly responsible with purchases, unlike me. Treat yourself. Get yourself a nice charger too since it doesn’t come with one. F it. Get that sock hammock thing too.

 

[dj95]

Thank you everyone, I appreciate you taking the time to reply and I've read them all.
It seems either are a good upgrade from my 13 Pro, especially in the battery and camera department. I've decided to treat myself to the 17 Pro, as I tend to keep my device for a while and do also pass them down to family if needed so the extra longevity will help.
I'm slowly building up a collection of my old iPhones, trying to collect one from every generation in some form. I back fill the collection years after the initial release when they're much cheaper on eBay. That's a bit harder now the Pros are so expensive I will need to plug the 14,15 and 16 series in the distant future...

 

[moose185]

Thank you everyone, I appreciate you taking the time to reply and I've read them all.
It seems either are a good upgrade from my 13 Pro, especially in the battery and camera department. I've decided to treat myself to the 17 Pro, as I tend to keep my device for a while and do also pass them down to family if needed so the extra longevity will help.
I'm slowly building up a collection of my old iPhones, trying to collect one from every generation in some form. I back fill the collection years after the initial release when they're much cheaper on eBay. That's a bit harder now the Pros are so expensive I will need to plug the 14,15 and 16 series in the distant future...

How do you find the 17 pro? Do you regret going for it? I’m in the exact same position and don’t know what to choose.

 

[rambo47]

FWIW, I love my 16 Pro Max. And for the money I think it's a great deal.

 

[dj95]

Thought I’d share an update. I ended up getting the 17 Pro from cash converters here in the UK, for £880 (instead of £1099) in open box condition, very few cycles. No marks or scratches. This felt like the best compromise, I didn’t want to pay full price but wanted it to be as good condition as possible. That reduced the delta for the 16 Pro from £440 to £221 in my case.

For those who are interested or it might help, I’ve also got some thoughts on the upgrade from iPhone 13 Pro to iPhone 17 Pro after a week of use.

• Immediately holding the 17 Pro, I was struck that it didn’t feel as heavy as I thought it would. The weight distribution is much better than the 13 Pro which was top heavy. It almost feels lighter than the 13 Pro because of this.
• I always use a case with my iPhones, so the change in build material does not bother me at all. It feels great in the hand without a case, better than the sharp edges of the 13 Pro (and I imagine the 16 Pro) but like every iPhone it’s too slippery to hold for me. A good silicone case provides the grip I prefer.
• USB C charging - game changing!
• The whole OS feels much smoother. The 13 Pro was still running well, the best a phone has lasted for me but the 17 Pro just feels smooth almost all of the time. The only stutters have been in the places already documented for iOS 26 - like swiping between home screens that have widgets.
• I never updated my 13 Pro to iOS 18 so I’m not sure on the software features that might have been present since iOS 18. I was also skeptical of iOS 26 which is part of the reason I wanted to try and find an iPhone 16 Pro on iOS 18 originally. However I’m pleasantly surprised, it’s better than I thought. Some of the new animations make it feel fresh and I must admit going back to my old phone I can feel that it somehow feels a bit dated now.
• Text clarity and readability still needs to be improved in places, particularly the notification centre and control centre. This is wallpaper dependant but it should really be readable in all circumstances.
• It’s my first time using Dynamic Island and I’m more of a fan than I thought I’d be! Being able to see the music player and active workout from my watch is brilliant. I think it’s an iOS 26 feature to also be able to see the active workout metrics on the iPhone too which is so handy. Just a small quality of life improvement. The only issue I find here is swiping from the top to access notifications feels less consistent now, sometimes it doesn’t register and I can only guess that as the camera and Face ID sensors are now integrated into the touchable area rather than the notch, it sometimes doesn’t register the input.
• Battery life isn’t as big of a leap as I thought. My 13 Pro was on 82% health and struggling and the 17 Pro is definitely noticeably better and more importantly, more consistent. I think my expectations were higher from the battery benchmarks but it still needs charging for me fairly often. I get around 6-7 hours screen time on before hitting 20% and my 13 Pro was around 4 so a definite improvement still. Perhaps iOS 26.2 RC is still not quite there yet.

For the camera..

• There’s a definite improvement to camera quality. Not a giant leap, but detail is better on the whole, particularly the telephoto lense. It depends on the zoom level though - if you go to 3x on both, this switches to the telephoto on the 13 Pro but the main on the 17 Pro and it’s noticeably worse for details on the 17 Pro. Put both to 4x and the 17 telephoto kicks in and looks great but really it’s not too dissimilar at this zoom level. Kick it up to 8x or more and the 17 is very impressive though, really highlighting the improvement and showing how much artificial smudging the 13 Pro has to do.
• Contrast seems much more natural on 17 Pro. The morning sun on the houses blends much closer to how it looks in person whereas the 13 Pro seems harsh in comparison between the highlights and shadows.
• The resolution bump is noticeable in the finer details especially close up/macro shots.
• Better portrait and overall depth to all images.

13 Pro 15x

17 Pro 15x zoom

Here you can see the clarity is so much better.

13 Pro zoom

17 Pro zoom

You can see here the detail and colours are better on the 17 Pro, much more detail in the tree is captured.

13 Pro x1

17 Pro 1x

Slightly harder here but the macro shots have more resolution and details. I also think the colour is better.
All 17 Pro photos seem brighter as an observation.


Overall I’m very happy with the upgrade, all of the elements combined make it worth while. Now I’m sure most of this would have also been the case with the 16 Pro (and I wouldn’t been very happy) but now I have the 17 Pro I’m happy with my choice to skip to the latest

 

[TLewis]

• Text clarity and readability still needs to be improved in places, particularly the notification centre and control centre. This is wallpaper dependant but it should really be readable in all circumstances.

To increase readability, you can go into Settings->Display & Brightness and change the font size or bold on/off. Turning on the bold font really increases readability, but it's almost too much.