The iPhone 17 won me over, but I’d still recommend the iPhone 16 to most people

I was using the iPhone 17 when I picked up my iPhone 16 to look at an older video, and it led to an epiphany: nothing about the iPhone 16 felt any worse than its successor. It wasn’t any slower, the design didn’t feel dramatically different, and nothing about it screamed “old” or “outdated.” That feeling stuck with me for a few days.

Over the years, the smartphone industry has trained us to treat one year of upgrades (no matter how incremental) as something that should feel significant, but upon switching back to the iPhone 16 after using the iPhone 17 for over six months, I realized that wasn’t the case. We’re so stuck in finding the smallest changes in the spec sheet that we forget that a company’s product cycle isn’t a measure of obsolescence.

A phone that doesn’t feel outdated next to its predecessor

The moment I picked up the iPhone 16 (which was resting without a case in my drawer), I couldn’t help but notice its cool aluminum frame and the matte glass back in the Teal finish, and it brought a smile to my face. The next moment, I took out my iPhone 17 and held it side-by-side.

If you leave out the larger form factor (due to a bigger screen) and the different finishes, the iPhone 16 shares all its design elements, including the Dynamic Island on the front, the vertical camera layout on the back, and the buttons (including the Action button and Camera Control), with the iPhone 17.

And that’s when it hit me: the iPhone 16 doesn’t feel all that old, even next to its successor.

The chip gap isn’t as wide as the ProMotion display makes it feel

Over the next couple of days, I started using the phone as my daily driver, just to check whether there were any noticeable differences in the performance, and I came to a rather nuanced conclusion.

Had Apple equipped the iPhone 16 with a 120Hz ProMotion display, it would have felt as smooth as the newer iPhone 17. This is the reason why the Pixel 10a feels so smooth despite featuring a less powerful chipset.

But even otherwise, in third-party apps that only support a 60Hz refresh rate, it was quite hard to differentiate between the phones in terms of performance (unless you time the export of the same video via a third-party editing app).

The A19 chip on the iPhone 17 is barely 8-10% faster than the A18 chip on the iPhone 16; that’s a difference most users will never notice with their day-to-day tasks.

4,000 photos later, the main camera still holds its ground

More importantly, both the phones fully support iOS 26 and run all the available Apple Intelligence features. Another major similarity between the phones is their primary camera.

I’ve taken over 4,000 photos and 800 videos on my iPhone 16 as a daily driver for months, and the 48MP holds up really well, even next to those from the iPhone 17. Color science and skin tones remain accurate, dynamic range rarely disappoints, plus there’s plenty of detail in pictures.

I’d say that the 12MP ultrawide and the 12MP selfie cameras sound like the iPhone 16’s weak spots, especially since Apple upgraded the camera hardware on the iPhone 17, but how much it bothers you depends on how frequently you use these cameras and for what purposes. What’s more important is that the iPhone 16 has a Camera Control button, something that I personally find very useful.

All-day battery and MagSafe convenience at an affordable price

The battery on my iPhone 16, even though it’s at 91% battery health, still lasts an entire day on a charge, and supports the same MagSafe accessories (wireless powerbank and wallet) I use with my iPhone 17. All these things made me realize how Apple’s latest iPhone is based on some useful but mostly incremental updates, and how the overall experience could feel awfully similar, barring a few things.

iPhone 16	What iPhone 17 Adds
60Hz OLED display, 2,000 nits peak	120Hz ProMotion OLED, brighter display
A18 chip, full Apple Intelligence	A19 chip, ~8-10% faster, better efficiency
48MP main + 12MP ultrawide	48MP main + 48MP ultrawide (major upgrade)
12MP front camera	12MP Center Stage front camera
6.1-inch compact form factor	Slightly larger screen
MagSafe, same accessory ecosystem	Same MagSafe ecosystem
Camera Control + Action button	Same buttons
Full iOS 26 + Apple Intelligence	Same software, same AI features
All-day battery	Longer battery, better efficiency (A19)

All these realizations, along with the fact that the iPhone 16 currently costs $699 for the baseline variant with 128GB of storage, made me arrive at a solid conclusion: the iPhone 16 isn’t last year’s baseline iPhone, but it’s this year’s most sensible iPhone, for most users who’re aware of the compromises and aren’t bothered by them.

