If you're in the market for a new flagship iPhone, you have two options right now: either the iPhone 16 Pro or the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and depending on your size preferences, you can choose accordingly. They are identical devices with the same set of cameras, barring the battery and screen sizes. However, if you're not in a hurry to buy a new iPhone and can wait a couple of months, the iPhone 17 series is just on the horizon.
Yes, now that it is already mid-June, there are two and a half months until September, which is the month Apple annually releases its new iPhones.
Having said that, the iPhone 17 series could bring major upgrades compared to the iPhone 16 Pro models. Here are a few reasons why you should definitely hold out on purchasing an iPhone now and wait for the next-generation mode.
A new design, finally
The iPhone 16 Pro resembles the iPhone 15 Pro. In fact, you won't be able to tell them apart if you buy them in the natural titanium or the black titanium colourway. Apple has followed more or less the same design language for several years now, having debuted the triple-camera layout design with the iPhone 11 Pro. Since then, there have been only incremental upgrades when Apple switched to flat sides and a flat back with the iPhone 12 series.
With the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple is expected to release a much larger camera module, which could extend all the way to the right of the phone, and this could give the phone a unique look. So, if you want new aesthetics, you should definitely hold out.
Performance upgrades
Well, while the A18 Pro SOC found in the iPhone 16 Pro models is no slouch, it has notably been beaten by the Snapdragon 8 Elite in synthetic benchmarks. Now, based on recent reports and tips, the A19 Pro SOC could finally bridge this gap and allow for a score that's anywhere around 4,000+ for single-core and 10,000+ for multi-core. This could be a big jump from the iPhone 16 Pro.
A better telephoto camera
Apple is expected to debut a new 48-megapixel telephoto camera. This could notably be an upgrade to the 12-megapixel 5x tetraprism camera found on the iPhone 16 Pro models. There could be fundamental differences with this lens, however, and reports suggest that this could offer 3.5x focal zoom. However, despite the reduction in zoom range, the higher megapixel count could allow for lossless zooming, similar to how Apple does it with the primary sensor's 2x zoom.
More RAM
{{/usCountry}}Apple is expected to debut a new 48-megapixel telephoto camera. This could notably be an upgrade to the 12-megapixel 5x tetraprism camera found on the iPhone 16 Pro models. There could be fundamental differences with this lens, however, and reports suggest that this could offer 3.5x focal zoom. However, despite the reduction in zoom range, the higher megapixel count could allow for lossless zooming, similar to how Apple does it with the primary sensor's 2x zoom.
More RAM
{{/usCountry}}All iPhone 16 series models currently come with 8 GB of RAM, including the pro models. However, Apple could upgrade the RAM with the iPhone 17 models, and the pro models are certainly expected to get 12 GB of RAM, as reported by Jeff Pu.
A couple of months isn't a long time if you can wait
It's just a couple of months until the iPhone 17 series is launched, so if you can wait it out, you should definitely wait it out, as you will end up with a much newer phone compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, which will be almost a year old soon. Secondly, if you buy an iPhone 16 Pro now and then decide to upgrade to the iPhone 17 Pro models, you won't get a good resale value for your iPhone 16 Pro if you decide to sell it for the iPhone 17 Pro, as it would be a generation old.