iPhone 17 Pro iPhone 17 Pro vs iPhone 16 Pro comparison

[Wizec]

Just got my iPhone 17 Pro yesterday and wanted to share some comparisons to the 16 Pro that I have.

1. Wi-Fi on my Orbi 750 mesh is consistently about 30 Mbps faster with downloads, and 100 Mbps faster at uploads
2. Indoor pictures of my kids and pets with the main (wide) lens are better. This was unexpected because supposedly the hardware is the same. It might be the post processing that I’ve been reading about, where there is less sharpening now?
3. Zoom shots at 4x are clearer than the 16 Pro shots at 5x. The detail and noise are much improved on the 17 Pro. I did one 8x photo, but it was so misty outside that it’s not a good test photo, so the jury is out on how good the 8x is.
4. It’s heavier, but feels a little lighter in my hand somehow. Maybe it’s the weight distribution.
5. So far, it seems to be running very cool the first 18hr. It’s been cooler to the touch than my 16 Pro was during the data transfer and while using the camera.
6. Mobile download/upload performance seems to be identical where I have a good signal. I’ll be going rural where I typically can’t get a decent signal and will see if it’s at all improved.
7. Battery life isn’t looking promising. It’s only been 18hr, but I left my phone plugged in and on WiFi overnight. All iCloud synching is done, photos and messages appear to have been indexed, but the battery is tanking rather fast. From past experience, I will not make a final determination though until I’ve used it for a week or so.
8. The speakers are worse than the 16 Pro. The 16 Pro is louder and much more balanced. The 17 Pro has more bass, but less midrange and lower volume.

 

[fathergll]

The speakers are worse than the 16 Pro. The 16 Pro is louder and much more balanced. The 17 Pro has more bass, but less midrange and lower volume.

I've been reading this pretty much across the board with the sound quality being worst(Pro and Pro Max)

I assume this has to due with the change to aluminum which if true thats really does suck and no one called this out ahead of time. The bend gate was the red herring all along. It would have been great if they tried to do a sound test instead of this dog and pony show.

 

[Andeddu]

I’ve been playing some Resident Evil 2 (2019) on my Pro and after 30 minutes, the back was still cool to the touch. I’ll try Assassin’s Creed sometime which is a more demanding title.

 

[Wizec]

I've been reading this pretty much across the board with the sound quality being worst(Pro and Pro Max)

I assume this has to due with the change to aluminum which if true thats really does suck and no one called this out ahead of time. The bend gate was the red herring all along. It would have been great if they tried to do a sound test instead of this dog and pony show.

I will say that the speakers aren’t awful or unusable, just not as good.

 

[EM2013]

The zoom is crazy good. Upgraded from 13pm and it’s definitely an upgrade all around but especially with the camera.

Can’t speak on the 16 but the speaker sounds better than the 13.

 

[Wizec]

I took my new iPhone 17 Pro on the same walk that I took my old 16 Pro on earlier this week. Half a mile, 80° and sunny. I kept my phone screen on for most of the walk, then stopped and took pictures and a 15 second video at the same places as before.

My 16 Pro got hot and dimmed the screen very low 2/3 of the way through the walk.

My 17 Pro got warm as I came into the house, and did not dim the screen during the walk. I’m typing this now in a 74° room right after my walk and it’s already cooled back down. This is really impressive to me.

Battery life is still not impressive though. It doesn’t feel like it’s lasting any longer than my 16 Pro did using Messages, Safari, Facebook and YouTube in roughly the same quantities. It’s not worse, but I’m surprised it’s not better given that it’s an eSIM model with a larger battery than the 16 Pro.

 

[Moreplease]

Battery life is still not impressive though. It doesn’t feel like it’s lasting any longer than my 16 Pro did using Messages, Safari, Facebook and YouTube in roughly the same quantities. It’s not worse, but I’m surprised it’s not better given that it’s an eSIM model with a larger battery than the 16 Pro.

If you dig up the battery capacities for markets with and without eSIM – they’re out there though I don’t have a link – you can see it makes a very small difference. After all, nano-SIM cards are tiny.

I still thought battery life would be better, since Apple’s claims for video playback are much better for the 17 generation of phones.

But third-party battery life tests for normal uses show what you have observed: only a minor improvement. For example:

iPhone 17 battery life results are in — how do the new iPhones compare to other flagships?

Here's how good iPhone 17 batteries really are

www.tomsguide.com

Possibly Apple will extract a little more efficiency out of iOS 26 in the next few months, though it’s unlikely the improvements will be limited to the 17, so likely the 16 battery life would also improve. I wouldn’t expect big improvements, of course.

 

[Jackbequickly]

My 17 PM’s camera is better than my 16 PM. No problems with my 17. Like it a lot!👍

 

[Wizec]

Day 3 I’m seeing a big difference and improvement in battery life.

Also, my phone runs stone cold. In the house my 16 Pro would always get warm after surfing with Safari or Facebook. My 17 Pro doesn’t. Also, the battery is lasting a lot longer both on standby and using the phone with the screen on. If this keeps up, this will be just what I was hoping for. Much cooler, and longer battery life than the 16 Pro.