iPhone 16 Pro v 17 Pro...buy now or wait?

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Lizard1977

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#320431 13-Aug-2025 15:19

It's finally time to upgrade - I'm planning on passing down my faithful 11 Pro to my 11 year-old as her first phone, and it gives me a reason to upgrade.

Given the time of the year, when new iPhones come into bloom, I would ordinarily wait for the latest models to emerge before buying. But there are a couple of reasons why I'm unsure:

The upgrade is going to be a substantial one for me in terms of display and camera features, from the 11 Pro to the 16 or 17 Pro. But it's hard to know if there is a substantial shift from the 16 to the 17 Pro. I've been looking at a few "rumour" reports about what might be coming with the 17 Pro, but despite some of the hype it doesn't sound like a radical shift - more of an incremental improvement, as usual. Is there likely to be a significant benefit to waiting for the newer model, given where I'm coming from?
The price. HN are knocking $200 off the base Apple price - for a 256GB model it's just $1997. "Rumours" suggest that the new iPhones will be pricier given the impact of tarrifs on the global economy. Given point 1 above (either the 16 or 17 Pro would be a big step up from my 11 Pro), is it better to nab a 16 Pro at the lower price, or pay the (hopefully not too much) higher price to get the latest model in a couple of months (should also state - this isn't time critical for me; I can do this at any stage between now and November).

What do you recommend? Bite the bullet and grab the 16 Pro now, or hold off for the 17 Pro (even if the price is higher)?

muppet

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#3402413 13-Aug-2025 15:37

Not an iPhone person, but always hold out for the latest IHO. It gets all the cool announced features that sometimes get backported, sometimes don't (speaking as a Pixel user here, maybe iPhone is a bit different) - you'll get at least 1 year extra life from it, it might have newer/better battery/antenna/satellite tech.

The con of course is the cost. But if you're prepared to drop $2k on a phone as it stands, I don't expect you'll flip a banana when a new one costs $2.3k.

So if the money/cost isn't a deal breaker for you, why wouldn't you wait?

mattwnz

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#3402415 13-Aug-2025 16:11

The thing with iphones is you can always wait for the next model, but often the difference each year is just incremental, and often the changes won't make much difference to ones needs. Often the older models get discounted when a new model gets released, although apple tend to remove old pro models for sale. Whether the updates are worth $300 to you, or whether you can use that $300 for something else. But if you can get a good deal, and iphone 16 pro is a good phone IMO, and doesn't have the massive wide camera bump that the 17 pro looks to be getting. I understand it may be getting a higher resolution grin camera and better zoom and perhaps more ram. But it is really a personal decision.

TwoSeven

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#3402416 13-Aug-2025 16:30

The speculation is that the 17 will be quite different, mainly because of the move to IOS 26. Given its really only a month or two from announcement, I would wait (and save a bit more in the meantime).

I moved from an iPhone 7 (iOS 12 or so) to the 15 pro max primarily for a bigger screen and the USB-c support for external devices. I’ve also got the newish iPad Air (m3) that I use in place of a laptop (IOS 26 supports an external monitor mouse and keyboard, also stage manager has been replaced with a new windowing mode).

i have found that the integration between devices is getting very good now.

9To5Mac have good reviews of all the features in the new IOS and the latest routers on the new models of things.

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Asteros

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#3402417 13-Aug-2025 16:31

it is strongly rumoured that the 17 Pro and Pro Max will have 12GB of RAM. An increase from 8GB in the 16 Pro. Apple Ram increases are a relatively rare occurrence and will increase longevity if you hold on to it for 5+ years.

Handsomedan

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#3402424 13-Aug-2025 17:09

More RAM, a move from Ti frame to AL and camera improvements are apparently the big things incoming. As usual there's a chip bump, too.
I'd probably hold on for the newer incoming model, as it'll last a year longer (support-wise).

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Aucklandjafa

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#3402456 13-Aug-2025 22:21

As per the previous comments, iPhone generations are very incremental and the 16 would be a massive leap from the 11 - you’d be pretty happy. My only thing would be, if you're on a higher phone tier/plan, wait until the 17 as most telcos offer circa $500 off the launch device (over interest free payments) - making it cheaper than the previous year’s model.

RogerMellie

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#3402516 14-Aug-2025 10:41

Buy now, take advantage of sale prices on the 16

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gehenna

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#3402517 14-Aug-2025 10:44

Buy now. Don't bother waiting.

snj

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#3402537 14-Aug-2025 11:43

I've been contemplating the same but with the non-Pro version, looking at the roundups of rumours (20 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17 - MacRumors & When Will Apple Announce the iPhone 17 Event? - MacRumors), I've been siding with 16 on discount. There are some things in the 17's favour that I can see people waiting for (the camera stuff in particular) but that's not as important to me.

Batman

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#3402538 14-Aug-2025 12:04

Lizard1977:

The price. HN are knocking $200 off the base Apple price - for a 256GB model it's just $1997. "

Lol. Apple education store is the same price all day all year round

Just wait

Asteros

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#3402540 14-Aug-2025 12:14

I have never seen the Iphone discounted at the Apple NZ Education store. It's always excluded year round.

wellygary

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#3402542 14-Aug-2025 12:32

snj:

I've been contemplating the same but with the non-Pro version, looking at the roundups of rumours (20 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17 - MacRumors & When Will Apple Announce the iPhone 17 Event? - MacRumors), I've been siding with 16 on discount. There are some things in the 17's favour that I can see people waiting for (the camera stuff in particular) but that's not as important to me.

If you can get a discount on a regular (non pro) model then take it. The n-1 models remain in Apple's supply chain when the yearly refresh occurs ( You can buy a 15 from apple today) -

Yes apple sells them for less than they did when they were the current model, but they are not "remaining stock" in any sense of the word