Apple has spent the past few years giving its iPhone Pro models that extra little push with features not available on the standard iPhone. But that wasn’t the case with the iPhone 16, which added enough new capabilities to dash nearly any FOMO you may have felt by not paying up for the iPhone 16 Pro.
Will that trend continue this year with an iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro comparison?
Initial rumors about Apple’s iPhone 17 plans paint a mixed picture. While the standard iPhone is set to gain a long-awaited display improvement that will match what the Pro models have delivered for years, the iPhone 17 Pro is set to see the more significant changes, chiefly to its design and cameras.
And Apple could be planning a processor surprise, too, that may affect how you weigh the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro.
We’re a few months away from the iPhone 17 release, since Apple typically rolls out new phones in September. But enough rumors about all the new models in the works have emerged to give us a good sense of how the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro might compare.
Here’s how a potential iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro face-off is shaping up, with a special focus on the biggest differences as well as key similarities.
iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro: What’s different
Design
Save for the number of camera lenses on the back of each model and the screen size, every iPhone in Apple’s lineup tends to look the same. That may be changing with the iPhone 17.
Based on leaked renders and CAD drawings, the iPhone 17 will look a lot like past models, though it may have a more prominent camera array than the current iPhone 16. The two rear cameras will still be stacked vertically, though.
Apple seems to be taking a different approach with the iPhone 17 Pro, stretching the camera array horizontally across the back of the phone. The three rear cameras will continue to be arranged in a triangular array on the right side of the phone, but other sensors and the flash will be moved to the left.
Currently, Pro models come with a titanium frame, and there’s some talk of Apple dropping that feature with the iPhone 17 Pro. I’m not sure I totally believe that at this point, given how prominently titanium figures into the branding of Apple’s Pro phones.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Pro: Cameras
The standard iPhone features a main camera and an ultrawide lens on the back, while the Pro handsets add a telephoto lens to that setup. That isn’t changing with the iPhone 17 lineup, though it sounds like the iPhone 17 Pro is in line to get a much bigger improvement to its camera setup.
Along with the 48MP Fusion Camera that serves as the main shooter and a 48MP ultrawide camera, rumors tip the iPhone 17 Pro to adopt a 48MP telephoto lens. That’s a higher resolution than the 12MP zoom lens on the iPhone 16 Pro, though the trade-off for that higher resolution may be a shorter zoom.
The iPhone 17 Pro telephoto camera will reportedly only offer a 3.5x optical zoom compared to 5x on the current model, which doesn’t make sense.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 will still have to rely on its 48MP main camera to approximate a 2x optical zoom, as there’s no zoom lens slated for that phone. In fact, it’s widely assumed the rear camera setup on the iPhone 17 will be the same as what the iPhone 16 offers.
The iPhone 17 Pro is also expected to pick up a new feature not available on the standard iPhone 17. A rumor claims Pro phones will support dual-video capture, allowing you to record video from both the front and back cameras simultaneously.
One other camera change could impact both the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. All new iPhones are in line to get a 24MP selfie camera, replacing the current 12MP shooter.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Pro: Processor
You’d expect Apple to maintain a minor difference between the standard iPhone and the Pro model this fall by giving those phones slightly different chipsets.
If Apple sticks to its pattern from the past couple iPhone releases, the iPhone 17 would get an A19 system-on-chip while the iPhone 17 Pro would benefit from an A19 Pro that offers a little more processing power particularly when it comes to graphics.
The differences could be even more stark with the iPhone 17, though. One analyst believes the standard iPhone 17 will continue to use an A18 processor, repeating what Apple did with the iPhone 14.
If that’s the case, the performance difference between an A18-powered iPhone 17 and an iPhone 17 Pro with an A19 Pro chip could be rather stark.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Pro: Memory
Like the iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 is expected to feature 8GB of RAM to help with all that on-device computing that Apple Intelligence features require. But the iPhone 17 Pro could get a boost in that area.
Specifically, multiple analysts are forecasting that the Pro models will get a bump to 12GB of memory, as Apple looks to give the iPhone 17 Pro a performance edge.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Pro: Price
iPhone 17 pricing is up in the air, given the ever-fluctuating policies about tariffs coming out of Washington. Even before tariffs threatened to raise the cost on devices manufactured in China like iPhones. However, there has been talk of some iPhome 17 models costing more than their predecessors.
Regardless of how iPhone pricing shakes out in the fall, it’s a safe bet that the iPhone 17 will cost less than the iPhone 17 Pro. Currently, the iPhone 16 starts at $799 while the iPhone 16 Pro has a $999 asking price.
That gap in pricing is a pretty good guide, though there is a chance it might widen if the Pro model sees a price hike and the standard phone doesn’t.
iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro: What’s going to be the same
Display
After years of keeping its standard iPhones with refresh rates locked at 60Hz, Apple sounds like it’s finally going to deliver a feature that’s pretty standard on flagship phones these days — a fast-refreshing display.
Multiple reports have the iPhone 17 adopting an LTPO panel for its display, a switch that would enable the phone to offer refresh speeds of up to i20Hz. That means smoother scrolling and more immersive graphics, and it would match a feature the iPhone Pro models have offered since the iPhone 13 Pro.
The iPhone 17’s fast-refreshing display may not be completely on par with what the iPhone 17 Pro offers, as some reports suggest the refresh rate on the standard model may not be able to scale all the way down to 1Hz. Still, this is one area where the gap between the regular iPhone and the Pro model may close considerably.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro displays may have something else in common. Some are expecting Apple to increase the panel on the iPhone 17 to 6.3 inches, matching a boost in screen size introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro last year.
However, one new difference in displays could emerge. The iPhone 17 Pro may shrink the size of the Dynamic Island feature, freeing up more screen real estate. It’s unclear if that change is coming to the regular iPhone 17. Then again, a more recent report claims all models will shrink the Dynamic Island.
A new vapor chamber
The iPhone 17 Pro models are thought to be adopting a vapor cooling chamber as a replacement for the standard heatsinks found in current iPhones. The ideal is that the new chamber would keep the iPhone running smoothly while preventing overheating during processor-intensive tasks — a problem that’s flared up with some recent releases.
Opinion is divided among rumor mongers as to whether this feature is exclusive to the Pro phones or whether all iPhone 17 models will benefit from the switch. We’ll list this feature here for now, though it could shift over to the differences column as we get more information ahead of the iPhone 17 launch.
Software
All iPhone 17 models debuting in the fall will ship with the same software on board. And now that Apple has held its WWDC 2025 conference, we have a pretty good idea as to what that software will deliver.
iOS 26 largely focuses on introducing a new Liquid Glass interface to Apple’s phones, unifying the look of Apple’s software across its phones, Macs and other devices. But there are Apple Intelligence updates included with iOS 26, too, such as a more capable Visual Intelligence feature and new additions to Genmoji and Image Playground.
While Apple could always surprise us at the iPhone 17 launch with some Pro-specific software capabilities, the same iOS 26 features should work equally well on the iPhone 17 as they do on the Pro.
iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro: Outlook
Make no mistake — the iPhone 17 Pro is going to continue to offer more premium features than the iPhone 17, even if the fast-refreshing display coming to Apple’s entry-level flagship ticks off a big box that had been separating the two phones.
The Pro still figures to have the better camera setup, with more video capture features at your disposal. And if the rumored differences in chipsets pan out, there could be a notable performance gap between the two models as well.