iPhone 17 Pro vs iPhone 16 Pro: Why we think the next iPhone flagship will be worth waiting for

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have been available for a few months now, and for the most part, they offer a refined experience, building on what the iPhone 15 Pro models already provided. That was a solid and reliable build, with titanium as the core material, alongside a powerful chipset in the form of an efficient 3nm chipset. The phones also introduce several pro-grade features, including the ability to shoot in ProRes Log and allow users to dive into AAA gaming, with titles like Resident Evil 4 and more.

Now that 2025 is here, rumours and leaks about the next generation of pro iPhones, the iPhone 17 Pro, are starting to surface. Let us tell you what we expect from the iPhone 17 Pro when it launches, what we think about it, and how it will compare to the current flagship iPhone 16 Pro models.

Major redesign could switch things up

The iPhone 17 Pro could finally offer a major redesign. If you think about it, the iPhone 16 Pro looks exactly the same as the iPhone 15 Pro, and if you discount the titanium switch, it resembles the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro as well, and even the iPhone 12 Pro. In fact, all these phones have looked almost identical since the iPhone 11 Pro, with the same triangular camera setup housed in the top left corner of the phone. The screen sizes have increased considerably over the last few generations, but if you were to compare two phones from a distance, such as an iPhone 13 Pro and an iPhone 15 Pro in white, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

This is where the iPhone 17 Pro series might come in. Recent leaks, including those from tipsters like Majin Bu, suggest that the iPhone 17 Pro could undergo a major redesign, adopting a Pixel 9-like camera bar situated on the top half of the phone, much like how it’s arranged on the Pixel line. 

Several leaks have pointed out that this might become a reality, but it remains to be seen whether it will make it into the production cycle. It would make sense for Apple to refresh the design, considering it has been a while since it used the same design language for its phones.

The iPhone 12 prompted the switch to flat sides, moving away from curved edges, but since then, there have only been incremental upgrades. So, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro could offer a completely fresh experience, and we believe customers will likely gravitate towards the newer models. We also feel that they would certainly sell quite well, thanks to the expected redesign.

More power incoming

As for power, the iPhone 16 Pro currently offers the Apple A18 Pro 3nm chipset, which goes toe-to-toe with the likes of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400. This time around, after multiple generations, the Snapdragon processor has managed to outperform Apple’s latest chipset, especially in multi-core benchmarks. Although both processors go back and forth, some reports suggest the Snapdragon 8 Elite does come out on top in certain results. It would make sense for Apple to focus on the A19 Pro to maintain its lead in providing the best and fastest mobile experiences.

That being said, only Apple phones can actually play AAA games these days, with titles like Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding. So, Apple will likely aim to capitalise on this strength and offer even more power with the iPhone 17 Pro series compared to what’s available on the iPhone 16 Pro.

iPhone 17 Pro must improve the camera experience

Regarding the camera, the iPhone 16 Pro offers more or less the same experience as the iPhone 15 Pro, with the same wide camera, a similar telephoto shooter, and the same LiDAR sensor, but updated with a new ultra-wide-angle lens. If the iPhone 17 Pro is equipped with a brand-new shooter, it could bring a revamped camera experience and potentially turn the tide in Apple’s favour.

Currently, the common consensus is that top Chinese flagships, like the Vivo X200 and the Oppo Find X6 Pro, as well as the iPhone 16 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, outperform Apple when it comes to image quality. While Apple does have an advantage with video, in terms of photography, it is certainly not among the top-end of the spectrum.