Confused between iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 Pro? Compare design, display, performance, battery, camera, and software. Find out which iPhone is better?
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro: Which is Better?
The most awaited phone comparison on the Indian internet right now has to be the iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro. And the reason for that is plain and simple.
The iPhone 16 Pro, during Flipkart’s Big Billion Days (BBD), is going to be available at a lower price than the iPhone 17. But the caveat here is that this is for the 128GB variant of the phone. Now, if you were to compare the 256GB variant of the phone — which is the base variant of the iPhone 17 this time around — then the prices are nearly similar.
So, the big question is: Should we actually pick the iPhone 16 Pro, a Pro iPhone, over the base iPhone 17?
Well, I’ll give you my answer by the end of this article. And trust me, it’s going to be a very surprising one.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro Design Comparison
Now, to start off with, the design of the iPhone 17 is largely similar to the iPhone 16 from last year, but the only difference is that it's slightly larger because it has a larger display, a larger display with tinier bezels, no less, which is something that I really appreciate.
And when you compare it to the 16 Pro, yes, the 16 Pro does feel more premium in the hand. And the major reason for that could be the fact that, you know, it's got a titanium frame. But, I mean, this is not a bad design either. And you get some funky colors, too, which is something that a lot of people prefer.
So, if you want like colors in your life, then go for the iPhone 17.
But there are some interesting things that we noted. Firstly, the iPhone 17 is of course lighter than the iPhone 16 Pro. Secondly, you get the new ceramic shield 2 protection on top of the iPhone 17, which actually makes it 3x more scratch resistant than the display on the 16 Pro.
And trust me, that's a change that I'm absolutely loving primarily because the iPhone 16's display, oh my god, that thing scratched up like no man's business.
And of course, both these phones also come with IP68 rating and MagSafe wireless charging as well. But there is one advantage with the iPhone 16 Pro, and that is the fact that you actually get a Type-C 3.2 port at the bottom which is Type-C 2.0 on the iPhone 17.
What this means is that the Pro phone actually is great for pro workflows because if you're going to be transferring data a lot from the phone and to some other device or from another device to the phone, then you'll get faster data speeds, which is not going to be possible with the iPhone 17.
The iPhone 17 is also slimmer than the iPhone 16 Pro. If that matters to you, but I think that's not too much of a difference.
So, overall, if you look at it with respect to design, I mean, that's subjective. You can pick either one of the two. That's depending on what your preference is. And of course, you don't get three cameras, you get two cameras on this, which I'll come to in a bit.
But build-wise, I think the iPhone 17 has a slight advantage thanks to the fact that you get a better scratch resistant display.
Design Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Lighter Build | ||
| Titanium Frame | ||
| Slimmer Bezels | ||
| Funky Colors | ||
| Type-C 3.2 (Fast Transfers) |
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro Display Comparison
we'll compare the displays. And here's the fun fact. The iPhone 17 actually has a better display than the iPhone 16 Pro.
So, the display sizes are largely similar right now and with extremely slim bezels on both the phones. So, there's no separating the two. So, 6.3 inches & 6.3 inches.
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But by giving you ProMotion 120 Hz refresh rate for the iPhone 17, the performance of the display itself is going to be the same as the iPhone 16 Pro. There's absolutely no difference. And even if you look at the color reproduction and the Dolby Vision playback, all of that is going to be similar on both the phones.
So there's nothing separating the two.
Then how do I say that the iPhone 17's display is better? Well, it has higher brightness. It has 3,000 nits of peak brightness.
And when you take it outdoors, you can see the difference in brightness.
If you’re curious how the iPhone 16 Pro stacks up against Google’s Pixel 10 Pro, don’t miss our detailed comparison: iPhone 16 Pro vs Pixel 10 Pro – Full Comparison
But more importantly, with the display now, you get an anti-reflective coating. Of course, it's not as good as the S25 Ultra's anti-reflective coating, but it's an anti-reflective coating nonetheless, which is not present on the iPhone 16 Pro.
So, yeah, again, when you compare the displays, the iPhone 17 wins
Display Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 6.3” OLED | ||
| 120Hz ProMotion | ||
| 3000 nits Brightness | ||
| Anti-Reflective Coating |
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro Performance Comparison
The major differences between the two phones are obviously going to be in the performance, the battery life, and the camera.