If you’re upgrading from an ancient Android phone, or an iPhone 11 or iPhone 12, the iPhone 16 could strike the perfect balance between a meaningful and affordable upgrade.

That said, there are some solid reasons why you still might want to upgrade to the iPhone 17. If a smoother 120Hz display, a brighter screen, better ultrawide and front cameras, and a longer-lasting battery matter to you, and you’re upgrading from a relatively newer model, like the iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, the iPhone 17 could provide a better sense of upgrade for you.

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Stephan Dorsey

Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.

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Recent Reviews

Android 17 is bringing a major change to multitasking—here’s how it works

After being teased in the second beta, the new “Bubbles” feature is finally available in Android 17 Beta 3. This is the biggest change to Android multitasking since split-screen mode. I had to see how it worked—come along with me.

Now, it should be mentioned that this feature will probably look a bit familiar to Samsung Galaxy owners. One UI also allows for putting apps in floating windows, and they minimize into a floating widget. However, as you’ll see, Google’s approach is more restrained.

App Bubbles in Android 17

There’s a lot to like already

First and foremost, putting an app in a “Bubble” allows it to be used on top of whatever’s happening on the screen. The functionality is essentially identical to Android’s older feature of the exact same name, but now it can be used for apps in addition to messaging conversations.

To bubble an app, simply long-press the app icon anywhere you see it. That includes the home screen, app drawer, and the taskbar on foldables and tablets. Select “Bubble” or the small icon depicting a rectangle with an arrow pointing at a dot in the menu.

Bubbles on a phone screen

The app will immediately open in a floating window on top of your current activity. This is the full version of the app, and it works exactly how it would if you opened it normally. You can’t resize the app bubble, but on large-screen devices, you can choose which side it’s on. To minimize the bubble, simply tap outside of it or do the Home gesture—you won’t actually go to the Home Screen.

Multiple apps can be bubbled together—just repeat the process above—but only one can be shown at a time. This is a key difference compared to One UI’s pop-up windows, which can be resized and tiled anywhere on the screen. Here is also where things vary depending on the type of device you’re using.

If you’re using a phone, the current bubbled apps appear in a row of shortcuts above the window. Tap an app icon, and it will instantly come into view within the bubble. On foldables and tablets, the row of icons is much smaller and below the window.

Another difference is how the app bubbles are minimized. On phones, they live in a floating app icon (or stack of icons) on the edge of the screen. You are free to move this around the screen by dragging it. Tapping the minimized bubble will open the last active app in the bubble. On foldables and tablets, the bubble is minimized to the taskbar (if you have it enabled).

Bubbles on a foldable screen

Now, there are a few things to know about managing bubbles. First, tapping the “+” button in the shortcuts row shows previously dismissed bubbles—it’s not for adding a new app bubble. To dismiss an app bubble, you can drag the icon from the shortcuts row and drop it on the “X” that appears at the bottom of the screen.

To remove the entire bubble completely, simply drag it to the “X” at the bottom of the screen. On phones, there’s also an extra “Manage” button below the window with a “Dismiss bubble” option.

Better than split-screen?

Bubbles make sense on smaller screens

That’s pretty much all there is to it. As mentioned, there’s definitely not as much freedom with Bubbles as there is with pop-up windows in One UI. The latter allows you to treat apps like windows on a computer screen. Bubbles are a much more confined experience, but the benefit is that you don’t have to do any organizing.

Samsung One UI pop-up windows

Of course, Android has supported using multiple apps at once with split-screen mode for a while. So, what’s the benefit of Bubbles? On phones, especially, split-screen mode makes apps so small that they’re not very useful.

If you’re making a grocery list while checking the store website, you’re stuck in a very small browser window. Bubbles enables you to essentially use two apps in full size at the same time—it’s even quicker than swiping the gesture bar to switch between apps.

If you’d like to give App Bubbles a try, enroll your qualified Pixel phone in the Android Beta Program. The final release of Android 17 is only a few months away (Q2 2026), but this is an exciting feature to check out right now.

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Stephan Dorsey

Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.