Apple iPhone 17 Vs iPhone 16 Pro: Which iPhone This Festive Season

It’s festive season and iPhones are the hottest selling products during this sale. With the Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days around the corner, it’s only natural to wonder which iPhone to buy. With the launch of the iPhone 17 series, last year’s iPhone 16 Pro is now available at a massive discount. But with a just a 10K price difference, why iPhone model deserves your money and why? Let’s find out in this comparison of iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro.

iPhone 17 Vs iPhone 16 Pro

Design And Build

In terms of design, the iPhone 17 brings a refreshed vertical camera module that we first saw on the iPhone 16. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro maintains the same design language as the iPhone 11 Pro. It’s a outdated but feels more premium thanks to the Titanium frame and is more heavy. But if you are someone who wants a wider color options and a lighter/slimmer build, iPhone 17 will suit you better.

Winner: iPhone 16 Pro

Display

With iPhone 17 finally getting the 120Hz refresh rate, both models are on now par with each other. You get a 6.3-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED screen with the same resolution. While the newer iPhone 17 gets Ceramic Shield 2 which is 3 times more scratch resistant than the iPhone 17 Pro. Although you get Always On display on both models, the 17 is way brighter at 3000 nits compared to 2000 nits on the Pro.

Winner: iPhone 17

Processor

This is a rather interesting segment as the iPhone 17 uses the new A19 chipset while the iPhone 16 Pro relies on the A18 Pro. Both processor are made on the 3nm node and have a hexa-core architecture with slight changes in frequency. While the 17 has a 5-core GPU, the 16 Pro gets a 6-core one. Both phones are pretty smooth in day to day tasks and are pretty close in terms of benchmarks. The iPhone 17 comes with the new N1 chip and support for Bluetooth 6 compared to Bluetooth 5.3 on the Pro. This gives it a slight edge over the Pro.

Winner: iPhone 17

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Camera

Camera is one area where the iPhone 16 Pro reigns supreme with its triple camera module. Not only do you get the 48MP primary and ultrawide just like the 17, but there’s also a 12MP periscope telephoto with 5x optical zoom apart from LIDAR scanner for 3D object scanning. If you are content creator then going for the Pro is certainly worth it. With the Pro, you get USB Type-C 3.2 port for faster files transfers and features like ProRAW, ProRes Video and 4K@120FPS video recording.

Winner: iPhone 16 Pro

Storage And RAM

Since the iPhone 16 Pro starts at 128GB and the iPhone 17 begins at 256GB, it is one reason that many people are confused between the two models. Basically, you get double the storage with the iPhone 17 for a slightly more money. Both iPhone models come with 8GB of RAM and Apple Intelligence support.Both phones run on iOS 26 although iPhone 17 will get slightly longer software support.

Winner: iPhone 17

Charging And Battery

The iPhone 17 packs a 3692mAh battery and supports 40W wired charging apart from 25W Qi-2 wireless. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro boasts a 3577mAh one with 27W wired charging. Apple claims 30 hours of video playback with the 17 while the 16 Pro offers only 27 hours. So if you want better battery backup and faster charging, the newer model is the one to go for.

Winner: iPhone 17

Verdict: iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro

For most people, the iPhone 17 at Rs.79,999 is a much better deal this year. It offers double the storage but also better performance, brighter display and faster charging. Unless you are a content creator who needs those Pro features, iPhone 17 seems like a more logical choice. However, if you like shooting videos and have a strict budget then the iPhone 16 Pro at Rs.69,999 is a steal deal.