Now, you all know that the iPhone 17 comes with the A19 chip and the iPhone 16 Pro comes with the A18 Pro. Now, if you look at the core count for the CPU and the GPU, the iPhone 16 Pro actually has one more GPU core, but the performance on the iPhone 17 is actually better.
Now, AnTuTu is comparable across iPhones for sure in that the iPhone 17 wins. Even in Geekbench, the single core and the multi-core scores are slightly higher. We actually expected it to be far more higher, but that's not really the case. It's far more higher in the A19 Pro with the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
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Now, despite having a 5-core GPU, the GPU performance is better on the iPhone 17 because if you compare the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test, the best loop score is higher on the iPhone 17 compared to the 16 Pro.
And we also in the Solar Bay Extreme Stress Test. And even here, the iPhone 17 actually has a higher best loop score and a higher lowest loop score, which means that the GPU has more power on offer, but the iPhone 16 Pro offers slightly better stability.
The iPhone 17 tends to throttle a bit. And the reason for that could also be the fact that the iPhone 17 doesn't have a vapor cooling chamber like the iPhone 17 Pro Max does.
Now, benchmarks aside, what matters more is real life gaming performance.
The iPhone 16 Pro offered slightly better frame rates than the iPhone 17. But the one thing we noticed with the iPhone 16 Pro is that it brings the brightness down much faster than the iPhone 17 does.
Now, this is one problem that has been there with the iPhones for the longest time. So, which means basically overall is that the A19 is actually performing better than the A18 Pro. That's the takeaway.
And it's not just the performance, mind you. Even the power efficiency is better on the A19. Now, Apple claims that you get 30 hours of video playback with the iPhone 17 and 27 hours of video playback with the iPhone 16 Pro. And the iPhone 17 actually does offer better battery life than the iPhone 16 Pro.
And it's not just the performance of the battery life. The iPhone 17's battery charging speeds are also faster because you can charge from 0 to 50% in just 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the charging speed slows down, but still a full charge will be faster on the iPhone 17 compared to the 16 Pro, which will be slower.
Now, if you also look at the network capabilities with the iPhone 17, you get the new N1 chip, which is the same across all the iPhones launched this year — the 17, the 17 Plus, and the 17 Pro Max. Now, this N1 chip houses the Wi-Fi 7 module, the Bluetooth 6 module, and the Thread module as well.
Check out our in-depth look at the OnePlus 13S vs iPhone 16 here: OnePlus 13S vs iPhone 16 – Complete Smartphone Comparison
Of course, with the 16 Pro, you do get the same Wi-Fi 7 support and Thread support as well, but the Bluetooth capabilities are Bluetooth 5.3.
Performance Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| A19 Bionic | ||
| A18 Pro | ||
| Better Benchmarks | ||
| More Stable Gaming |
Battery Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 30h Video Playback | ||
| 0-50% in 20 min | ||
| Better Efficiency |
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro Camera Comparison
To talk about the cameras, of course, with the iPhone 16 Pro, the one reason why a lot of people would be gravitating towards it would be for the fact that you actually get a 5x telephoto camera.
The primary camera on the iPhone 17 is a 48MP Fusion sensor. It's a 1/1.56" sensor. So, the sensor size is slightly larger on the 16 Pro. But in real life, the details are not like better on the 16 Pro or anything because whether we shot in daylight or in low light, both looked largely similar. Until you were like pixel-peeping at 100% crop, you really cannot tell too many differences.
And even if you look at the color reproduction, it's exactly the same. There is no difference between the two. But one thing we noticed with the iPhone 17's primary camera shots is that the skin tones actually are closer to real life on the 17 compared to the 16 Pro.
Now HDR capabilities are largely similar on both. Apple hasn't improved the Smart HDR 5 algorithm. So that's unchanged mostly. But if you want to shoot portrait shots, that is when the 5x portrait camera with the 16 Pro will come in handy because you can punch in closer and get some really good-looking bokeh drop-off. Not that the iPhone 17 takes bad-looking portraits, but just that extra focal length you get with the 16 Pro works in its favor.
Now, here's an interesting thing. The ultra-wide-angle camera on the iPhone 17 has been upgraded. Now, it's a 48MP ultra-wide-angle camera with Fusion technology, which is not available on the 16 Pro.
