Which has a better camera: iPhone 17 or iPhone 16 Pro?

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If you're choosing between these two phones based on camera quality, let me save you some research time: the iPhone 16 Pro wins this one pretty handily.

The Zoom Situation

The iPhone 16 Pro has a proper telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. The iPhone 17? It doesn't have one at all. When you pinch to zoom on the iPhone 17, you're basically just cropping your photo digitally. It works okay, but it's nowhere close to true optical zoom quality.

This matters more than you might think. Concerts, sports, wildlife, kids playing across the yard. Any time you can't physically get closer to your subject, that telephoto lens is a game-changer.

Regular Photos Are Basically the Same

For everyday snapshots with the main camera, both phones produce nearly identical results. They both have 48MP sensors, and unless you're pixel-peeping on a big monitor, you won't spot meaningful differences.

Selfies Go to the iPhone 17

Credit where it's due: the iPhone 17's new 18MP selfie camera with that square sensor is genuinely better. Group selfies look better, and you don't have to awkwardly rotate your phone anymore.

The Pro Stuff

The iPhone 16 Pro has LiDAR for faster autofocus in the dark, ProRAW for editing enthusiasts, and ProRes video for filmmaking. The iPhone 17 skips all of that.

Quick Answer

Want better zoom and pro features? iPhone 16 Pro. Mostly take selfies? iPhone 17. Want the best of everything? Consider the iPhone 17 Pro instead.