If you were planning on lining up for the latest iPhone this fall, take heart. The iPhone 17 event in early September brought a lot of exciting announcements, and surprisingly, the latest iPhone 17 series was not one of the biggest highlights.
The new iPhone Air is the most eye-catching product, measuring just 5.6mm thick and not slouching in price. The launch of the iPhone 17 is actually less exciting, which begs the question: Is it worth upgrading? For those looking for a new Apple device, there is still a more promising alternative.
Why is the iPhone 16 Pro launched in 2024 still worth buying?
A significantly more powerful device for only a slightly higher price
If you put the two phones side by side, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17 look almost identical. They have the same 6.3-inch display with a 90.1% screen-to-body ratio, and both devices feature the Dynamic Island design . Unless you turn the phones upside down, you won't notice the difference in camera setup.
In terms of color, the iPhone 16 Pro comes in four versions, with the premium metal shell being more popular than the colorful, almost pastel look of the iPhone 17. However, this is just a matter of personal preference, and both devices look great in the hand.
The real highlight of the old phone is the internal configuration. It has a more powerful camera, an additional telephoto lens, 2 additional graphics cores and up to 1TB of storage. The base version of the iPhone 16 Pro costs around 26 million VND. The base version of the iPhone 17 costs around 25 million VND. This is a pretty cheap price for a more powerful configuration.
The 12MP telephoto lens is a breakthrough
The iPhone 16 Pro's triple camera setup is ideal for capturing distant objects
On the back, both devices have two cameras, each with a resolution of 48MP. One is a wide-angle lens, and the other is an ultra-wide-angle lens for capturing wide scenes. The 16 Pro has a 12MP telephoto lens with 5X optical zoom, allowing you to magnify distant objects and create a shallow depth of field.
This is one of the most powerful camera setups out there, and the entire movie (28 Years Later) was shot using the same setup on the 15 Pro Max.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max, by the way, ups the telephoto lens' megapixel count to 48MP but drops the optical zoom to 4X, making the 16 Pro a pretty average choice.
The difference inside
iPhone 16 Pro quietly outperforms in GPU and storage
Since the Apple 17 is newer, it uses the Apple A19 processor, compared to the A18 Pro on the iPhone 16 Pro. If you dig a little deeper, you'll see that real-world performance has changed very little between the two generations. According to performance tests, the A19 is 5% faster and supports 9% higher GPU frequencies. The impact on battery life is the same for both processors, and you're unlikely to see any noticeable difference in day-to-day performance.
In terms of GPU, the 16 Pro has a 6-core GPU (an impressive spec for an older phone), while the iPhone 17 uses a 5-core version - a noticeable difference for gamers, video editors, and other graphics-intensive users.
The iPhone 16 Pro offers much more flexibility when it comes to storage. The base model comes with 128GB of storage, rising to 1TB for the top-end version. The iPhone 17, on the other hand, only comes in 256GB and 512GB versions.
The iPhone 17's battery is slightly better
Battery life lasts about 4 hours longer under lab conditions, but is that reason convincing enough?
This is where Apple has really improved over previous years. The iPhone 16 Pro has a B-class battery (EU label), with a battery life of 37 hours. The iPhone 17 is much better, with a 41-hour battery life and an A-class label (EU). However, whether that is enough to make users spend more than 25 million VND for a dual-camera phone with a weaker GPU and less storage than the older versions is still a matter of debate.
If you visit Apple's website, the 18MP selfie camera stands out as one of the iPhone 17's biggest selling points. However, Apple has quietly removed the ability to shoot ProRes video (up to 4K) that we saw on the 16 Pro and also wanted to see on the iPhone 17.
One Pro feature Apple is keeping is 120Hz ProMotion technology, which is great news for gamers. (Of course, you'll get it on the iPhone 16 Pro, too.) The same goes for the Action button, another Pro feature that's available on both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17.
Consider your options
The iPhone 16 Pro launching in 2024 is a compelling alternative to the latest iPhone
For those who upgrade to the latest iPhone every year, the 17 series has a lot to offer. For everyone else, the older phones offer a more powerful alternative at roughly the same price.
Photography enthusiasts will benefit from the triple-camera setup. Those who need more storage (like vloggers) can opt for 1TB. In reality, the only reason to upgrade to the iPhone 17 is probably the superior battery, but that may not be a big difference for everyone.
Outside of the Apple lineup, the Pixel 10 also costs between 20 and 24 million VND if you want to own the latest mobile technology but don't want to experience an operating system other than iOS.