What difference does that make? Well, in daylight, not too much of a difference — both look largely similar. But in low light, the iPhone 17's ultra-wide shots actually look better than the iPhone 16 Pro. It pulls in more light, it has more details. So yeah, if you want a better ultra-wide-angle camera, you have to go for the iPhone 17.
In fact, if you want a better selfie camera, there's no doubt in my mind that the iPhone 17 is a better selfie camera. because this year you get a square sensor, which is a 24MP sensor, but you get 18MP outputs in different aspect ratios. You can take wide-angle selfies, like landscape selfies even in portrait mode, and the quality of selfies that we're getting with the iPhone 17 is just leagues better than the 16 Pro. There's just no comparison here.
Now, the advantage of buying a Pro iPhone is that you get certain Pro camera features which are not available on the iPhone 17. For example, you can take ProRAW shots, which the iPhone 17 cannot. The 16 Pro can, and you also get support for ProRes video recording, which is not available with the iPhone 17. And you also get the option to shoot at 4K 120fps, which is not available with the iPhone 17.
But if you're not a Pro user and you want just basic 4K video recording, then the iPhone 17 can also do a fantastic job. With the primary, the ultra-wide, and the selfie camera, you can actually take 4K 60fps videos. And the quality of the videos looks largely similar for the primary and the ultra-wide.
Of course, with the iPhone 16 Pro, you can punch in closer, get 5x optical quality video recording. Plus, you can also get further zoom range with video cameras. But if you look at the video recording comparison of the selfie cameras, the iPhone 17's selfie video quality will actually be better than the iPhone 16 Pro — just because you get better stabilization. The larger sensor means you have more area to crop, which translates to far superior stabilization compared to the 16 Pro.
📌 Final Takeaway on Cameras
So overall, with the iPhone 16 Pro, my takeaway is that it offers more Pro features like ProRAW, ProRes, and the 5x telephoto lens, which definitely comes in handy. But with the iPhone 17, you actually get better optimization, a far superior selfie camera, and a slightly better ultra-wide-angle camera as well.
Camera Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 48MP Fusion Main | ||
| 5x Telephoto | ||
| 48MP Ultra-Wide | ||
| 24MP Selfie | ||
| ProRAW & ProRes |
So make what you want of that and then make a choice accordingly as to what your use case would be. If you don't really care for that telephoto too much, then the iPhone 17's cameras are pretty good too.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro Software Comparison
Basically, you get iOS 26 with both, featuring the new Liquid Glass design. It of course looks very attractive — a completely new redesign that makes the phones feel very new as well.
Now, the advantage with the iPhone 17 is that you'll get one extra year of software updates, which will not be available with the 16 Pro.
Of course, one defining feature of the software experience would have been Apple Intelligence on both the phones, because you do get Apple Intelligence on both. But unfortunately, right now, Apple Intelligence is limited to whatever features are currently available.
For example, Gen Moji is very useful. Anyway, Writing Tools is one feature that I kind of like. But apart from that, most of the Apple Intelligence features are pretty average, and the Siri with better intelligence — that’s something we’re still waiting for. So this year, there’s no major update on that.
So yeah, the software experience is going to be largely similar on both.
Software Comparison
| Features | iPhone 17 | iPhone 16 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| iOS 26 | ||
| Liquid Glass Design | ||
| Apple Intelligence | ||
| 1 Extra Year Updates | ||
| Action Button + Camera Button |
By the way, I completely forgot to talk about two things: the Camera Control Button and the Action Button. Yeah, both phones have it. The Action Button is useful, but the Camera Control Button not really.
Conclusion
So to conclude this video, I'll give you a plain and simple verdict not beat around the bush buy the iPhone 17 over the 16 Pro.
I hope this article would be helpful for you. Let us know in the comment section, which one would you choose and why?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Will the iPhone 17 be better than the 16?
Yes, the iPhone 17 is better with a brighter display, improved cameras, longer battery life, and extra software updates.
What is the difference between iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17?
The iPhone 16 Pro has a titanium build, faster USB 3.2, and a 5x telephoto camera, while the iPhone 17 focuses on brighter display, better selfies, and longer battery.
Is the iPhone 16 Pro better than the regular iPhone 17?
The iPhone 16 Pro is better for professionals with ProRAW, ProRes, and telephoto zoom, while the iPhone 17 is better for most everyday users
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