Apple's launch of the iPhone 17 lineup made that even more the case, with the ultra-thin iPhone Air and the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro stealing all the attention. Also: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max review: I've got one big reason to recommend a year-over-year upgradeMore recently, I took the iPhone 17 on a week-long work trip to Hawaii, which included extensive use of the device on a 12-hour flight and taking pictures every day. Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETCompared to my iPhone 16 Pro, which was my daily driver for the past year, or the iPhone 17 Pro, which I have been able to tinker with since the release, the iPhone 17 photos are still of lesser quality. To illustrate my point, I am including an image below, taken simultaneously on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17, and the difference in balancing light and handling shadows is noticeable. Where the iPhone 17 fell short for meThe iPhone 17 features Apple's A19 chip, a step up from the A18 chip in the iPhone 16.