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

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#3402750 15-Aug-2025 09:30

Lots of feedback from the community so thats always good. Im an Apple fan and have been since forever.

There are great deals on iPhone 16 range now, and you dont have to work to get them. JB, Noels, PBTech - all have something like $180-200 off. Every little counts of course.

Going from 11 to anything new will be huge - 16 or 17 - so dont be distracted by the promise of that new. You can be confident the 17 will be full price when available in NZ.

My wife uses a 16 promax and its terrific for battery/pic quality/speed etc.

Personally I stopped getting newest release kit straight away some years ago - my experience having in that game in an earlier career is that early production runs have higher chance of quality failure, and its usually prudent to wait until its been in prod for some months. With Apple I had that experience with the 10.5" ipad pro which had 3 failures over its life, and various phones that just suffered early run annoyances i couldnt be bothered with.

16 will run for donkeys years.

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#3403774 15-Aug-2025 12:32

MacRumors Buyer's Guide

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

Quinny

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#3403789 15-Aug-2025 14:32

I have the 16 Pro Max and love it. I convinced the boss to get the Pro and upgrade his old 12, and he hates it. I think the best answer is what matters most: the best specs (get the 17) or the best price (get the 16). I will be upgrading as I have the OneNZ upgrade option, but it's mainly for the camera improvements. The best upgrade, by my understanding, will be the 20th anniversary model.

If you don't care about cameras and weight is important, maybe wait for the Air in the month and have a look and feel.

I would not consider iois26 much. I am very, very underwhelmed by the Beta.

Bluntj

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#3403791 15-Aug-2025 14:55

Iphone 17* is out in about 4 weeks. I would wait and rethink at that stage. Iphone16 will be cheaper once it becomes the "old" model plus quite a few second hand ones will be available on trade me.

mattwnz

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#3403856 15-Aug-2025 16:58

Bluntj:

Iphone 17* is out in about 4 weeks. I would wait and rethink at that stage. Iphone16 will be cheaper once it becomes the "old" model plus quite a few second hand ones will be available on trade me.

They often stop selling the pro models as soon as the new ones are released. I personally wouldn’t buy a serving hang iPhone unless it is quite an old model and cheap. You don’t really know how it has been treated and imo it is false economy when they often don’t get much of a discount compared to buying new on discount. If the 17 got rid of the Dynamic Island cutout then that maybe worth it. But it could also be considered a feature. Also I think they will cash out the iPhone 25, not 17. So it will be the iPhone 25 pro.

pinkpanther

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#3403902 15-Aug-2025 18:56

mattwnz:

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.

IMO the advantages of the pro model are significant . Always on display is a big one. Also 100Hz screen. Both make a big difference to me. Plus slightly larger screen and better processor and 3 cameras. The non pro models imo don’t make much sense when you are already spending a lot of money

but there might be huge price difference between 16 Pro and 17 Pro as compared to new feature and you can also take advantage of sale price of iPhone 16 Pro, what you thought?

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#3405149 16-Aug-2025 23:33

Im in a similar spot. iPhone base 14 and time for an upgrade.
camera content is my main focus above pretty much all else.

I’m waiting to see what actually eventuates in 17 vs rumours, and how the pricing lands can 16 pro.

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#3405156 17-Aug-2025 07:41

mattwnz:

They often stop selling the pro models as soon as the new ones are released.

apple stops selling them but surely your local retailers will have physical stock they can't just make disappear with magic upon launch of new model? surely?

Jaxson

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#3412958 9-Sep-2025 13:15

Be interesting to see launch pricing here in NZ

17 pro line looks to have the camera jumps lined up I've been waiting for.
Now waiting to see what hit to the wallet that will involve...

wellygary

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#3412964 9-Sep-2025 13:49

Jaxson:

Be interesting to see launch pricing here in NZ

The big thing everyone will be watching is pricing, esp in the US?

Will they continue with their pretty easy to estimate international pricing of Ex rate + a bit + local taxes, but see the US price reflect the 10% tariff they still have to wear..?

Or will they basically make the world "pay for" US tariffs by keeping the old pricing model and keep US product prices lower than they could be ?

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#3412974 9-Sep-2025 14:28

I decided to wait for the 17 Pro. Surprisingly, though, my partner (who was also rocking an 11 Pro) made the jump to a 16 Pro Max when Spark were offering $500 off on a phone plan. Didn't sway me though, as I don't like the extra bulk of the Max, I don't like to pay large sums for the plan (when I don't use the extra data it brings), and it wasn't an urgent thing for me.

I've seen a rumour that suggests the entry level capacity will get a bump to 256GB to soften the blow of the price increase. My (inexpert) pick is that the 256GB Pro model will go for about $2300 here.

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#3412976 9-Sep-2025 14:40

Tesla are doing some very negative advertising on youtube against the upcoming Iphone 17 launch in favor of their cheaper phone which they will launch in January.

Asteros

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#3412979 9-Sep-2025 14:44

Lizard1977:

I decided to wait for the 17 Pro. Surprisingly, though, my partner (who was also rocking an 11 Pro) made the jump to a 16 Pro Max when Spark were offering $500 off on a phone plan. Didn't sway me though, as I don't like the extra bulk of the Max, I don't like to pay large sums for the plan (when I don't use the extra data it brings), and it wasn't an urgent thing for me.

I've seen a rumour that suggests the entry level capacity will get a bump to 256GB to soften the blow of the price increase. My (inexpert) pick is that the 256GB Pro model will go for about $2300 here.

Waiting for the 17 Pro is a good choice. The RAM upgrade plus new cameras make it seem like a bigger upgrade from the 16 Pro than previous year to year changes.