Apple’s new iPhone 17 lineup has officially arrived, but, as usual, the company is keeping the previous generation around at a lower price. The iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 share many similarities in design, specs, and features, but there’s a $100 price difference between them. While we haven’t completed our full review of the iPhone 17 just yet, we spent some time with it at Apple’s launch event—and we’ve thoroughly tested the iPhone 16. If you’re shopping for a new iPhone, we’re here to walk you through the differences to help you decide which model to buy.
Price: More Bang for Your Buck
iPhone 17: Everything Apple Just Announced for Its Base Model
Apple prices the iPhone 17 at $799 for 256GB of storage or $999 for 512GB. With the iPhone 17 here, Apple has dropped the iPhone 16’s price to $699, but it’s only available with 128GB of storage.
If you’re looking at price only, the iPhone 16 is $100 less.
Winner: iPhone 16
Design: They Do Sure Look Alike
iPhone 16 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The iPhone 17 and 16 share a strong physical resemblance. The front is dominated by a screen with the Dynamic Island at the top, the sides and back are flat, and the two rear cameras are contained in a vertical, pill-shaped module. Button and port placement have not changed.
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
However, there are some minor differences. The 16 is smaller at 5.81 by 2.82 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and 6.00 ounces compared with the taller and heavier iPhone 17, at 5.89 by 2.81 by 0.31 inches and 6.24 ounces.
iPhone 16 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The iPhone 16’s screen is covered in Apple’s Ceramic Shield, while the 17 uses Ceramic Shield 2. Both are resistant to cracking and scratching, but Apple says the second-generation material is three times more resistant to scratching. Both have aluminum frames and are rated IP68 to withstand dust and water.
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Each comes in five colors. The iPhone 17 is available in Black, Mist Blue, Lavender, Sage, or White, while the 16 comes in Black, Pink, Teal, Ultramarine, or White.
Winner: Tie
Display: One’s Simply Superior
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The iPhone 17 and 16 both feature a Super Retina XDR OLED screen with a density of 460 pixels per inch (ppi), but the similarities end there.
The iPhone 17 has a 6.3-inch screen at a resolution of 2,622 by 1,206 pixels, a variable refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz, and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Its display is covered by an anti-reflective coating, which, when combined with its brightness, should make the screen easy to see even under bright lighting conditions. The new adaptive refresh rate brings the always-on display feature of the Pro iPhones to the standard iPhone for the first time.
iPhone 16 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The iPhone 16 has a smaller 6.1-inch screen with a resolution of 2,556 by 1,179 pixels, a static 60Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. It does not have an anti-reflective coating and does not support the always-on display.
The iPhone 16’s display is not bad, but the iPhone 17’s is better.
Winner: iPhone 17
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Performance: New Chips Are Generally Quicker
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Apple upgrades the chips inside its iPhone line every year. The new A19 processor powers the iPhone 17 and features a six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores, a five-core GPU with Neural Accelerators (to handle AI tasks), a 16-core Neural Engine, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. We have not tested or benchmarked this chip at all.
The iPhone 16’s A18 chip also features a six-core CPU, a five-core GPU (but not marketed as having Neural Accelerators), and a 16-core Neural Engine. In our review, we noted that the iPhone 16 was a major leap forward compared with the iPhone 15, which used the Apple A17.
Arguably, the latest is the greatest when it comes to Apple processors, but we cannot deliver a final verdict until we test the A19.
Winner: Too early to tell (but leaning toward the iPhone 17)
Cameras: FaceTime Flexibility Is the Key
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The iPhone 17 and 16 use the same basic camera system, which includes Apple’s 48MP Fusion camera with an aperture of f/1.6. It takes 24MP blended images by default, and can also shoot 12MP 2x optical-quality telephoto pictures, though a dedicated telephoto lens is absent.
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iPhone 16 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The ultra-wide cameras are quite different, however. The iPhone 17 has a new 48MP ultra-wide sensor with an aperture of f/1.2 and a 120-degree field of view; it can also produce 24MP or 48MP images. Meanwhile, the 16 uses a 12MP ultra-wide camera with the same aperture and the same field of view.
Both phones share equivalent video cameras. They can record video at up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second.
Apple upgraded the iPhone 17’s front-facing camera in a big way. The 17 has an 18MP Center Stage camera with an aperture of f/1.9. It tracks and keeps the subject centered in frame, like certain iPads do. But it has one other big party trick: Because the sensor is square in shape (rather than 4:3), the iPhone 17 can shoot vertically or horizontally with the front-facing camera, no matter how you hold the phone. The 12MP front-facing camera of the 16 cannot do this (nor can most phones). The 17’s front camera also has stabilization when recording video, and a dual capture mode that lets you shoot video with both cameras at the same time.
We will test the cameras soon, and we expect the 17 to win.
Winner: Too early to tell (but leaning toward the iPhone 17)
Battery: Which One Lasts Longer?
iPhone 17 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
We have yet to run our battery tests on the newest iPhones, but we can compare Apple’s claims. The company says the iPhone 17 can play locally stored video for up to 30 hours or up to 27 hours when streamed. Last year, Apple claimed the iPhone 16 could last up to 22 hours via local video playback or 18 hours via streamed video.
In our battery rundown test, which involves streaming a 1080p video with the display at full brightness, we found the iPhone 16 lasted 17 hours and 47 minutes. This is pretty close to Apple’s claims. If the iPhone 17 comes as close to Apple’s latest claims, it’ll be the new winner, but we’re not there just yet.
Winner: Too early to tell (but leaning toward the iPhone 17)
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